Jabari Smith Jr. is the Rockets' franchise player

We'll have to agree to disagree here, in my opinion no one developed themselves significantly under Silas. Even Sengun could have benefited from getting a head start on learning winning rim protection.

Bari, Tari, KPJ, Green, Sengun. Honestly most of them were the same player after 1-2 seasons that they were 3 months into their careers. Our guys are catching up now but you can't skip the part where vets and coaches develop the players. We had some of the fewest and least effective vets of anyone in the league. The coaching is widely believed to have been sub-par.

To be honest I think we're going to be surprised at how much our guys develop in this excellent culture. It's past due.

 

Yeah there is a saying this makes me think of that we have in professional sales roles where we say "Take Yes For an Answer". Don't turn a win into a potential big loss because you wanted the bigger win.

The org, and Jabari himself should not question what we have found out that Jabari is able to bring to the table. Continue to embrace, and double down on THAT moving forward... because THAT is extremely valuable in the NBA.

To your point I see little evidence that Jabari, and his people are wanting to push the Rockets to give him a featured role as the perimeter playmaker. I think alot of that is because of who Jabari's father is, and the head on his shoulders he has because of what he's being told about what he needs to do to ensure he's got a long career vs. superstar or bust mentally & preparation.

There might be opportunities later in a couple of years where opportunity presents itself to be featured more because of injuries, or maybe he gets traded to another team that wants to take a bigger swing with him as a featured star. Right now I don't really see any upside to forcing the issue there.

 

While making a huge efficiency improvement last season, Jabari still roughly matched his rookie season On-Off +- rating of -8, a consecutive team-worst amongst all rotation players in our last 2 seasons.

It wouldn't be surprising for him to come off the bench next year for Eason. I don't think that would be indicative of anything negative for his future either, he doesn't have any major holes in his game and once he becomes stronger and starts to process the game better his ability to have a positive impact should make leaps.

 

I just think replacing Smith with Eason in the starting line up is going to make our offensive spacing worse.

Eason isn't a "bad" shooter but Jabari is just seen as a more significant threat as a shooter by opposing teama than Tari.


Keep in mind with on/off numbers, a significantly better team will make it harder to have better on/off numbers. When you are on a bad team it's easier to have a better on/off.

So Bari being the same technically means he improved because his on/off is the same between a 22 win team and a 41 win team.

Tari compared to the starting young guys(Sengun, Green, Bari) will also have inflated on/off numbers due to playing opposing bench players instead of staters proportionality compared to those guys in the starting line up.

 

As a lifelong Rockets fan, that would be amazing because that would mean Rockets are finally back on the contender conversation status. So I hope you're right but my skepticism says Jabari still has a ways to go. Physical comparisons are one thing but actually getting there and staying there - all star level, doing it every night, staying healthy, etc - is another. Next season, his 3rd season, if he's in the top 5 in the MIP voting, like Sengun was this year, I'd be thrilled.

For Amen, I'm even more skeptical. I know you emphasized "might" but man that shooting is horrific. I think someone mentioned Shawn Marion and how bad his shot was in the beginning (might be from Clutch podcast) so if Amen turns into respectable shooter, that'd be amazing but I need to see it to believe it. Let's see how HIS next season turns out.

Next season, we just need one more guy to break out like Sengun did this year. Whether it's Jabari, Amen, Cam, JG (no he hasn't broken out yet IMO) or Tari (you never know), we just need one more guy to reach that next level next season. OMG let's go can't wait

 

I don't think he'll come off the bench, but I do expect to see a frontcourt of Smith and Adams quite a bit. Adams is more of a traditional center, I think, and having him take the more physical defensive assignments should also benefit Smith. And I think it would be similar how he played during university as well.

 

There's like 500+ players in the league and he was 25th. Top 5% isn't elite?

21st in total rebounds.

18th per 48m.

If not the top of the "best rebounding player who isn't a center" list, he's right there.

Would you feel better if I just said he's pretty ****ing good at rebounding?

 

He's not an elite rebounder at 8 no matter what metric you attempt to use. He's 6'10 and getting 8 with all the missed shots isn't elite. Now if he was playing 25 mins a night and getting 8 rebs, that might be a case,but a 6'10 pf getting 8 rebs isn't elite. That's not top 10 last I checked

 

wh

What does 20 yrs old have to do with it? Was he top 10?

 

I am not saying he should turn into Kobe - or any other high usage player. I'd be thrilled with him turning into what Chris Bosh was. Or Lamarcus Aldridge while we are talking about players that he was compared to. Just regularly looking for his shot, being aggressive and having the defense respect him. He doesn't need to be the first option - and he probably doesn't need to be the second option. But please be the third option - and when others are down or are having a bad game, try to take over.

 

Your qualm with the use of the word elite is petty at best. He's literally the 4th best non-center rebounder in the league. The only players who aren't centers that got more rebounds are Giannis, Luka, and Josh Hart. He is literally the 2nd best rebounding PF/4 in the whole game. The other is an MVP, champion, DPOY, All-team, etc. "Not elite."

8 in 25 minutes, prorated to 36 minutes is 11.52. Happens to be the number Giannis posted, good for 5th best in the league. THAT'S your bar? Why not just come straight out and say you'll cry big alligator tears unless he's literally #1?

Or just admit you had no idea how ****ing good he is at rebounding...

 

Yeah let's not downplay Bari's rebounding. He's legit in that category. It's actually a big separating factor for me between him and a lot of those mid 3nD guys who scoop around 5 a game, and it's why I think he will be at least an excellent roleplayer in his prime. It's also why I view him as 4/5 and not a small forward.

 

All you're doing is proving what I stated. 8 rebs is not elite unless its a guard. A 6'10 pf getting 8 rebs a game isn't elite. Rasheed Wallace wasn't an elite rebounder at 8 when guys his size were getting 10 plus a night. I never said it was poor, it's just not elite. Nobody who watches or played basketball sits back and says 8 is elite for a 6'11 guy. 8 is good, it's not elite. How old is wemby and his 10+ rebounds?

 

I think he’s pretty elite at rebounding for his age and circumstances. I also believe Tari Amen and Jabari sharing minutes with each other will all eat into each others numbers because they are all above average in regard to their position and age for rebounding.

Last thing if you would have kept typing for another paragraph or two Jabari could have maybe made it to 7’ ft tall and that would be pretty sweet.

 

The Rockets had zero problem rebounding last year. They also get back on defense like some bastards...

The primary reason our defense slipped was due to injury. As I recall, we had DB/Jabari/Tari all get hit with the injury bug, and we were playing two babies, Amen and Cam, HEAVY minutes. Not to mention the fact that Jock was doo-doo for damn near the entire season, forcing us to play Jeff Green.

Not worried in the slightest about this defense, especially with more Amen + Tari minutes coming, and the arrival of Steven Adams.

Another top-10 defense is coming... Get used to it.

What we need is a superstar guard and some shooting, that's it. You put SGA on this team and we go ballistic. Hopefully one of our guards will step up.

 

Not to mention players who take a majority of their shots from distance tend to get a pass on rebounding because it's hard to recover. Jabari's rebounding is excellent for what he's doing, away from the basket a lot of the time. His positioning and technique is really good already.

If he were not taking such a high proportion of 3's his offensive rebounding would be better too but it's just not his role on this team. Most of the time on offense he's spreading the floor which means rebounds are rare in those instances.

 

The game is vastly different than in Rasheed Wallace's time. Yes, if Jabari was playing in 2005, 8 rebounds would not be elite for a young PF. In today's game, it probably would be.

For instance, Rasheed is convinced Zach Eddy is being overlooked and will dominate the NBA like a poor-man's Shaq. That would have worked then, but not now.

It's a different game.

 

Yeah, the defense is the last thing to be worried about. The offense, on the other hand... still big question marks there. Our shooting should go from one of the worst to over average at least.

Bari should shoot better. 36% is not bad but he is definitely capable of more and we need that from him.

 

It's crazy that so many fans want to judge players not even old enough to drink like they've hit their ceiling and they're all that they'll be. It's extremely rare that someone comes in to the league and dominates. I don't get why those smart guys don't get it.

Players, especially young ones, take time to develop. Bari's future looks bright as does the rest of the core group. They're just young. They finally have a system that's not designed to tank and it's all about growth and winning.

The future is bright!