That dude is a pretty big hypocrite. And it's weird. Jalen has shown a significantly amount more as a NBA player than Jabari with their first two years. A lot of preferences people have have nothing to do with on court ability but things like how they talk.
https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/houston-rockets-fall-dallas-mavericks-fifth-consecutive-loss Practice free throws
...and yet an objective metric like EPM shows that Jabari's rookie year wasn't as bad as Jalen's and Jabari's sophomore year was better than Jalen's and almost as good as Jalen's 3rd year. Jalen's playmaking gives him more upside, but as far as helping a team win games so far, Jalen makes enough mistakes that Jabari at a similar experience levels has likely been better. Upside and a preference for a playmaking that is mostly potential and inefficient has little to do with current on court ability.
Not to mention a talent difference. That's not meant as a knock on Bari. KD's an all-time great. Almost no one would look as smooth, even other stars. I once watched a video of Amare working out with Hakeem. The Dream was more than a decade retired and Amare was a six time all-star at that point, but Dream looked much smoother. Heck, Dream trained with quite a few all-NBA players and only one ever looked as smooth as him, IMO. That Bari is working with KD at all and refining his game is encouraging to me. It's unlikely we ever see these midrange pullups but just having options to attack closeouts will hopefully make him more effective.
Jabari has the benefit of expectations being lower where if he's a role player it's okay. That's what you are trying to express but don't have to words for. Green undoubtedly has been more important to winning games in the past couple of seasons. The problem with Jalen is his expectation is a one ball primary offensive engine along with Sengun. If he can't make that role, he isn't wanted. So the expectations for him are significantly higher.
Zach Lowe basically sums up what I think of Jabari. He may become a star or maybe not. But he's a guy you can keep on a team regardless of the roster makeup. https://archive.is/lqWTE#selection-17727.0-17731.14
Most advanced stats had Jabari as a competent, if unspectacular NBA player in his age 20 season. A better Tayshaun Prince isn't a bad outcome for him at all.
An ancillary benefit to bringing in KD would be his ability to mentor the young guys on a daily basis, especially Jabari. I also see that as a benefit for bringing in a guy like DeRozan for the guards on the team. Their age is not ideal of course, but that's the only reason they'd be available for a price that wouldn't sacrifice the core youth.
I love this comp, I was getting tired of using "taller Trevor Ariza." This is a good one. But yeah, I don't see Jabari ever being a star and that's okay. His archetype is perfect for a role player, and if he can just be a good roleplayer, that's a fine outcome for the team. If he can be an elite roleplayer, even better.
Those aging stars are still too good to come off the bench. They'll just eat up the young guys' minutes. We need to take a good look at each of these kids to determine the future of the team. We have to be very careful about handing out contracts when their rookie deals are up. I hope they get rid of Brooks to free up a starting spot. His purpose of being a vet mentor for a tough guy role has been fulfilled. We still need FVV because we don't have a competent starting PG yet. But hopefully his minutes will decrease.
Oh totally agree! They need the minutes to prove their worth. A move for KD or DeRozan would come with the assumption that Brooks is out. I'd view both as more optimal as floor raisers and mentors to the young core. I'm also borderline on Jalen at this point. I'm up for giving him a bit more time this season to prove it, but would be willing to trade some of his minutes to a star vet (and Cam, Reed, Amen, etc) once it's deemed he isn't what we've hoped him to be.
We should sign KD and have a frontline of KD, Jabari and Sengun. Trade Jalen, Dillion and draft picks. -FRED -TARI -KD -JABARI -SENGUN bench: Amen, Reed, Cam and Steven Adams I would not wait for Booker and Zion wants to go to the Knicks…KD would play for Udoka.
Jalen+All Phoenix picks+Brooks+Landale+Jeff Green+Tate+Rockets 2028 furst for Durant and Booker. They wouldn’t do it and I wouldn’t pay more but Sengun/Adams Jabari/Eason Durant/Cam Booker/Reed Amen (need the defense starting)/FVV
IMO......going to be a great role player at the right time like Eason.......love them both....and for Jabari, once a shooter always a shooter, maybe here it comes?......... if Eason becomes a two player with him...watch out....as well as with Amen, Whitmore, and Sheppard........ And then with noticeable progress from Sengun (3 ptr) and Green (2 way player and consistent scorer)....this could all be very nice......... So far I can see offensively: Reed...1/2 (match ups?) Whitmore....2/3 (match ups?) Amen.......1/2/3/4/5 (match ups?) Eason......3/4/5 (match ups?) Jabari.........3/4/5 (match ups?) Wild card fireballs: Green (1 occasionally, 2, 3) and Sengun (4,5)......(cornerstones/role players or assets around the corner?).............. VETS: (know mostly what we are getting, or not, or more than we expected?)....... Fred, Dillon, Adams............ I like the possibilities offensively.......match ups.........could be interesting team..... DISCLAIMER: POSITIONS DEFENSIVELY NOT CONSIDERED HERE
Jabari has got to figure out the mental game. He is a very skilled shooter but he loses confidence on a regular basis. When he loses confidence, not only does his shooting go in the tank, sometimes his general productivity (rebounding and defense) follows suit and he's worthless. IMO, if Jabari was mentally tough, he would have averaged 18/10 last year while playing consistent defense. This coming season, there is a chance he doesn't play 30+ min/game because Tari and Amen eat into his playing time. I'll say it again: There will be winners and losers among the Rockets young players. If Tari and Amen both make a jump, Jabari better do the same or become a very good backup C to maintain the same playing time.
I’m not too worried that a 20 year old NBA player loses confidence sporadically. It is all a part of the growing process. It takes a long time for these young guys to adapt to athleticism, strength, and bbiq of NBA veterans vs. the competition before entering the league. Jabari has progressed at a reasonable rate. I expect another leap this year. Not that he will ever become Durant (few have), but he is the best comp for Jabari.
Bari’s floor is a plus defending Rashard Lewis. He’s already made the 2nd year jump from 30-36% from 3 and now needs to get to 38% on higher volume. We don’t need him to be KD or Dirk. We need him to be a defensive Swiss Army knife, who rebounds and can score without dominating the ball. All he needs is to be more aggressive defensively and get more shots. Bari is the guy I worry least about because he can shoot and play D, which means he’ll never be a bust. The rest of young core, for all of their playmaking abilities, cannot do those two things as consistently.
Why do y'all put so much stock into these fake "metrics?" Estimated Plus Minus is not a statistic, it's literally an estimate, it's right there in the name. All these various idiotic made up statistics do very little but confirm the confirmation bias of whoever's reading them. As soon as you find the one that agrees with your take it becomes a super important statistic, it's literally just another random abbreviated made up thing that somebody decided "is more important" than just using the actual raw statistics. They're all so convoluted to make them sound clever but they don't really have any more statistical merit, they're just more complicated, it's crazy.
