Udoka is supposed to be all about performance and not the name on the back of the jersey. Cam, who is inherently a better player than Smith (in my opinion) was sent down for subpar performance, why not Jabrari? He can certainly average 24-10 down there and his number one issue (other than being too skinny) is his confidence. He did summer league last year and it did wonders for his confidence. Rockets need to send a message and consider this type of move.
lol Bari is struggling, but in no way has Cam been a "better" player this season. He's shooting .05 from 3. His defense is much worse than Bari's. Whitmore is a selfish player who just loves to chuck and provides little else. Bari is struggling, but the Rockets still have the top two defensive four man lineups in the league, and Bari is a part of both.
I'm sure when teams send a starter down to the G League it improves their morale and confidence. What we're doing now is exactly right. Let him stay in his spot so he doesn't complete shatter, but reduce his minutes consistently until he has a favorable matchup or a hot start. Amen and Tari are playing way more minutes than him (as they should) right now anyways.
don't think the tillmen would allow a 3rd pick be sent down. a real owner would have just cut him. patrick would have cut him.
I'm sure Ime likes alot of what he does outside of scoring. He has a good amount of defensive versatility. That being said he is the 3rd pick, has a big pay day extension decision to be made, and has unrealized potential to be better than he has been offensively. I'd say he's a prime candidate to get traded in order to give him a fresh start, and another team would take a flyer on him in a heartbeat. I still think he's got a very high floor to be a Horford type of versatile 5 in the NBA long term, but as the 3rd pick in the draft I can see why the Rockets wouldn't see the upside in a max extension for that type of player THIS YOUNG in their career with unrealized offensive output, and would rather just get a veteran like Horford who can do those type of things now. If Tari checks out physically to no longer have long term injury risks I'd be okay moving Jabari, and starting Tari at the 4 moving forward. Maybe you could get a nice vet role player and a 1st round pick for Jabari, and Jabari can be in a situation where he can have a better fit offensively to develop. To me that would be more preferable than demoting him to the G-League, and putting in question his value as a prospect.
Well Jabari has a record to review. Last 20 games of last season (23/24) shot .395 from three. Working it out at the NBA level goes further than G-league in terms of building up trade value. Easier to send a rookie to the G-league, If it's the #10 or #16th pick......#3 pick in the draft gets extra time and is treated with kid gloves in order to not hurt their delicate feelings or psyche. Yeah; but it's the 3rd pick in the draft of one of the crappiest draft classes ever !! Just saying we could've had Dalton Knecht or Edey
I do not see them sending him to the G-league but his minutes should be greatly reduced until he can finally get his head on straight. I can see them adding him to a trade at the deadline if he does not improve. Tari should be getting starter minutes even if he does not immediately start. He has earned that with his play.
For one, you can't increase Jabari's trade value while he's playing in the G-League. Regarding Cam, we hope his assignment to the G-League humbles him...you can tell by his body language on the bench that he's frustrated with his reduced role...just like Ime benched Jalen plenty of times last season, he has improved his hand quite a bit (except for his streaky shooting). Let's see if Cam improves once he's called back up. I've been calling it all along, Jabari unfortunately won't live up to the #3 hype.
I’m not sure if Bari to the G-league in his 3rd season makes any sense. Bari’s problem is primarily a broken shot, a lack of assertiveness/quick decision making. He’ll never be a guy that puts the ball on the floor and creates, but his ability to thrive as a role player is mental. The shot can be fixed; it might take a lot of work this offseason; it’s not gonna magically get right. The lack of assertiveness is a mental thing and that just may be who he is. Sending Bari to the G-league just hurts his value and it may not help his confidence. I don’t think it’s gonna change his broken shot. He’s got a very long development runway, and won’t pay dividends until his second contract. If the rockets are convinced he’ll extend for Kispert money I say bring him off the bench and keep developing him. But if not we need to move him before the deadline, and recoup some value for our #3 pick.
Dalton and Edey would've both been sent down to the G League on this team. He plays on the Lakers because they're devoid of talent to such a degree that Dalton Knecht looks like one to them.
Jabari Smith Jr. has not been great. There is no metric that suggests otherwise. Whether it is good old traditional box score or advanced statistics or the plain old eye test, he has not been great. Jabari is a -5 in plus-minus this season, and that is thanks to a +15 and a +18 on the ledger in against the Spurs and Grizzlies, respectively. Jabari has a PER in of 11.2, where the league average is 15. His defensive rating is 109.9, which is right at the league average of about 110, but forget all that… watch him play. Does he look like a confident NBA player to you? When Jabari takes a wide-open shot, do you feel like it is more than likely that he is going to make it or miss? Let me ask the same question I asked all of you about Dillon Brooks in my last piece. Does Jabari Smith Jr. do anything markedly better than his obvious replacements of either Tari Eason or Amen Thompson? Amen Thompson has a PER of 17.2, Tari’s PER is 22.8, Amen is a +38 plus-minus this season. Tari is a +81, but forget all that… watch them play. When Tari and Amen Thompson are on the floor, you expect good things to happen, and they do. Maybe Jabari Smith Jr. is playing out of position with this team? Maybe the space on the floor that he would flourish in is being occupied by Alperen Sengun? Maybe he needs to take more than nine shots a game to get into a rhythm? I do not know if any of those things are the case, but I think it could be worth looking at bringing Jabari off the bench and see if he may be able to flourish in that role. Play him more in the pick-and-roll and give him an opportunity to pick-and-pop and score from the mid range. His defensive versatility allows him to guard multiple positions and coming off the bench that could be an advantage to him as he may be guarding more bench players than starters. This could be a fantastic opportunity for Jabari to gain some more confidence. If there is one thing I do not see when I watch Jabari Smith Jr. play, it’s confidence.
I think Thompson or Eason would be a viable option to replace him in the starting lineup, and I think Jabari could still be a part of a strong second unit along with whichever of those two remain on the bench. Jabari could still see himself on the floor late in games as Ime Udoka seems to like him in the role of the center in late situations. What could it hurt to give it a look? The argument could be made that the Rockets are 8–4, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. My argument would be, as we saw when the Rockets took on the Oklahoma City Thunder both in the preseason and regular season, there are levels to this. The Rockets offense has been in the middle of the pack so far this season, ranked 14th, while their defense is ranked fourth currently. Any improvement in their offense could see this team take major leaps forward. There is little doubt that more minutes for Thompson and Eason, who are both excellent offensively and defensively would make this team better. I don’t think the Rockets should give up on Jabari Smith Jr., but they should try to find a way to put him in better position to be more successful. I like Jabari and I want him to do well in a Houston Rockets uniform. I’d hate for him to become one of those draft picks that moves on and hits their stride for another team. He works hard and I think it’s very evident that he cares. No one can accuse him of not playing hard, but when he plays... it looks hard. Not like it’s the game he’s been playing all his life. If he can find his role and excel in it, then the sky really is the limit for the Rockets. I believe that role very well may be coming off the bench playing the majority of his minutes backing up Alperen Sengun.
We are 8-4 and you're mad at Ime? Lol. Jabari does the intangibles that don't show up in the box scores
