I'm most excited about seeing Jalen / Tari / Jabari Trio on the court. I'm also excited about Sengun and the rest but want to see those three mesh really well.
The fact that he's that tall/long, that good of a shooter and has that much potential defensively is so exciting. He's going to get a lot stronger and more built. I don't expect ROY simply because he's not as plug-and-play for numbers as guys like Paolo and Keegan, but this is the start of something really good, in my opinion. Jabari is going to prove a lot of people wrong.
Totally agree that he's not as plug-and-play for counting stats like Paolo or Keegan, especially this year. However, Jabari is definitely more plug-and-play in terms of fitting within any team's offensive and defensive schemes, unlike anyone else in this draft, and frankly, there are very few players like him in the entire NBA. It's a given that some idiots will take this the wrong way and start tearing Jabari down if he's not producing counting stat lines on par with his peers. And with the whole 2016/2017 Harden/Westbrook MVP debate, you'd figure more people would know (especially Rockets fans) that looking solely at counting stats isn't the best way to determine who really is the better basketball player.
Raptor WAR is a counting stat. Herb Jones was 1st and Barnes was 2nd among rookies. I could see Smith doing well in Raptor WAR and a bunch of other counting stats that measure defensive impact if he gets off to a good start defensively.
His added defensive abilities will have him mentioned in the running. Him and Tari will be in the running.
I have high hopes for Tari but I don’t think he will get enough minutes to be a legit candidate and to be honest, I think he is probably going to take some lumps with his shooting and fouling in his first year but no doubt he has legit long term potential that far exceeds what you would expect for his draft position. If he can be a Trevor Ariza 2.0 - we really hit it out of the park.
Last season, CFers wanted Silas's head because he didn't give Sengun enough minutes. I expect the same with Eason this season. You guys get your flamethrowers ready.
I was definitely like "what did Lamarcus Aldridge do to catch these strays" until I clicked see also lol... A rich man's Lamarcus Aldridge is....Tim Duncan? Jabari Smith = Tim Duncan book it Hear me out. Porter is very similar to Manu... Pop to coach the Rockets next year confirmed.
Wasn’t sold on chad and the kid that went to Orlando seems like a finished product. Was always on jabari because he is already damn good and has the tools to be the best in this draft by a good margin
Jabari needs to get his shot back, looked kinda odd shooting NBA 3's in the summer league. Him hitting shots at his height and length will significant affect how the defense plays out entire team.
I don't think I've read a single post that says Jabari is a bust if he doesn't fill the stat sheet. There are a lot of posts, on the other hand, that say Jabari's potential is limited because of his sub-par ball handling, which seems like a legitimate concern for the #3 pick. You don't have to create a viewpoint that nobody actually has just to validate your own opinion.
uh obviously there aren't many posts like that.. yet. the season hasn't even started yet. and i'm not trying to create some random viewpoint or narrative - just search jiggyfly's post history and how much vitriol he had for jabari and you can bet he and some other regular lunatics are going to drum up some jabari is a bust post the moment he has a bad regular season game.
I don't actually read the one issue posters, they contribute virtually nothing. Asiansensation hating James Harden for 3/4 hours a day is a prime example. I think if Jabari can join the 100/100 club (which seems unlikely, but definitely possible) the box score people won't be able to use that as a defense.
Another player that doesn't get talked about a lot as a comparison for Jabari who was a vital piece to a championship team was Middleton. Jabari could essentially be a taller, better defensively version of him. Khris carried that Bucks team on his back the games Giannis was off. That's how they won the title. Giannis got all the credit but if Middleton doesn't step it up like he did, they don't win. Jabari doesn't need to be 25/10. He just needs to be 35/10 on the days Jalen is having a bad game. That's why the Warriors have been such a juggernaut. The day Curry happens to have a bad game, of which there are plenty, you still have to deal with Klay. It's why the Rockets almost won the title with Chris and Harden. When Harden had a bad game, you still have to deal with Chris. That's what we need Jabari to be. Sengun should be groomed to be Jokic-lite and Tari to be better Ariza. If we could take TyTy Washington's brain and put it in KPJ's body I think we'd be set for a playoff caliber starting 5.
This. His traditional numbers might not pop immediately, but something tells me his impact stats will do a good job of highlighting his worth.
