The guy has been a good shooter all his life. His shooting coming around should be expected, not hoped. We hope a guy to improve on his weaknesses. We expect his strengths to show up after struggling as a rookie on a chaotic team.
I’m not too worried about Jabari. His last 20 games — a pretty big data set — he averaged just under 16 points and 8 boards a game on 37% from 3. It shouldn’t be too surprising that a prospect like him took some time to figure things out. He’ll be fine.
Was great to see Jabari look like he belongs the latter portion of the season. Was a little worried early cant lie. Future looks bright!
Banchero didn't come into the league labeled as a quality shooter from outside, he was expected to have a lowish percentage from distance. Jabari on the other hand came in touted as a great shooter, comparing him to a taller Clay Thompson and has not been remotely close. For the first 77 games of the season, he was below 30% from distance, that hot streak at the end got him to a whopping .307. If you want to call that reaching expectations, by all means have at it but I don't buy it. My personal expectations were that he shot just below league average from outside, something around 34% or 34.5%. There's a pretty wide chasm between the reality and my lowly expectations. I have to call his rookie season disappointing. That's not to say I don't see the upside .... maybe the new coaching staff will get more out of him. Yeah, this is where I'm at too ..... I expect a big improvement next season.
Not even a remotely good comparison. Dirk came into a much different league 25 years ago (1998). Big men were not expected to shoot beyond the paint very often in that era. Jabari was labeled a great shooter, that's why he was seen as a top prospect. Sure, Dirk developed into a great shooter .... maybe Jabari can too. But you cannot tell me that he met expectations at .307. That figure is an abject disappointment. Comparing these rookies to HOFers is a joke ...
Coincidentally, Charles Smith was drafted third overall, too. He never quite lived up to his potential and had some injury issues later on in his career. But man, many of those mid-range moves in the video really do look similar to what Jabari Smith's been working on recently. That said, Charles Smith was 28 years old when that video was made. So Jabari's got nine years to work on his game and exceed that level, which I think he will do.
Jabari was dissapointing most of the season (the whole team was), but all in all, I like what I saw from him, especially his defense and intensity. We tend to forget that he's just a kid, and that our whole team was less than the sum of its parts. His shot will improve as he gets stronger. You can see that his shooting form is pure, but the legs were not there. His wind up was not smooth, in one motion, and he compensated that by overshooting with his arms. Most of his misses hit the back rim as the result of that. As he fills out his frame and gains strength, he will become a force. Maybe not a superstar player, but A 20/10 sweet shooting, switchable defensive high level player, which is still a great player and a hit of a pick. I've been a Rockets fan for 20 years, and in that period We didn't have a 4 like that.
This was my thought on Bari as well. Sure we all wished his rookie season went (or at least started) differently, but he is 19 so it is what it is. At the same time, the level of stupidity showcased by some thinking that a rookie who shot great their entire life suddenly forgot how to shoot and is a bust was somehow more logical than a mental issue a rookie was going through… smh. This is also why I was so down on (along with many other reasons) Silas. Your promising sharpshooting big comes in shooting blanks and your solution was to do… nothing? How about finding out what made him comfortable shooting in college or where his favorite spots were? How about running some simple pays for open middies like what Pop did for Kwahi? ****ing worthless coach… so glad he is gone!
Under 25 that did it: Dirk, Pierce, Tmac, Kobe, Shawn Marion, Rashard Lewis, LeBron, KD, PG, KAT, Jokic, Porzingis, Tatum, Jabari
I'm not sure you can really celebrate the scoring prowess of a guy with a 51.4% TS%. When you have to go to contextless raw numbers, it's a bad sign.
I think he was much better the last quarter of the season which was reflected in his numbers and the teams W-L record too. For me it’s nice to see that he finished strong because it’s after NBA defenses would be adjusting to him and also because it shows he can handle a full season. He also played more mpg in that span than he did over the first part of the season. He has a really good skill set to build on. His off season muscular development I think will help a ton going into year 2.
He definitely was better later in the season, for example, the last 20 games he had a 56.8% TS%, compare that to his first 50 games where he had a 50.2% TS%. I just think you can't ignore just how godawful he was overall this season even if he got better at the very end. It kind of sends an inaccurate message.
Like everything Rockets... TBD. He showed the flashes but he was pretty doodoo most of the year. I'm not really concerned at this point.
Hopefully he can re work his 3 pointer. I feel like Cade has the same problem. Both were shooting fine in college but just clanking everything in the NBA
His play for the majority of his rookie year was a disappointment. You expect rookies to develop and improve. His play from March on is exactly where we want him to be. If you told me we would have this version of him by the end of his rookie season I’d say sign me up. As far as HOF comparisons, his overall season numbers compared to some of theirs aren’t as garbage, and they were older.
