39% from 3 on 11.5 attempts per game so far. Amazing if he can keep that up. Only 38% on 2’s, but no way that will continue.
This is a weird take. I can understand being skeptical of Jalen, and maybe he's your least favorite of the core seven or you don't care for elements of his game. That's fine. But to come out and say you "hate" him to this level? Why? And especially after he's had a relatively strong start through two games; statistically by far the strongest start he's ever had to a season. It truly feels like there's a lot of toxicity in CF right now, and some posters can't like one player without vocally tearing down another. It's a little sad.
Green’s averaging 25 on 39% from 3 while playing much better defense. He needs to get his TS% up, but overall he’s looked quite good.
Jalen’s shot is looking smooth and you can tell he has worked on it. I think he knows it too which I am assuming is giving him confident in taking so many of these shots compare to last year. He will find the balance between attacking the rim and taking 3 point shots. I am fine with him taking 10-12 threes a game as long he is playing defense. Just continue to get better with finishing with floaters and his efficiency will improve.
He’s shooting 39% in 3’s in high volume. I’m so proud. I don’t even care about the overall fg %percentage when he’s shooting nearly 40% on over 10 attempts a game from 3. he does need to be more consistent for. The free throw line it then again the whole team does. Ina close game in the last two minutes none of our starters or core players really give me much confidence if it came down to free throws.
39% from 3 so far from Jalen is a stark improvement from last years abysmal 33%. Two games of course but looking good on that end. His twos however.....not great. Needs to be better about his drives. Was our best player yesterday IMO. His defense has been stellar. Slightly better efficiency from two and learning how to get some fouls called will get him into 26-28ppg territory. Literally kept us in it in the 2Q yesterday.
Credit where it's due, last night would have been a disaster with the Jalen of the first 3 seasons because he was still super inefficient scoring.... but his defense was very good and he was passing up some shots he normally takes to get a teammate a better look. Those 2 things turned a poor performance into a positive overall performance. If he keeps that up, he'll earn his contact and the Rockets will be better for it.
It's not a coincidence that a lot of that super toxicity came in around the 2021 NBA draft. Most of them got blocked/banned to obscurity but Invocuck is still flying the SOF banner high and proud. It's because Jalen ****ed his wife.
He also needs to hit his FT's, that was my main negative for him yesterday. Both him and Amen need to hit their FT's at a high clip to maximise their ability. A young Westbrook is a good example, he's never been a great shooter, but for a good while he was a very good FT shooter and that meant his drives were some of the most efficient scoring actions his team could run. He either dunks or you foul him and he still hits 2. That's what Jalen needs, they should be near automatic.
His numbers would have looked more efficient if he didn't chuck those ill-advised 3s in garbage time. Ime should have pulled the starters earlier when the game had been decided midway through the 4th.
Now he's got the defensive intensity up he's trying to double down on the Kobe comps by still being a bit of a chucker...
The shot is looking good but he does not need to be upping his volume again. We need to get to a sustainable and efficient percentage. Something like 37% on 6 attempts would be great. Ime needs to put a stricter cap on the number of jumpers he takes. We maybe have to try running PnR with him and Jabari while Sengun is spacing from his preferred 3PT spot. I think Green would do better with a PnR partner who can pull out for the 3 while he (Green) attacks the switch. The way we run plays right now, the "right" shot is poorly suited to our SG (catch and shoot 3). We can run other plays and get a different "right" shot that takes Jalen's quickness and first step into consideration. Those are the type of plays that would help him legitimately carry some offense for a playoff-bound team. The team really needs that from him. I'm seeing a little more effort getting to the line this season but he can still do a better job driving and kicking to open shooters. Need him to trust the hockey assist more often. Don't ditch your shooters just because they started rough, you have to use them. All in all a solid start to the season. Could still exercise some better and swifter decision making with the ball but the defensive improvement is the biggest story. Just more mature than last season on both ends of the court.
I'm coming back to this post because it changed the way I watched the game last night and I just wanted to tell you that I agree with you more now than I did before. I didn't really notice it on my own, I'm not really much of an x's and o's guy, so these things aren't apparent to me. But the PNR is actually horrible. Specifically the early passes to Sengun accomplish nothing, I don't even really get the point of it. They don't create any advantage (like you said), there's no point to it, they just get the ball to Sengun pretty far away from the basket with 1 or 2 defenders right on top of him. We won last night because we made shots but something's gotta change on those plays where Sengun gets the ball as the roll man. It is extremely ineffective. I don't know if this is too reactionary but I'm kind of souring on Ime. Top 5 defense with bottom half offense is not a formula for success in the NBA. Those teams never win anything.
He needs to stop rushing the PnR action. They all kept doing it again last night, they run the PnR and dump it straight back to Sengun before any advantage was created. It's an arbitrary move rather than a choice based on a read. Unless a defender is pulled out of position there's no reason for throwing the pass that early, he needs to actually decisively attack the basket and that'll force the defender to either leave him open to stop Alpi, or help on Jalen and leave Alpi wide open which'll lead to assists for Jalen or more FTs for Alpi. Drive and dish works because you're drawing help from a defender on the perimeter, we're not really drawing much help most of the time, we're just running into traffic. It's partially the angles we're taking off the screen and partially that we're rushing the actions before they develop. I just hope they start to improve it with more reps tbh.
