What in my post suggested I agreed with Apache Warrior. You need to improve your reading comprehension.
The man is one of the streakiest players in the NBA though. Like for a week or two he can look like Kobe Bryant than he'll follow that up with a 3 weeks of looking like JR Smith.
Most players don't begin playing their best ball until they are 25 - 26 yrs old. And you can't tell me nobody wanted to trade Jabari after the first 10 games!
How many players COMPLETELY sucked for 4 years and then became good though? Lauri is the only real example i have ever seen, and he was way better than jalen his first few seasons. It simply does not happen. Of course players hit their absolute prime in their mid-late 20s but they don’t go from trash to great
I've read cap breakouts showing the third year to be a bit of an issue extending everyone. If his deal was 2 years with a team option or just 2 years it would be fine. As is I think it's pretty bad. If this Jalen Green is what we get for most of the season I don't know who is looking to take on 3 years at 20-25% of their cap for that with most teams looking at potential salary crunches in coming years. Kinda bust-y/but still upside high draft picks usually get like a year or two at the MLE with the second either a PO or TO depending on how bust-y they yare. And the worst part is if you trade for him as a high upside gamble and it works out he just opts out in year 3. I think many are underestimating that contract could be pretty hard to move in the near term. Longer term if they need to get rid of it in year 3 it might not take quite as much.
Are you seriously telling everyone "just wait until year 6?" Come on man. 6 years? Can you point me to any player who was bad in their first 5 years but turned it around in their 6th year?
did i ever infer that you agreed with apachewarrior? the irony telling me to improve my reading comprehension
The problem is that the cultists don't think that Jalen has sucked the previous 3 years....they are actually delusional enough to think Jalen has been good and they'll turn to things like raw number of points scored to "prove" their case.
Great post - always refreshing to see people who "get" the nuance between who your best player is and how that can be at odds with how you get to the next levels to achieve your team goals. As good as Sengun is - it is very much a legit conversation that "what got you here, won't get you there". It's frustrating that people here think it's far more logical to think Sengun is the next Jokic(one of one player all time), and get upset when you suggest he may be some slightly better version of Sabonis - who is good (a multiple time all star even) but not necessarily a guy you build a title team around.
They also think that the first two years with Silas doesn't count (only for Jalen) and that last season was his first "real" season in the NBA. Some reason Jalen is the only one who gets a pass. Stating facts of why Jalen is a disappointment and a likely draft bust somehow makes you a hater and less of a Rockets fan in Jalen stans' eyes but those same Jalen stans go around trashing Tate or Landale for bad play lol. Jalen stans need to get off their high horse and quit thinking that they are some special kind of Rockets fan - Jalen shouldn't be immune to criticism and everyone needs to stop babysitting his ass
ummm - you said "if you're of the same opinion as apache warrior.. you better be re-thinking your choices in life". Maybe you intended it to be a general statement but as a direct statement to @Hemingway 's post it reads as you accusing him of agreeing with apachewarrior.
his original post clearly mentioned he had a different opinion... sorry for not repeating his opinion and making sure to recuse him from any sort of agreement. didn't know this board had to be so formal. my reply was more of a dig at our host and I was using "you" in general terms... also just name dropping apache as if his opinion ever matters lol...
Sucked vs inconsistent are different things. There are players who have sucked every game and there are players who show flashes of brilliance enough to be given a longer leash. Now I think Jalen has been given enough of a leash and if he's still inconsistent in year 4 that's just who he is. Scrub players don't do things like Jalen last march or lead teams to wins his rookie year against the Lakers Development isn't linear though. As seen by guys like Tyreke Evans who lit up as a rookie and then was out of the league a few seasons later. Bottom line is Jalen showed enough to be given the chance prove himself, specifically on a team like this the last few years. The fact that he didn't pan out doesn't mean people were wrong to have optimism regarding him
That IS what JR Smith looked like though JR, Lou Will, Jordan Clarkson, Malik Monk, Jamal Crawford, Marcus Thornton Can string together stretches where they look like absolute star offensive players, then go into long slumps. At the end of most years they are inefficient overall. This is the definition of a 6th man, talented but not consistent enough to build around or even start long term.
He is NOT inconsistent though, he has generally been very consistent his entire career outside of those 2-3 weeks last march. He’s kinda like a baseball player who puts up a 600 OPS for 4 years but had one stretch where he put up an 1100 ops for a couple weeks
I'm rly worried about JG. Right now, I'm praying he gets back to his historically bad play because right now it's absolutely abysmal. His contract is an albatross and if he finishes the season with this regression, then that contract cannot be moved in 2025 off-season without attaching at least 2 first round pics. And as much as I want him off the team, that would be selling at absolute rock bottom, which would be idiotic for Stone to do. I would think Stone waits another season and prays he gets back to his historic standards, albeit bad, and then try to move him in 2026 off-season with one less year on his contract.
Billups wasn't bad before his 6th year. He was simply a role player before his 6th year. People conflate the two but just because a player is playing well in a small role doesn't mean he sucked. In Billups 4th season he shot .53TS% which was actually above average for the league at the time. He also made 38% of his 3s while dishing out 4apg. If Jalen had Billups' statline from his 4th year, even un-adjusted for playing era, people here would treat him like Dillon Brooks. Hey maybe not a star but help the team win. And I don't know what you're smoking about Marbury here because in his 4th year he was voted All-NBA. Starks is also a pointless comparison since he didn't stick to the NBA until he was much older.
Billups is actually a legit example, the other 2 were 3rd season not 5th so they don’t work. Even billups though put up a 107 TS+ in year 2, so he at least showed something unlike jalen
