Rockets sign Jabari Smith Jr. to 5-year, $122M extension

it took them 3 years just to finally acquire a player like Bane…someone that can hopefully provide legitimate shooting and spacing

Jabari would’ve been surrounded by zero shooting and zero playmaking in Orlando this entire time, and his defense is nowhere near the level of a defensive anchor type. We’d be clowning Orlando if we were in the section of the multiverse where they had actually taken Jabari 1st overall.

 

And Sengun and Banchero are redundant with in our offense and Sengun is much better. I think Jabari is a way better fit for us now. I wouldn’t swap our core for Orlando’s. Amen and Sengun are better than anyone they have on their team.

 

no one is talking about swapping cores…

 

Ok. I wouldn’t trade Jabari for Banchero and am glad we didn’t get the opportunity to draft him.

 

good for u

 

Jabari will EXPLODE this yea if given the time
I know he will be an easy 20/10 guy - esp once KD leaves

Rocket River

 

Wondering if Orlando might be better if they swapped Paolo and Jabari is insane. Orlando has been 2nd in defensive rating for the past two seasons. Paolo clearly hasn't hurt them on that end of the court. They don't need Jabari to be their defensive anchor, he's not even the defensive anchor here. Jabari's efficiency and 3pt% are barely higher than Paolo's despite getting a fraction of the defensive attention. Imagining Jabari as a 3rd option is a massive stretch as he lacks important scoring skills like ballhandling and finishing around that rim.

Paolo doesn't have elite efficiency, but he scored 26ppg on higher efficiency than Sengun last season. His scoring average and efficiency have increased every season so far. This is like wondering if Detroit would be better if they swapped Cade and Jabari. Sure, Cade is just a straight up better basketball player and an all-star, but Jabari's career TS% is 0.7% higher! Who knows if they'd be worse?!

 

Orlando is one of the worst efficient team with Banchero shooting 20 shots per game and leading the team in assist with less than 5 APG. That's not a very good combination for leading your offense. If that guy occupies a massive proportion of your cap space, it's very hard to build a winning team.

I am definitely not saying Smith is a better player than Banchero. We are talking about building a championship team. A franchise player like Banchero will get you stuck in the play-in territory (unless he takes a big leap in efficiency and playmaking). Sometimes it's better to have a good role player and look for a really great #1 option elsewhere.

The Rockets was in danger of being led by a guy like Jalen Green. We still don't know if Sengun can be an efficient offensive hub, or if Amen will ever be able to shoot. We can get stuck too if none of those guys pans out.

 

He needs to tighten his handles big time. KD developed and kept that part of his game since before he came into the league nearly 20 years ago. Smith is nowhere near KD in any aspect and I think the Rockets will find out pretty soon.

 

You are right that they are vastly different, KD is the superstar with handles, Bari a good role player.

KD despite being almost 7 footer has never averaged 10 rebounds or more but several seasons he scored over 30 points per game.

Bari can average 10 rpg and I doubt he averages more than 19 ppg.....but that is just me.

Not on a contender but a tanking team at least.

 

Jabari needs to pattern his game more towards Lamarcus Aldridge, not KD.

 

Man more towards Klay thompson or Ryan Anderson. Mostly off ball and spot up

 

I admit, I don't watch much Rockets these past few seasons but when they finally made it to the Playoffs against the old arch nemesis, the Warriors, I was glued. Bari is not doing lanky 6'11 things out there from what I observe. He's basically a crappier Duncan Robinson in playing role. That contract the Rockets just gave him would be better suited to pursuing the shooting services of Duncan Robinson which would be a piece in contending. It would have been cheaper to get Robinson while beating out the Pistons' bid and there would be plenty left over to extend some role players or find replacements. Not smart at all.

 

I feel Duncan is on the decline and no defender, 5 years ago perhaps but now.....and I am no fan of Jabari myself and his age is still a minor plus.

 

He can definitely get 20 minutes in at least 10 games, sure. Otherwise it would take an inordinate amount of table setting for your 6th or 7th best player to reach that number

 

If you didn’t watch the past few years then you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Asserting that Rox would be better served by signing Duncan Robinson further proves that you are out of your depth here.

 

Hahaha what? If they drafted Jabari 1st he'd be up there with Olowokandi and Wiseman and Sam Bowie and Greg Oden in all the "Worst Draft Pick " Listicles in 2027.

4. Jabari Smith (2022)

With the first pick, the Magic could have had any one of a number of future All Stars: ball handling shot swatting stretch 5 Chet Holmgren, explosive power forward Paolo Banchero, or OKC jack of all trades Jalen Williams. Instead, they ended up with the plodding role player in Smith who plays way below the rim, can't create much on offense for an offensively challenged squad and is just ok on defense. A huge miss that set the franchise back years ​

He's very lucky they didn't.

 

Did you just write fan fiction about your dislike of Jabari?

 

Technically no - the fiction was about the multiple people in the last 24 hours here who now claim that Orlando would have paradoxically been better off with an *obviously worse player* rather than an All Star player because: contract? Reasons? Astrology?

 

lol did you just write that yourself? How hilariously sad.