I do think he's been legitimately beat up and worn down in recent games. Maybe the rest will do him some good.
The defense has been gouge my eyes out bad with FVV-Green-Amen-Sengun. Maybe JSJ is a cure-all for the defense that Tari and Brooks couldn't be. Or maybe Tari and/or Brooks is the problem defensively even though they appear fine when Green isn't on the court. I don't think the shooting will matter if Green doesn't figure out how to play defense with FVV-Amen-Sengun on the court.
I think a lot of that is not really just Green, it's the whole team running on fumes. Even Amen has been below his usual standard the past 10 games or so.
What a monkey. This guy read 4 years ago that Jalen has small hands and now he wants to convince us that Jalen can't dribble? Can't get to the line? He has a 6+ FTA season on the books one of the youngest to ever do it and when he was way lighter with a lesser handle too. That's a spacing issue not a Jalen issue. Some people will do anything for clicks.
He is the Odd or Even Number Man whenever he is on. He is the On and Off relationship between all love birds.
Last 10 Games Defensive Rating With Jalen...114.2 (pretty sure the only reason this isn't much higher is Toronto) Without Jalen 100.0 Why do fumes turn the Rockets defense into an All-Defense Team without Jalen the last 10 games, but the fumes are an excuse when he's in the game? On Amen, the defense is great with him even on fumes when Green isn't on the court. Basically, it comes down to the starting lineup. The defense went to crap without JSJ for the starting lineup, but the offense was great until FVV got hurt and the bench's defense was fantastic as long as Green wasn't with them.
Caveat: I've had an up and down fan status with Jalen Green. Last 2 years, it has mostly been down outside a couple of hot streaks. Since around the start of 2025, my level of agitation with Green has gone through the roof. Maybe I'm letting my emotions get the better of me and it is just a coincidence that the defense has sucked when he's in the game. The defense isn't likely just Green. My opinion is that defense has been so bad when he's on the court that it is tough for me to blame others.
We're 2/3 done with this season and he's at 35%. Sure, he could go into a slump for the last third, but historically he seems to do better towards the end of the year. It would appear he's at least respectable from 3 at this point.
I’ll be on the Jalen is a glorified 6th man train for life. He will be traded this offseason and will be some other fanbase’s problem. They’ll have to convince themselves he’s a star after 10 games on and 10 games off.
Just a note on this. League average is 35.9%. If a guy makes that number on 4 attempts, that's an average shooter. Jalen is taking double that volume. We can't be looking at guys taking half his volume averaging 0.9% more than him and saying one is an average shooter and the other is a bad one. If that guy takes 8 attempts, his % will simply drop. Very nitpicky note I know, but it's more something I'm really excited about. Jalen's 0.9% away from being league average efficiency but on elite volume (top 20 I believe). We're so close and it would be a massive difference maker if he crosses that line. As you stated, hopefully post ASB settles it once and for all.
What is the average 3-point field goal percentage for a starting shooting guard? Edward is at 42%, Herro at 38%, Poole at 37%, Beasley at 42%, Mitchell at 39%, Murphy and McCullum at 38%.... Only guys taking a lot of threes and shooting around or worse than Green and are shooting guards are Harden at 34%, Booker at 33%, VanVleet and Monk at 33%.... So Green is shooting a little better than last year from 3 - and it is good that it isn't trending down from last year, but he still has a ways to go to justify the number of threes he takes from an efficiency standpoint. There are guys like Wemby and Tatum and Maxey that are not shooting guards that are taking a lot of threes and not making a good percentage.... Young is in that group as well. Most of these guys are having bad seasons from 3, but not all. If Green can get up to the 38% mark, then his efficiency will look a lot better.
If you ask me, unless he explodes in the second half, he'll never take this many 3's again. He shouldn't be taking this many 3's but Udoka has stated several times he wants it, he defends those shots and looking at the roster someone has to take them. Everyone is overextended and that's why practically everyone is shooting poorly but the outlier Brooks. Green is the second best shooter on the team right now. There are others with marginally higher percentages, but if they took Jalen's volume they would collapse of course. If he can actually achieve league average at 8 attempts, that's mind blowing to me. I never thought he'd be able to make more than 36% on 4 attempts even at his best - similar to Ja Morant. For me this is a huge bonus, not something I was expecting. Certainly, you can't claim anymore at his current efficiency that he's the reason why out spacing is bad. It's now clearly on Amen/Sengun. We need bigger swings than Jalen's 2% to remedy thjis. Here it comes down to subjective stuff. You lump him in with shooters. I've never seen any reasonable comp with those people. To me Jalen is a slasher facing an unusually extremely blocked paint. He is more the guy who went to the line 6 times than he is a guy who will be known as a shooter. I think you probably see him as absolutely needing to be a great shooter to succeed because you look at his finishing numbers and are not impressed. Personally I don't buy that argument, but I've heard it shared a lot. More importantly, if I'm a coach who has a fast twitch athlete with rapidly improving defense who we know can go to the line 6+ times in a non-horrible shooting environment and he can make league average on 8 attempts... I'm loving my chances. I'm on board with you, I want the psychological edge of him averaging 37-38%. Spacing is about reputation rather than what you've shot recently. I hope they acquire a big shooter at the 1 or 4 so Jalen can drop his attempts closer to 5-6 attempts and have a good shot at achieving that accuracy and obviously that shooter will finally open up the paths to the basket which Amen, Green and Cam are all struggling with. They are all already better than their current stats, we often see them wanting to attack the paint but it's just a bad idea when it's this packed.
Somebody needs to take those shots or the defenses will collapse into the paint even more than they already are. Especially with FVV and Jabari out, Brooks and Green are the starters who might actually make a few of those shots.
Yeah. Things were looking SO good when Jabari shot great his last quarter of a season. It pushed Jalen to start seeking more drives, the floor just started looking better as teams adjusted to Jabari. Was such bad timing we lost him to that injury which might also take him time to get back into rhythm. He's just the perfect player at PF for this team when he's confidently hitting 3's. It's really a unique situation that we have 7 core young players who have never been seen except in extremely extremely extremely limited spacing compared to almost all playoff teams. I get that there's a reason for that, but what interests me is: it's quite possible most of our rotation is better than their current offensive stats. Especially those who need to create (Sengun/Amen/Green). Hopefully we see that next season.
You can't see it, I know.....but Jalen isn't helping this team win all that much with his inconsistency, Cam is as well, but his aggression and getting to the line and rebounding help more. If Cam started and Jalen came off the bench, the team would be better. DD
