It’s funny how posters ignore 2 years of improvement from Jabari because of a slow start, but were ok with 3 years of no improvement from JG and are now giving him all these accolades after 10 up and down games this year. I for one, think both Jalen and Jabari will improve this year, but patience is needed. Ime is the real one struggling this year. He is the one who has not figured out how to use his personnel. I have high hopes that he will get better as well. People are sick of the age angle, but Jabari is 21 and is just doing what the coach has asked him to do, which is play defense, rebound, and be a spot up shooter. His shot is off, but even his short history is predictive of it leveling up. As far as minutes are concerned, as long as Tari inches up past 30 over the next several weeks, it really makes no difference whether he is starting or coming off the bench. FVV, Sengun, and Jabari have failed to meet expectations early this season, but no one should be panicking about them either. This board is full of very immature basketball fans that can’t wait to jump all over young players that are progressing on pace with most other young players. I am much more concerned about Ime’s rotation and the uneven way he applies meritocracy than a couple of sub 22 year olds having some early struggles.
Im still optimistic he finds a way to contribute. Im not sure how but hopefully things turn around for him.
2 years of Improvement? His signature skill was outside shooting - it's his raison d'etre as a theoretical high end player He shot 30% his first season - 36% last season (basically league average) And is at 29% currently . That's not years of Improvement - that's not being good at the one thing you're supposed to be elite at
I think you need to take math classes. It cannot be 2 years because half of his rookie season was pretty bad......he only then showed up after the All Star Break......stating he worked on his shot with his dad.....and so on.....so only 40 games out of 82. I probably give him 90 games out of 2 full seasons.
What about going from 30% to 36% is not improvement. His rebounding, stls, blks also improved year over year. You act like the first 10 games of this year make his improvements moot. You also don’t take into context that rookies often do not live up to expectations immediately (see Sheppard). Add that he was 19. You’re just part of the immature, immediate gratification crowd. We tore down our entire roster and started over 3 years ago. We are ahead of schedule in the re-build and have a great deal of flexibility (trade and draft assets) to continue to improve, even as we have a shot at a playoff spot this year. I don’t know if you’re 14 or 40, but you need to grow up.
I hope Jabari improves..... his trade value so we can get a real point guard by dealing FVV in a package with Jabari.
I, too, hope that we can use FVV’s contract in conjunction with other filler to get a difference maker. If it’s Jabari that has to go so be it. The problem though is who? I don’t see anyone on the horizon, even this off-season that would be worth it, unless Giannis demands out and puts us on his list (which I doubt). We should just concentrate on continued development of our young players and keep our flexibility if something breaks lose.
Chet is obviously way better than Bari, but that is another unusual injury. I have never heard of another NBA player fracturing their hip. His frame doesn't look like it will hold up long.
Chet was headed for greatness. This is a huge red flag. I’m no medical expert, but fracturing a hip has to bring into question his viability of a long career. I don’t think Wemby has the same athleticism as Chet to be honest and doesn’t seem to leap as high. Maybe that will save him from some of the stress type issues and taking giant falls. He really doesn’t have to jump to block shots or dunk.
Ginobili and Harden were very high usage players that had almost double the usage and FGA/minute of the defensive specialists they started over. It makes sense that they would come off the bench to stagger the usage a bit since their teams had two other superstars in the starting lineup. Also, despite coming off the bench they still played more minutes than the guys starting over them. Tari barely gets more usage or shots per minute than Jabari. He doesn't play the traditional sixth man role off the bench, he still plays mostly off ball. His main strengths are his defense and hustle which wouldn't clash with the starting lineup at all IMO. He's more of a Shawn Marion type than a Jamal Crawford type, if you know what I mean. If Jabari were the better defender I could understand that balanced lineup argument, but Tari is a much better there too. Honestly, it doesn't matter who starts but Tari should be playing more minutes than Jabari. Play Tari 28 minutes and Jabari 20 and the team will be much better off for it.
Yikes, that's a brutal injury. No way he stays conditioned with a fractured hip either. It would take forever for him to get back into game shape. This could easily be a season ending injury as I doubt OKC wants to chance anything by rushing him back.
