Jalen scores 20: “too inefficient, not winning basketball” Jalen draws defenders and passes: “just riding coattails” Its almost like the poster has an agenda? Unearned arrogance and an unwillingness to learn is one of the worst traits a person can have.
Our man was 2-7 from FT and 0-2 from 3 and he STILL put up a +26. I don't think y'all realize how much Jalen has improved with Ime.
Honestly this is about as close to having it both ways as you can get. He shot poorly 4 of 10 and 0 of 2 from distance, also bricked 5 of 7 free throws which is uncharacteristic of him, he's been shooting ~90%+ from the charity stripe going back to the all star break last year. Then there's the good - dishing out 5 assists and setting up the offense late in the game. He made really good decisions with the ball and the offense kept the scoreboard moving and the result is a W. That's the kind of play that makes me think he can still be a top tier player ..... Bugs me that we only get that in short stretches.
Season is long, and he will bounce back but at the end of the season, there will be hard decisions to make. Last year for example Jabari chose to flip a switch after ASB and after 55 games were being played.
Statistically it looks bad for Jalen to start the season, but eye test tells me a different story. On offense I think he's playing less hero ball and doing a better job of keeping the ball moving and on moving without the ball. I think we're largely just seeing a cold shooting start from him. Still a lot of work to be done on finding the right pass especially when he drives into traffic, but there have been flashes like that awesome pass in garbage time against the Kings. But more importantly he looks like he is trying about three times as hard on defense. I actually don't think he's been a negative defensively so far this season. Don't know if he's a good defender but he's not hurting us like he was last season. Big step in the right direction there.
Sure but we all know for god dam well if it was negative booby would use it to sht on Jalen. He been doing it the past 2 seasons
This is all true but there comes a point, if you are going to be THAT GUY, when scoring just ten points is just unacceptable. He’s too good to score ten points (especially on a team that needs scoring).
Don't even care about the 10 points. He might have played his best game so far this season yesterday. Defense was better. Passing was way better.
I could care less how many he scores as long as his play leads to winning basketball. I swear I wonder sometimes if folks on this board have played or even watch sports consistently. You don't have to score to be "THAT GUY". It was obvious that Ime (or the team) saw something in how the Kings were playing Jalen late and decided to have him (instead of FVV) initiate the offense. Similar to the San Antonio game where we went to Sengun because his defender had 5 fouls. I like that this team has multiple ways to attack teams, makes game time adjustments, and actually uses them. Jalen played unselfish, team (winning) basketball, and made the right reads every time he was doubled - sealing the win. BTW - to put scoring into perspective, Jalen scored less than 15 points in 16 of the 82 games last year and still managed to average 22 points per game. But I'll take him scoring less, playing good defense, and this team winning over him scoring more any day.
He needs a pull up midrange shot, or a teardrop floater. He gets past his man so easily on the perimeter but just makes bad decisions about trying to drive to the hoop against a big who is already well positioned to deny him at the rim. Either make the right pass or shoot it CP3 style.
People scorn at one-game +/- and I get it. I also often point out the absurdity of using a single game +/- to make a point because it has a ton of context not addressed. BUT, +/- in a game for a guy who played a lot of minutes (especially if the +/- is above the final score margin) usually indicates that he has a positive impact on the floor in that game despite the boxscore numbers.
Had a so so game last night, the missed FT's were frustrating. Still too early to tell. I think he'll improve a lot under Sudoku.
I said it in the game thread, but I love the maturity he showed tonight. His shot was off, and he seemed to actually recognize that and took fewer of them than any other starter instead of continually chucking up more. That's growth. His efficiency needs to improve, but limiting his inefficiency is a step in the right direction.
jalen seems to get in his own head a lot of the time. we just need him to pretend it's a rico hines run where he is playing cool and collected. he is adapting to the new offense and you can tell at time it's strange for him not to have the ball in hands like he did in Silas's offense.
I mean it’s okay to just be honest and state the obvious. He wasn’t good. He was in lineups that had players who played well. That’s why his +/-, and already flawed stat, was high. Acting like he’s showing SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT while continuing to put up inefficient performances just isn’t accurate.
