It takes at least 4-5 years before the "true" better player emerges. The best player is rarely ever defined by the first 3-4 seasons. There are practically countless examples of this: Harden and Curry were not considered better players than Blake Griffin until after 5+ years into their career. Blake was already a 3x all-star, and 1x All-NBA player before Harden and Curry even got their first all-star appearance. A more recent example is Devin Booker and Karl Anthony Towns. KAT was unquestionably the best player in his draft for the first 3-4 years of his career, but Booker has clearly overtaken KAT in the last 3 years. Booker caught up to KAT in all-star appearances (3 appearances in the last 3 seasons, compared to Kat who only has 1), and also had a 1st team accolade last season. Ingram and Simmons are also two good examples. Ingram was considered a bust early in his career, whereas Simmons was basically being compared to Lebron James. Now, not a single person would take Simmons over Ingram.
To add on to this, Tyreke Evans was ROY that year. Would anyone take him over Harden or Curry? Or Jrue Holiday for that matter?
Honestly, Tyreke Evans is such a rare thing that happens in the league. I can only think of him and Carter Williams who had rookie years at that level and just fell off a cliff. Usually rookies who enter the league that are this effective at scoring like Paulo will be perennial All Stars at the very minimum.
They’ve both played about the same, imo. Taro maybe a little better, but he’s missed several gimmies too. Defensively they both look well beyond their years. Jabari has had to guard some bigger players and clearly isn’t as effective one on one against them in the post, given his lack of pounds. But weak side shot blocking has been great and Tari’s on ball defense has been great.
I think it will depend on who becomes better at creating for themselves one on one and who develop better handles. I think currently Tari got the edge only because Jabari's shot is still not falling consistently. Once Jabari's shot starts falling consistently then Jabari may seem to be the better prospect again.
Jabari easy. Tari gets his by being aggressive. And that will fly to a certain extent, but he's like a little bull in a china shop. He's working really hard to earn his points. But not likely to ever be a big-time scorer. It will never look easy. Jabari is the exact opposite. He's so passive on offense he can't get his. He's literally doing nothing, but somehow he is still putting up some numbers just standing around out there. The latter will be forced to change over time or he will drown. But that makes him the better prospect. Just a little more effort to get other shots and freebies moves Jabari north of 15ppg.
I think Jabari will be a great player long term once he adds some strength to play center and finish easier around the rim. Tari isn't get foul calls besides for on himself. If he can stay as energetic with more minutes, he's going to be a mainstay in the Rockets starting lineup. Garuba, Jabari, and Tari are going to be good for the team getting better on defense. Rockets just need a star playmaker to keep offense going with these guys.
Smiths been killing it One key difference is instead of Smith having to randomly take all of his shots, he has a few plays where he knows he's getting the ball back. I think it took the Rockets 15+ games before they ran an actual designed play for Smith. It was a double screen early in the game where he went from the corner to free throw line extended... maybe even first possession. He scored 20 points or so that game and has been in a much better rhythm ever since. Shooting the ball often does NOT equal having plays run for you. KPJ has been better at quick decisions and not having the ball in his hands the whole game, which benefits players like Smith a lot. The rhythm he has allows for him to be more aggressive on plays not set up for him which benefits the whole team.
I think with Ben, it was more that people figured out how to play him whereas Ingram figured out how to play. Could be wrong but I don't recall a injury Ben suffered that caused him to suck at shooting (unless you are considering lack of mental fortitude as injury)
A pg with a cp3 mentality would unlock Jabari so much. He should at the very least he putting up christian wood numbers (with rockets) with plud defense
