At his best, Steve Francis was not even top 15. Nash, Dirk, Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Iverson, LeBron, McGrady, Wade, Melo, Allen, Garnett, Kidd, Vince Carter, Amare That's 15 better just off the top of my head.
Amazing silver lining in the game. I remember Jalen had 0 idea how to do that early last season and by the end of the season he was excellent at it. I think Jabari will take a little longer to master it, but it will be his counter move for teams that guard him too closely on the 3pt line. That and a fadeaway jumper (or a hook shot) would be excellent for making him less reliant on the 3pt shot. Still, he's had like 2 bad games in the last 11. He's doing great at the moment.
1. Top 5 picks need their shots. Way too much invested to not have them heavily involved. It would be one thing if the team was a contender and somehow got a top pk via a trade or injuries the previous year (ex. Wiseman), but in a rebuild there is NO reason to not regularly get them the ball. Take Green for example. He's looked really bad at times this year, but in no way should they stop letting him do his thing. Again, way too much invested. 2. Regarding EARNING your shots. For a guy who emphatically pushes the KPJ narrative come hell or high water, that is hysterical. About as funny as stating Francis was a top 5 player.
Yeah, the talk about earning shots has me in stitches. KPJ has done absolutely jack squat to earn the shots he takes every game.
If he had any self control and played smarter with better ball distribution and shot selection he'd be much better. If they'd just focused on getting him straight and allowing him to grow and possibly shine in a more natural position instead of forcing the PG role, he'd probably be a quality player. Taking a young man who has obvious issues between the ears and putting the responsibility of running the team, a position he's never played, was a mistake. Not sure how it plays out.
The singular positive is that we essentially have a $16M EC trade bait contract for the next couple of years.
If he somehow realized his best role ON THIS TEAM was a microwave scorer off the bench ala Vinnie Johnson, he could be very valuable and possibly a perennial 6th man finalist.
Had the tools. He was out of control at times and underchieved... substance abuse and declining body.
That's the thing about KPJ, his contract is so bad for him and good for us that I don't worry too much about the outcome.
If...if...if. If Wood was a woman he'd dominate the WNBA. Let's talk about things that can actually happen, Jabari could actually shoot 40% from 3.