Some of these takes are wild. Very few teenage big men have ever been major NBA contributors in their rookie seasons. A lot of them, even some future all-stars, were pretty much trash as rookies. Almost none of them were better than an adequate bench player. Jabari is being asked to do way too much as a rookie, but I think he could already give 15 productive minutes off the bench for a lot of teams with appropriate usage and better coaching. You want a dose of reality, go take a look at Giannis' rookie season at age 19. Not saying Jabari will be anywhere remotely near as good, just saying you don't know yet.
This guy is gonna go by way of James Wiseman. Will have a lot of believers (because he’s young) until he’s eventually traded. People don’t know when to realize when a player just doesn’t have “it”.
I remember thinking if there was any possibility of trading up to Smith we should. When he fell to us I was over joyed because he fits BOTH Sengun & Green. When he played in Summer league my prospective chanced. Then through out the pre season I thought everything is going to be alright. Something happened like a light switch after a game or two of the regular season. A few days before the allstar game our coach admitted he doesn’t run plays for him. Our young hope is still here but sadly seems to be slowly slipping away. Is there a chance he is better than he has shown and just being he is mismanaged? Let hope so.
It is the transition of eras. Rookies weren't relied on to play much 20-30 years ago unless they are Jordan or Hakeem from the start. Now you see mediocre rookies getting 30 minutes per game without ever having to earn it. Teams are tanking, load managing a lot harder these days hence tossing rookies and sophs to the wolves instantly.
Remember that guys like Jordan and Hakeem were 21 or 22, not 19 when they joined the league, like most players from their entire era. 19 year olds just don't come in and dominate unless they're surefire generational talents, which nobody was ever saying was the case for Jabari.
Did you guys know he’s only 19? No 19 year old has ever played in the NBA. let’s wait till he’s 39 to judge him.
You just wait until Hasheem learns some post moves, develops awareness and improves his IQ, the NBA will be sorry!
The Spurs did tank for Duncan but they didn't tank years in a row. There is no reason to excessively use rookies like the Rockets, Spurs, Detroit do now.
saying to “look at Giannis rookie season” is just a bad faith argument. Fact is, Giannis was drafted at 15 and was coming into the league with no expectation to be a cornerstone to a rebuilding franchise. Giannis was drafted to be a role player AT BEST. No one expects anything out of a 15th slot player overall much less their rookie season. Jabari was drafted 3rd, with the media machine calling him the 1st pick for MONTHS up until the actual draft. At 3rd, you come with expectations and you come into the association with much more scrutiny. A bust at 3rd overall can set a franchise back years in a rebuild. A bust at 15th pick is a benching till you let their contract expire. Very big difference.
The best outcome for the Rockets and perhaps Jabari as well, is to spend the rest of this year trying to figure it out, and come next year, he's got it!
Ya he's only 19. That is very relevant to performance in the NBA. Don't get the sarcasm here. Are 19 year olds besides Lebron supposed to come dominating? How about let's wait till he's like 22 to see if he doesn't improve? Arguments don't seem as ridiculous when you look at the non strawman version huh?
I don’t expect Smith to dominate but I would like to have seen more improvement as this season progressed. He has gotten better at driving but he needs to learn when to pass it out or pull up if the lane isn’t there. I had also hoped by now he would have build chemistry with Sengun as this is what most had hoped for. Personally I believe Banchero who is a willing passer and play maker would work better next to Sengun. I have always felt good centers such as Hakeem and Yao are better with guys like Scola and Horry who are great interior passers. Smith needs to play off Sengun and look to make plays for him. Instead it feels as if Smith is looking to take a shot rather than make a play. For a guy who doesn’t get plays run for him he is up there in shots. He is in the top 15 in shots taken for PFs and is head of Sengun in shots this year. I don’t have a problem with him getting shots but when he’s missing he’s got to look more to his teammates.
He passes up a lot of shots he should take - his shots are increasing because KPJ and Gordon are now gone and now JG is injured … he was the 4-5th option majority of season and really only been in a funk the last 2 months from 3 while improving on driving - finishing around rim, and drawing fouls We don’t know what’s going on with his shot but when JG was a rookie his shot went haywire because (Lucas) was trying to speed it up
