When Jabari comes back, where is he going in the rotation?

Jabari may go back into the starting lineup when he returns. But, I don’t see him with the team for the next decade. Poor ball handler that doesn’t get assists. Not an elite shooter so far. But, he is still young.

I could be 100% wrong about Jabari, and I will be thrilled if he becomes a really good player. We will have to wait and see. He will definitely have a long career in the NBA, I just don’t know if he is the guy we want to pay big money to for the next decade.

 

Not enough. I'll definitely be speaking to someone's manager...

 

I don't see why he'd command big money. He's a role player. 12 and 7 with 35% shooting from 3. I think he's probably a 15/9 type at his peak with league average shooting from 3, a good starter but not a star.

 

Everyone in the core 7 will need to make sacrifices. Glad Sengun and Green led by example

 

lol the Jabari disrespect is unreal. Sure he’s not Banchero or Chet but dude is a solid AF 21 year old pure PF

 

He should replace Dillon at the 4, but initially he needs to come off the bench.
Amen should remain the starting SF.

 

Dillon has been great, but we should try having him come off the bench w Tari. My only concern is that he will end up trying to take too many shots and do too much thinking he is the superior player on the court coming in w the bench unit. We have kept that part of Dillon in check for the most part, but you see when he thinks hes the best option on the floor, he tries to be a primary ball hander, ball stopper, and take contested mid range shots.

We saw a bit of this last night against the Kings w Fred out, he may have thought he needed to do more. We already have Cam off the bench that does this, so DB resorting to this may not work. If he keeps his shots in check and keeps Tari and Cam involved it could work.

On another note, I was expecting Tari to be rusty and needing to be eased back in, but he looked really good for missing 13 games. I hope Jabari starts off where he left off, and he isn't needing several games to get back into the rhythm like he did at the start of the season.

 

Jabari is a great defender as well, but his shooting has been inconsistent just like Dillon Brooks. Now that Amen has emerged, we have an opportunity to upgrade Dillon Brooks by trading for Cam Johnson (who is a better shooter and great wing defender).

 

Ease him back in off the bench. He will have to earn it back from Amen or Dillon - which I don't see happening, at least not in the short term.

And no, playing him as small ball 5 without Sengun does NOT make us better - it makes us significantly worse.

 

Same place he was before, Amen subs in for someone at the under 7 timeout.

 

If he were already an elite shooter it would even be less likely he stayed with the rockets. You can’t every player if they are playing that well. Hopefully Jabari will follow suit and sign like a 3 year extension. That way most of these guys can at least play 5-6 years together. Then a few leave at some point.

 

this might be the best thing for Jabari, we know he is a competitor

having to compete to earn the starting job back against Brooks(let’s be honest Amen is not the one losing his spot) will only push him to be better

It’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out

 

My gut tells me they will put Jabari in the starting lineup and move Amen back to the bench, but his role will remain huge and be undiminished.

Not saying this is the right thing.

 

Jabari likely won't start right away unless the Rockets struggle mightily in the next few weeks. After extended time-off, most players are expected to play limited minutes whilst they ramp up. some might start the game whilst they ramp up and instead hit the bench earlier, others straight up come off the bench whilst ramping up.

In Jabari's case, the likely scenario is he comes off the bench whilst he ramps up. I anticipate Dillon, FVV and Sengun sitting earlier so you can field Amen/Jalen/Whitmore/Jabari/Adams.

 

I agree that Jabari should be eased back somewhat slowly. But easing a guy back is not the same as bringing him off the bench. You can still start and play limited minutes. However, bringing him off the bench "slowly" can actually be a coaching tactic to easing him to a backup role.

I don't know about Udoka. Some coaches don't want players to lose starting job after injury. It's more of a psychological thing. It's one thing to be beat out by someone else. It's another thing to be given away when you can't compete with injury.

Anyway, I do agree with those who advocate benching Brooks rather than Jabari. Brooks can still play around 30 mpg when they are managing Tari's minutes. We have a deep team. Everybody's minutes should be reduced (especially in the regular season) to keep them fresh. It takes a lot of physical and mental energy to maintain a high level of defense and rebounding like what Ime demands.

 

Remember Sam Cassell? He "came off the bench" but played more minutes than Kenny Smith (after a point) and finished games. That model could be followed again. For this role, you'd choose a guy who brings instant juice when he steps onto the court.

 

The name rings a bell.

 

Kenny couldn't even get over losing a race to the big screen against Shaq at halftime of the Kings game. Sulker skipped what was supposed to be a tribute to the terror twins. Sam would have finished the job.

 

My guess is that it is unlikely JSJ comes back as a starter for the Rockets.
I'd guess Brooks or someone off the team will likely be starter once JSJ is healthy.

I'm thinking Cam Whitmore is in the rotation to stay.

 

Good example. I don't think anyone would try to argue Jabari brings "instant juice" hardly anytime. Similar for DB. When it comes to "instant juice" off the bench like Sam Cassell, nobody on the team is close to Amen other than Tari.

I must confess before Tari started missing games, I was sometimes bored to tears watching the starting lineup and couldn't wait for Amen and Tari to come in.