I get what youre saying but....Cooper is one of *those* prospects. He was a handful when he got invited to the Team USA Select Team. He is a mutant and would change this franchise forever if he came here. He is not a normal prospect. And I dont need to see anything to know Cooper can play and thrive in this league.
Something I've been thinking about more and more--I feel like this whole thing just boils down to "Jalen Green can't pass". That's really the differentiating factor. Like, Sengun is 6'11" and can rebound the ball at a high level, but fair, that's kind of counter-balanced by Jalen having high-level athleticism and being able to shoot better. Maybe we've, including myself, over-focused on Jalen's shooting. Maybe the core issue is actually the passing? Sengun can pass out of a double team. Not consistently (yet?), but he can do it. Jalen can't. He gets trapped and he is just destroyed by it. There is no penalty or second thought for a team doing it to him. That's why he had a bad playoff series, GSW trapped him when he had the ball and he just couldn't solve it--he isn't an elite enough ballhandler/driver to just beat the double team the instant he sees it coming and get to the basket, and he doesn't have even "average NBA guard" level passing ability. In general, I feel like neither of these guys are the best player on a championship team, but Sengun could (in the right situation) start on one and play a key role in its offense, and Jalen, as he is right now, could not. And I think that's the difference. Yes, our offense has issues with spacing, with its offensive sets, with a number of different things. But the "top two player on a championship level team" type of guys can figure that out and still get their points/assists. Jalen can't. And I don't know if he ever will at this point.
Scoring and passing, you have to be elite at one and at least average at the other to be a star. Jalen's passing is below average for a high usage ball handler. So he has to be elite at scoring to be considered a star level offensive player. This is why his inability to consistently score at elite level makes him look worse than if he could pass well.
Bro kept throwing passes below the ankle of Jabari expecting him to bend down and catch it while jostling, those turnovers showed up on Jabari but it was really JG's fault.
His handle sucks for what he does, so he needs to constantly watch his dribble. He’s a head downer. He needs to spend between now and next season always dribbling a tennis ball no matter what he does, no matter where he goes, Japanese manga style. Even better if he does that while training core strength. Bro doesn’t lift.
Ive actually been harping on him being a poor passer for a couple years now. He doesnt read the floor well at all and the most he can do as a passer is hit sengun on the pnr or make one read passes. Fred is maybe just average at passing and reading the whole floor and hes light years ahead of Jalen. When Jalen drives its like he gets tunnel vision and 99% of times he either does that same stepback or goes all the way to the rim. Overall hes just not that skilled as a player and hasnt developed his game much. He gets by on supreme athleticism which in the nba only gets you so far. Hes a one read away type of passer and sometimes he doesnt even see the one read. I dont think ive ever seen him drive and hit a guy on the opposite side of the court or hit a guy for an alley in the dunker spot. I know ive never seen him make a pass and wondered "howd he see that guy" or "I know that caught the defense off guard" Seen Sengun and Amen make those passes regularly.
He's more athletic smaller shooting guard JR Smith. Or in football a WR3. Or a one read QB. Or a pacey winger in soccer that comes on in the 78th minute to see if he can muster up a goal. Hes a 6th man. That's what he is.
We have seen him with multiple 5 asst or more games in MAR and APR this season including 13 and 10 assists games. There was a correlation in his touches and assists. OCT-FEB touches 25.8 3.1 assts avg MAR-APR touches 26.7 4.2 asst Rocket fan favorite Antman got 37.6 touches to Green’s 25.4 this season FYI On traps there’s 4 things you can do: Try to split it Beat it before it comes (rare and reckless) Hit slip man Pass laterally Rockets don’t slip usually with Sengun short rolling. Splitting or beating a double is rare. Passing laterally is the best option usually. This all depends on what defenses give you. we have seen Jalen drive baseline and hit weakside corner 3 shooter. We have seen him hit cutters with a soft touch from top of the key. We have seen him hit short corners to Amen or interior to bigs. He usually doesn’t make cross court passes or is slow in hitting perimeter players and cutters at times. Doesn’t mean he’s terrible. He’s a decent passer not a great one. Sengun misses quite a few open guys on the perimeter as he chooses to score rather than bait the defense and passing ro shooters. Much like Green this is a repeated issue.
we have seen Jalen drive baseline and hit weakside corner 3 shooter. We have seen him hit cutters with a soft touch from top of the key. We have seen him hit short corners to Amen or interior to bigs. He usually doesn’t make cross court passes or is slow in hitting perimeter players and cutters at times. Doesn’t mean he’s terrible. He’s a decent passer not a great one. Sengun misses quite a few open guys on the perimeter as he chooses to score rather than bait the defense and passing to shooters. Much like Green this is a repeated issue.
I cant see a successful scenario where Jalen Green stays on this team. The younger players aren't stupid. They know hes dead weight and is being given chances for whatever reason. You'll lose the locker room. My biggest curiosity right now is Jabari Smith and whether or not hes willing to sign an extension. Come the next CBA the Players Union is going to get rid of the RFA stipulation at the end of a rookie contract.
