Man the thing is: he's not a superstar so why are they putting superstar expectations on him? This is just a continuation of the BS "he was drafted 2nd" as though the player chooses his draft spot and not the GM. I was telling them all January DON'T START EXPECTING SUPERSTARDOM and they're like DUHH WE WON'T and then they're like "but how come he's not like the MVP of the NBA FInals who makes $60m+ and is 27 years old with championship experience?" They just can't see it and it sucks for them. I haven't had a chance to watch the game but that's what it looked like from the boxscore and highlights, though I didn't want to assume it. It looked like we always look - we're clumsy but gritty and persistent about finishing games. I've often said Ime needs to put a tighter leash on the dumb shots. We take like the 6th most midrange jumpers and we're like 26th in efficiency or something. You see all of em taking shots they can't make. FVV is a good guy and a competitor even though the right thing is that he gets overtaken by the kids, don't expect him to give up without a fair fight. I hope one of the youngsters has the trust and connection with him to say: I'm the Numero Uno in the clutch. Please respect that just as I respect everything you do. This team is exiting its teenage years about now. They won't be GROWN like James Harden was GROWN till they're like 24/25yrs old, I can see it now. It's all green fields from here. What's tactically good for Amen is even better for Green so whatever changes the team makes from this point forward (barring a trade of one of them) they are going to favor Green. There's literally nothing we can possibly do to make things harder for him in terms of scoring. We've started 2 non-shooters with non-rebounder Brooks at the 4. Beginning of season all 3 other players were shooting poorly as him or worse. We've started him with slowest starters in the NBA before. Worst spacing in the NBA almost always till recently. Genuinely and I'm not throwing shade at anyone, but there's truly nothing worse we can do to Jalen than what he's had to push through anyway. We did all the worst stuff so it's smooth sailing from here haha
they guarded Jalen for 90ft almost all night. He was consistently being guarded during inbounds in the backcourt.
The funny thing is.... This was the most difficult month schedule wise. A lot of good to elite defenses we faced this month.
I cant wait to see all these young players in the playoffs. Thats where legacies are made. As for the Jater all I can say is hopefully one day he wins them over. Hard working guy. No offcourt drama (besides other men thinking their own experience is superior to talk down on who Jalen chooses as a love interest), soft spoken and really hard to dislike. Painted nails sends some "alpha" men into a tizzy. Then there is the draftnik who spent weeks spamming his preferred selection so he's never gotten over it and then the "schtats" guy who cant enjoy some really WOW moments because he's married to a spreadsheet. Winning cures all just need to get through this last stretch of the season healthy and then see what type of warriors we have in the postseason.
Barkley said what a lot of us have been saying, Jalen makes the game harder for himself. He takes bad shots, now he can make them sometimes, but he just forces the game instead of letting it come to him. I think until we get a PG that can BEAT his man off the dribble to force teams to rotate this is who he will be, but if we can pair him with a true PG - it will unlock him. When he is on balance he is a much better shooter than when he drifts.....right now, he isn't the best at creating his own, he doesn't have much more than just speed to the rim, so he needs a bit of help. Last night was a great example - when it got tough in the end, he drove into 4 people and turned it over.....just made the game harder than it has to be. DD
I agree but I think its more of him needing another scorer next to him. The whole game they keyed on him, picking him up 90ft. I'm sure at the end, his legs were heavy. Memphis played off FVV, let Brooks and Amen get their's but they keyed on Jalen all game and he still got 25/5/7.....think about that! I was against Fox at first but we may need that other TRUE scorer to unleash Jalen
There are very few players shooting in the high 80%s from the line who don’t have the potential to become GREAT shooters. Many people have pointed out Jalen’s form being more compact from three now, and it’s starting to show in his shooting splits. Despite his horrible November, he’s shooting career highs from basically everywhere and I hope his end of season TS% will show the story of his improvement
Jalen has been on an uptrend in our toughest month which is an improvement from his erratic play in December and November. I’ve been critical of him, but he’s clearly improving now.
"Judgement Day" for Jalen will be his performance in the playoffs. Same for Alpi. Both have made progress on the defensive side this season, but the proof in the pudding will be how they produce in high-intensity, physical games against good teams. Both Jalenistas and Jaters should agree on this. I have serious concerns about both guys but what happens on the floor is all that matters.
I think we'll be playing the Warriors, I've had this feeling for 2 years that we have to end the Warriors dynasty once and for all. Weirdly specific feeling I think about, hope it happens. The good news? ESPN says we've had the 2nd most difficult schedule so far. Tankathon says we have the 7th easiest remaining schedule and an higher expected winning % than the first half after half a season's worth of data about us and the rest of the NBA. If we get slightly improved health and shooting, I think we might f*ck with 60 wins. If we repeat our first half performance against the remaining 35 games, we'll win 56 games. This is madness. Some people weren't sure we'd make the playins!! lol
You definitively declared with certainty that Jalen would never be more than a 6th man after last night’s game. There’s no point pretending like you haven’t already passed judgment
That remains my current, strong opinion and I can't help it if some don't like that. Similar to this time last year when the debates raged, I believe they should finish the season before making a decision on him. But again, right now, I think both Jalen and FVV will be gone prior to training camp. Jalen is not "that guy" but he's got 35+ games to show otherwise. I'm not a Jater and give Jalen props during game threads when he plays well.
Correct. If Jalen was supposed to prove he's good against good teams, the fight in the regular season is over. We've had a top 2 or top 7 difficult schedule so far depending on who you ask. He's averaging roughly 21 points on decimal points below 43/36/87 splits and on average good defense. If the theory holds true that Jalen is basically Allen Iverson against good teams, well here we go. We have the 7th easiest remaining schedule in the NBA now. Jalen has cleared the iceberg with a lot of bumps and bruises but I will take my chances that in these next 35 games he will average: 23-24 points 57.9 TS% (because that's so Jalen of him right) 45/37/86 splits, still inconsistent but more consistent than the first half of the season The best defense he's ever played for half a season in his entire life I think that's what's coming as soon as he gets a 3-4 days breather somewhere. Jalen is an ironman but he's played a lot of minutes and taken a lot of shots while playing defense and not missing a game. He's looking gassed and too injured to play recently, limping quite frequently. He recovers quick if we just get a bump in the schedule otherwise the ASB and we're good. I think Alpi is about to find his place in the new offense as well and bounce back in TS%. This might just be one of those seasons. Early Curry Warriors vibe going on right now.
If FVV could drive to rim and actually finish it would unlock a huge part of our offense - but teams know all they have to do is not foul him and he’s just dribbling around in paint like the midget he is
