Yes and No. Tari is a likable character, his hustle, grit, grind and also pretty much down to earth character prevails while Jabari is the trash talking fresh prince of Auburn.
Jabari hustles on defense too. He's not as energetic as Tari. But few players are. Yeah, I get it. Personality plays a role. Same reason why Sengun was liked (even before he did well last year) and KPJ wasn't. Same reason why I am a Boban Only Fan.
This game was fine, he's had better and the Sixers game where he would swallow up Maxey and Harden is the one that stood out to me the most. He's going to struggle against Giannis or Zion because they're massive and he isn't. But his positioning and length is solid and he'll hold his own as he grows into his frame which is tailor made for the NBA. Being able to guard 1-5 is incredibly difficult and Jabari has the capacity to do it. He just needs the reps and the knowledge. What I really implore folks to stop doing is propping up one player by downplaying another. This isnt Sengun vs Jabari vs Jalen even though people constantly keep doing that. It's annoying. Jabari has issues. Sengun has issues. Jalen has issues. We all know what those issues are and want all 3 of them to correct them or mitigate them. That's part of the rebuild. These 3 are fantastic building blocks and with the right coaching can be something special. Behind them is Garuba/KJ/Tari and maybe TyTy. But we're already looking at 7 players on a 10-11 man roster. We desperately need some veterans here that can help these guys next year. Rockets absolute best case scenario for next year is Victor and Fred Van Vleet.
Problem is he plays more like "Jazz" trying to get by Uncle Phil! (And we ALL know how that always ends)
Good luck. Now that certain posters are adamant in their positions they will NEVER back down from them and will be rooting for players to fail just so they can be right. It won't ever stop unless the player in question wins a championship here and then they will have to shut up and accept they were wrong.
I just thought about this for a second I would actually like to see Hakeem Olajuwon smack the **** out of Jabari
If he plays well in the Rising Stars game, people will say it doesn’t mean ****. If he plays poorly in the rising stars game, then people will say he sucks. I know he’s struggled this season but cmon guys..there’s no winning on Clutchfans
This ^^^^^^^....There are very few true fans of the Rockets on this site, there are a LOT of "self proclaimed prophets" who are fans of themselves,that feel their opinions are so important they must share adamantly and often. The fact is they just want to share their personal misery with the rest of us, you know...it loves company. There is not much to enjoy this season, so it's a buffet for the prophets/morons...whichever you prefer!
Jabari Smith look so terrible in this showing on national display. If Rockets fans haven't already, he's going to be labeled a bust by every other fanbase.