I think you missed that I was SUPPORTING your part of the debate vs.the guy that said that “ on most nights Bari gives you less than 10pts.”. I think it was subtomic or something like that posted that.Same guy here… no alt acct. No one is more positive about Bari than me. But, it’s all good bro… you just read my post the wrong way.BTW… it was subtomic who replied to Ancient Moabite about less than 10 pts. a game. He’s wrong of course… as he is about Bari and his future potential.
There's only one Wemby but that doesnt mean Jabaris are common. 6'10 guys who can shoot 3s and also defend are pretty rare.
I see. Yeah def read that wrong my b. Jabari is probably my 2nd fav Rocket. He does so much. I wish the appreciation for him was as wide as his on-court contribution. Feels like the people complaining about him are just complaining for the sake of complaining. Like they decided (arbitrarily) to dislike him and don't know how to be supportive now. Like he has to become that top 1% outcome from the draft profile by the time he's 22 or else we'll all hear about it. As if that sort of poster makes this board better when it doesn't. Buncha fools like that just sticking around to hate and it's too much.
Yeah, but he played all 82 the previous season and his numbers were only slightly lower across the board showing very believable improvement in all areas. I don't think there is as much concern for Tari being injury prone, his surgery was to fix a benign growth from a stress fracture. From what it sounds like he worsened or reinjured the stress fracture by playing on it causing it not to heal cleanly. Even if this is not the case, it is not the type of injury that would indicate any future problems. If anything should make him pay more attention if he is feeling pain or discomfort in an area. I don't think it is a competition between Tari and Bari, I think they are complementary players. Both are able to provide impact without needing any plays called for them. Both can play solid defense on All-NBA players and force bad shots and turnovers.
I think Jabari should start and finish for us but spend a ton of time especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters with the bench unit. I want him to get more shots and also raise his confidence in his improving handle against lesser defenders. Ease him into next season. Amen (playing as point Center) Jabari Tari Cam Sheppard I think they would absolutely demolish other second units. Who could even keep up with them if Sheppard can run a fast paced offense.
JSJ comes in at 25th in Sam/Bryce's 24 under 24 just missing the cut. Mostly buying into his potential and Sam says if he was a betting man that Jabari is comfortably on the list at this time next year. Just need to see the growth. Says the defense is fine but not groundbreaking. Doesn't see him as a 5 at all....more of a true 4 that can guard 3s. Struggles to see him guard 2s with stiff hips but could develop. Bryce mentions that they fawned over his shots at Auburn but obviously his inability to put the ball on the floor limits him. Ranked behind fellow teammates Sengun, Amen and Reed. Ahead of Jalen, Cam and Tari. Comfortably behind Paolo (who I'm assuming is #2 on this list) and Chet/JDub/Keegan. 5th in his draft class.
That was always likely to be the case, even most optimistic fans saw him as maybe the 3rd best player on a championship team.... and I'll be happy if that's what he becomes.
I think the better term for elite role players are specialists, great players that never made the All Star Game namely Derrick White types. And who can stil make the National team as a National team player, good enough to repping the Country in Paris..eh.
I don't even get Jabari Smith as an elite role player, it's contingent on his defense becoming elite - it's just not, nobody says it is. He's perfectly fine and not a liability - but doesn't have the quickness/athleticism to become a Jaren Jackson Jr type of disruptive defender.
At his pinnacle he was one of the All Stars, maybe not the most shining All Star. This 35 year old one yeah, an inefficient role player.
What made him an All Star at his peak? He never could put the ball on the deck and was an above average defender making the All NBA Defensive Second team one time. 5x All Star and All NBA Third team twice.
Every time I watch Derrick White, I see him do lots of "little" things to give his team an edge - stuff like starting the offense, saving a ball going out of going out of bounds, denying or even blocking/stripping (the new definition of blocks has muddied what is what) guys with a breakaway layup, and hitting big shots from all over the court. This is definitely an elite role player, and not necessarily a "specialist" because he does a lot of everything, plays hard and doesn't really have any gaps in his game. No, he's not an offensive first option and he probably isn't an elite, point of attack defender, but you can truly plug in and play him on every team in the league. Jabari doesn't have anywhere close to this kind of versatility, and it's not because he's young or had a bad year of coaching under Silas. On the latter, keep in mind that Jabari has been working with a pro-level player (his father) his entire life - he should be more developed than his peers, not less. Yet despite the advantages in training and coaching that he's had, he remains the rawest prospect of all our rookies with some very significant deficiencies in his tools - particularly IQ, explosiveness and coordination. For example, let's talk about the "drastic improvement' of his handle - what this meant in execution was that he went from unable to dribble at all without turning it over to able to do very basic and very short dribble drives without fumbling (though only if undefended). That's definitely significant improvement but the end result is still way below an NBA-effective level. Furthermore, as someone else here said, development isn't linear and expecting a similar jump to a pro-level (let alone elite) is not guaranteed - most guys who become decent ball handlers in the NBA start at a much higher level (higher than Jabari has yet to achieve). In another post, someone claimed that basketball IQ can be improved. I suppose this is possible, but again, I would expect the son of an ex-NBA player (no matter how brief that NBA career was) to be way more advanced in his ability to make reads and make timely decisions based off those reads. He doesn't strike me as dumb, but he also hasn't demonstrated that innate sense of the game that top role players usually do from day one. What that means on the court is that he's likely always one or two beats behind the action and ineffective when doubled/trapped. Finally, and I really can't emphasize this any more than I already have, Jabari plays way smaller than his height. He lacks explosiveness and the tough reality is that players get less bouncy as they age, not more. This will become all the more pronounced if he does eventually bulk up (though having met his father in person, there's a good chance he won't) - that's just how gravity works. Additionally, he has no skills to punish smaller defenders - this is something that could be developed, but when we combine this with his lack of coordination, the odds of significant improvement go way down. So ultimately, his ability to be a versatile 4 (one who can play inside and out) just isn't there - he's almost entirely a perimeter player who's almost entirely a spot-up shooter. As I've said before, I fully expect his shot to become more reliable, for his rebounding to become more consistent and for his perimeter defense to become more refined. If he becomes a top 5 3-pt shooter - someone who defenses never willingly leave open - I can see his scoring numbers reaching some of the more optimistic predictions here (and yes, more than 10 pts a game). But I don't believe he's going to become versatile enough to be anything more than the 5th best starter on an average team and on most playoff teams, he'd be coming off the bench. BTW, just so some of our pathologically literal posters here don't get confused, this post is NOT a specific response to daywalker02, but rather a broad response to multiple posts here with daywalker02's post serving as a starting point.
Being substantially better at nearly all aspects of basketball than Jabari Smith Junior, for one thing.
It’s all good. Absolutely agree with what you are saying here…I backed off posting here in the off season for that very reason. There are a handful of folks here that spew constant venom at him.They will end up eating a ton of crow when it’s all said and done IMO. I have openly asked what he would need to do to meet their satisfaction… crickets. Despite what they would have you believe, versatile nearly 7 ft. players don’t grow on trees.
I am all for Bari becoming a star but come on, let's not friendly fire so soon. This should be a natural process.
He has his opinion and I enjoyed reading it. No friendly fire intended. The whole he could maybe be a 5th starter something something. Just wow
I swear, posts like this annoy the crap outta me. White is 30 and came into the league at 23. Bari is going to be 21 THIS SEASON. At 20 years old - Bari’s age last season - White was playing DII ball. It’s absurd, unfair comparison. If anything, White is the ultimate example of how wrong you are -- he's definitive proof that what a player is at 20 often bears very little indication to who they will be in their prime.
