[Player Assessment] Jabari Smith Jr.

Because Wemby doesn't play the 5.

 

Offensive limited player who looked even shttier b/c he didn't have a real pg setting him up. He is one of the better defenders on the team

 

Wemby and Jabari would be interchangeable and can both guard 1-5.

Competent PG that can defend/Green/Wemby/Bari/Sengun is a busted lineup.

 

He's of the delusion that they are going to start Sengun at the 5, Wemby at the 4 and Smith at the 3.

Hilarious as it is, this isn't even his most ludicrous delusion.

I guess we just let him keep on believing as long as he can. The real comedy starts once reality starts to hit him.

 

I was extremely pessimistic on Jabari. I thought at best he'd be a Serge Ibaka lite. Jabari was so awkward off the dribble and weak around the hoop at Auburn that I thought self-creation would never be a strength for him. While he's struggled heavily for most of his rookie season, the past twenty games have shown that he has more potential in those areas than I thought.

He's done okay for a teenager. His natural skillset (shooting and defense) is a valuable asset in today's NBA, so even if he leans into those he can still be a good player. If he can develop the flashes he's shown of turnaround jumpers and dribble drive game he can be a great player. He has a decent frame so it's reasonable to expect him to get stronger and better going forward.

 

Wemby can't guard 1-2

But he can help protect the rim

 

He’s going to be fine. I don’t necessarily think he is going to be a good team’s best player type of star, but I think he can totally be one of those invaluable Swiss Army knife players who can be an all star on a winning team.

I still like the Klay Thompson comp - Klay never could lead a team and create a lot off the dribble necessarily but next to Steph, he didn’t have to. Even with some of Klay’s greatest offensive games, he hardly dribbled the ball(thanks to Steph and Durant).

He does need to put on a fair amount of strength which could impact his shooting for a bit while he adjusts, but once his body and feel for the NBA speed settle in, he’s going to be a very solid 2 way player at worst. I also agree with others here that he grew a lot more in some of his weakest areas than I was expecting so there is a chance he could grow into more than a high level 3 and d guy…but hey - an elite 3 and d guy is a really valuable player. If we had a player like him 3 years into his career rather than a Ryan Anderson - Harden probably would have a ring right now.

 

Looks like he can in limited stretches. Wouldn't put him out there as his primary assignment, but looks like what he lacks in foot speed (and foot work isn't bad) he more than makes up for with his incredible length. See about the :37 second mark of first vid and around 1:20 of second vid.





I mean he hasn't played a second of an NBA game yet so we don't really know what he would do and how he will adapt to the elite speed and athleticism of the NBA, but what I can say with some certainty is he appears to have the tools to be an elite defender in the NBA. It's more than I can say for anyone that plays center for the Rockets currently outside of Jabari.

 

Jabari: 19 y/o, 31 mins 11,3 pts 40,6 fg 30,7 3pt 0,6 blk 0,6 stl 109,2 ortg 120,6 drtg

Derps opinion: defense translated immediately, sweet shooting touch, could be bigger Klay or Giannis with a pro shoot.


Alpi: 20 y/o, 29 mins 14,8 pts 55,4 fg 33,3 3pt 0,9 blk 0,9 stl 112,5 ortg 120,3 drtg

Derps opinion: offensive upside, defensive liability, let's see if we can do better in center position.

Oh ok guys, tell me how biased and delusional sofs are will you? Really entertaining.

 

Morey is already preparing that iPad.

 

To be honest, I almost lost faith in his shooting. But I kept telling myself and CFers, a lifetime shooter wouldn't suddenly forget how to shoot. It had to be a mental block that would eventually be removed.

The encouraging thing about Smith is that his struggle was in his strength, i.e. shooting. His supposed weaknesses (at rim finishing and handles) have been improving beyond expectations. His strengths will come around. His progress in his weaknesses means that he is already raising his ceiling.

His rebounding has also improved.

His defense is really hard to assess with this team.

 

Exactly. When winning is the focus, there is a better defensive system, and there is more accountability I think that we'll get a much better feel for just how good Jabari (and others) can be defensively. As it stands his measurables alone make him a prime candidate to be a good defender. You can't teach height and wingspan.

IF he can fill out similar to Giannis and keep that shooting form, then even without Giannis' freakish athleticism we will have an offensive and defensive beast on our hands.

 

If Wemby is guarding a 1 or 2 then we all know they are driving because they're not going to try to shoot over the top of him. Guards already hesitate with Bari and he's only 6-11.

 

I almost lost faith when our 3 point specialist #3 pick shot 30.3 percent from 3 prior to the ASB.

However, the fact that he shot 31.6 after ASB renewed my faith.

in fairness though - the fact that his underneath finishing went from abysmal to decent was a good sign. That was where the real improvement was.

 

Actually several superstars struggled out the gates.

Bari has evolved over the year as expected. Easy to see it's slowed down for him. In the last 25 games he's averaging 14/8 shooting 32% from deep. Yes he's still finding his way, but his numbers look just as good as many past greats in their rookie year. He has a dog in him. Puts in the work on both ends. The best thing is... He's just getting started.

 

Seems like a role player to me. Not an all-star or building block guy

 

T R A S H

 

I think anyone being honest would say that Jabari failed to live up to expectations this year ....

He was said to be a really good shooter, my expectations were that he would shoot league average or a bit below that from distance.
Never in my worst nightmares did believe that he would shoot 30% from 3 for the season and a very large percentage of those were open looks.

His poor shooting played a large part in the teams offensive struggles as teams didn't even bother to defend him beyond the arc which caused terrible spacing issues for the guards to contend with - combine that with Sengun, Green and KMJ all shooting below league average and it was a disaster - they shot a league worst .327 as a team from deep.

It was a rocky rookie season at best .... the potential is there and he had shown to be a better shooter pre draft, the expectation going forward is that he fixes the shooting problems in year two.

 

Nope, i summarize your opinions section for both players. You are Cherry picking your own posts now.

Also the stats are obtained from https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612745/players-traditional i don't know where you get yours but since you still list alpi 6'9 i am pretty sure we should double check everything you sent.