Spoiler Seriously though my immediate instinct was like "What??? There's NO WAY he disagrees even when I criticize Jalen" Only to find the twilight zone haha
It was well publicized that in the middle of last year, refs suddenly stopped calling fouls on certain types of plays. It's plausible that the type of plays during which Green was getting to the line a lot in his second year fell into that category. I can link you numerous articles about it, it's not that crazy a theory...
I think Green's high three point attempts now are a product of him being more judicious when he drives to the rim as he's played every game this season and I'm confident in he balc of his mind he's thinking he doesn't want to do any crazy stuff at the rim now so close to his first playoff appearance. Last thing he wants to do is get a major injury right before the playoffs start. That would devesate him. You can tell lately he isn't trying to do anything crazy at the rim like jump as high as he can on defenders at the rim. Hopefully rockets lock up the second seed with like 3-4 games left in the regular season so he can just rest the last couple of weeks. You can tell he's pacing himself with his rim attacks towards the end of the season. He might go hard against key match ups like the Nuggets coming up in a few games.
Jalen isnt being called for fouls. Jalen shoots 19.5% of his shot 0-3 feet to the rim, IMO this would show his drives to the basket. He attempt 3.9 fta. Booker oth attempts 10.4% of his shots 0-3 feet from the rim but he takes 6 FTA. SGA takes 20% of his shots 0-3 ft and he takes 9.4 fta. The other game Jalen got his first fta in the last 5 mins of the game. Refs for some reason dont call fouls on him so that results in a miss or a turnover. I remember a previous game he was already bleeding on the lip from contact of opponent but still got 0 calls. This may be due to him having a mumbling soft voice so he cant shout and scream when he gets hit unlike other players. Jalen is also a tough guy by nature (hasnt missed games) and he doesnt flop or exaggerate contact unlike freethrow merchants.
Lol I obviously haven't done that sort of analysis, was just thinking out loud on a forum. What do you think Jalen was doing differently his second year to get over 6 FTAs/game and a much higher free throw rate as opposed to now? He is attempting approximately the same percentage of FGAs per game from 0-3 feet as he did his second season (.195 to .202), but his free throw rate is down from .341 to .221, a pretty significant drop.
The Rockets have ran that out of bounds play at least once every game this win streak and JG has hit the shot every time …. and you are saying “Don’t run that play” I 100% understand what you are saying analytically - running a play 1-2x a game that is successful outside of those analytics is fine also
I don't remember Jalen's 2nd season in that kind of detail. Just saying it's 100x more likely he is the reason for fewer FTs, not NBA refs calling him differently. Players often change from year to year and it reflects in positive and negative ways. Maybe next season he'll take a page from other scorers and accept more contact as the toll for getting to the line more often. Elite NBA scorers often dare defenders to foul them.
I think he tried to function as the primary initiator a little too often with Fred out. Amen just isn't quite there yet either in terms of his teammates trusting him as the primary ballhandler or in terms of his own halfcourt point guard skills. Jalen is a guy who really needs to play off the ball most of the time, and as a ballhandler it should be about quick moves to get open or get to the rim, not probing defenses. The latter just isn't his skillset and at this point probably will never be. The majority of his worst possessions happen when he holds onto the ball too long and dribbles, dribbles, dribbles. He usually ends up taking a heavily contested off-balance jump shot because he doesn't have the IQ/court vision to find the open man and isn't enough of a downhill force at this point to simply make something happen at the rim.
Year 2 was his peak in drives per game in his career so far. I would guess that plays a role in his FT attempts. He just doesn’t drive to the basket with the same volume as a lot of other players. There are 45+ players with more drives per game than Jalen this season. Drives per game Year 1 : 8.8 Year 2 : 12.9 Year 3 : 9.5 Year 4 : 10.3 SGA leads the league at 20.4 drives per game. It’s really no wonder he lives at the line.
Yeah, for some reason he just wants to play like Steph Curry even though his physical tools should allow him to drive to the hoop more often. I don't know if his playstyle is going to change at this stage--if it was going to happen I think there would be more signs? Maybe if he gets a lot stronger as he gets into his mid-20s, but I'm not counting on it. Usually the way a player approaches the game, as in their shot selection, is pretty set by his 4th year in the league. Something that does happen more often is that players become better shooters and passers as they get into their prime years. My hope that JG becomes an all-star caliber player (which I think is his realistic ceiling at this point--I'm kinda out on him as a future superstar) pretty much rests on his jump shot continuing to improve. I think that's how he gets to 25 points per game. If he can get those assist numbers up a bit too he could make it into a few all-star games at his peak.
This is more a productive of Green not being used as a offensive hub like SGA. True lead ball handlers who are cemented in those roles on their team are ahead of Green. Green shares those dutires with many players on this team. This offense is one of the most "by committee" offenses in the league especially out of the playoff contenders. Also Jalen plays on one of the most packed paints in the league. Ya there is a reason second year Green had his most drives per game. Hell it's his highest scoring season still. Because he had free reign and nothing to play for besides "cooking". Trying more on defense, more competent ball handlers on the team added, coach less tolerant of mistakes etc means his drives got down. I'm not sure if it's a mentality thing.
Really impressed with Jalen's growth this year. His defense and decision making has improved. And noticeable yesterday, his playmaking. Defenitely think if he keeps up this attitude/mentality, he can improve a lot further as well.
I mean, as I said, if it's not important to you then no matter what data is presented, you'll generalize it as "fine". Successful is not defined by last week. All his stats are up and he is STILL even at this absurdly hot rate (hitting 50%ish of them during this streak): Not better than above the break 3 Not better than corner 3 Not better than attacking the rim Not better than what happens when he gets an assist I think there's no principle here that you stand on other than you like it and it's recently good, which is why my first question was: do you care about his big picture efficiency and not just recent efficiency. I wonder what you will think when he starts missing those again.
