Jalen isn't a rookie anymore, he's played 144 games....as a result, he needs to finally show that he doesn't suck. The longer you are in the league, the less leeway a player gets, most players don't get to suck for 3 whole seasons before someone starts talking about it. If they still suck early in their 3rd season, a conversation about it is absolutely valid.
He certainly didn't help winning in the least. Is he better than Jordan Poole? Sure.... but let's not get carried away by the legend of KPJ.
....do we hold him accountable for both his coach and GM quietly quitting on this team's development the last two years? The big difference between Jalen and the average other rookie is their teams were at least actively trying to make them better - not attempting to sabotage their efforts with inferior coaching, incomplete rosters, and not making an effort at putting structure in place in the name of getting more lotto picks. By the way, not making excuses for Jalen but the context here matters. You can only place so much blame on the plant that doesn't grow if the owner doesn't give it water or fertilizers. This thread has 400x more comments than any Stone/Silas sold their young guys out threads. Any growth Jalen had since his rookie year is despite the Rockets org, not because of it - they have really done very little to help him become a better professional.
Agreed. Green had a sht coach, a bad pg, no actual vets aside from a pouting Gordon and a team reeling from the aftermath of a superstar break up due to a toxic culture. But it's always simpler for the haters to just look at green and say ya he sucks. Context matters.
Just because a player sucks after only 144 games doesn't mean it's their fault, there's ALWAYS other people to blame.
I don't think he sucks, but I do think it is definitely time for him to prove that he doesn't. He needs to get better. Bottom line. No excuses. The dude needs to improve his overall game and take the next step. I like the guy, but he needs to mature as a basketball player.
I want to see improved decision making, improved shooting, and at least some form of defense at least being attempted. Give me that from Jalen and I'll be happy.
Scoring 22 on 20 shots is dogshit. His TS% on the season is 48.3% after tonight....way to prove everyone wrong.
He doesn't really have an impact on the game. You can see Alpi does, FVV does, Brooks does... Jalen is just kinda there.
We lost by 4 but those 22 points had no impact on the game... LOL... ok I'll take 10 for 20 in a bounce back game after going 2 for 10 the previous. Primarily I posted that because a few people overreacted to the first game. Comes back and scores efficiently, plays unselfishly, rebounds, assists, played some decent D... pretty much everything folks were saying he couldn't or wouldn't do...
Udoka's system will be good for Jalen, but he has GOT to be more aggressive (like he was in the first quarter tonight). I like that he seems to be an unselfish player, but there is a very fine line between unselfishness and passivity. That said I think he's far from comfortable with all the plays yet, and there are a lot of new pieces to build chemistry with. Continuity is big, and the Rockets lack that thus far. I definitely would not mind 22 points on 50% shooting being the norm...yes I know that probably won't be the norm but one can hope. Second game was way better than the first, hopefully the third will be better than this.
Scoring 22 on 20 shots is not a "bounce back game" after scoring 10 on 10....it's a second bad game with more volume.....hurting the team even more.
