I know some of you aren't going to like this, but it's time to end the "Jabari Smith" experiment. Look at the numbers of his first three years as the #3 draft pick vs. Carl Landry, a second rounder. Landry beats him on a per-minute basis in just about every key metric. His production through his first three years was not impressive (less than a guy who made $3mil year not even on a rookie scale--as a RFA), so what do we do? Sign him to a massive contract paying him almost $25/mil a year of course! Since it wasn't warranted by his performance, it seems that literally the only reason to do this was prevent the humiliation of whoever drafted him and avoid having to admit that the pick was wasted. It is very clear that NO STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WHATSOEVER was performed before giving him this contract. Now in his 4th year, finally making the big bucks, his production is largely unchanged, and it has been decisively confirmed that Jabari Smith Is Who I Always Said He Was. What is even the point of Jabari Smith? His mediocre production could easily be replaced by a much cheaper player or platoon of players. If anyone will take his contract, we should dump him ASAP. Some people might try to point to "fit" or "intangibles" (the tired old Shane Battier argument), but let's be real. This guy is not a basketball genius. Not high IQ. His impact is less than his mediocre numbers would indicate. Anyways Clutchfans, nice talking to you. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
This might be the dumbest thread I’ve ever read. His stats are largely unchanged? He’s currently averaging career highs in points, assists, 3 pt percentage, etc. He’s also putting up a fantastic NetRTG. Anyone who doesn’t think he is critical to our success is clueless. Not to mention Bari is only 22. Landry wasn’t in the league until 24, and his first two years he averaged less than 10 ppg. Bari averaged more ppg at 19 years old than Landry’s career average. Just a stupid comp all around.
Denton, Jabari is a better version of his father. Whereas Carl Mandry was Paul Millsap or a lighter and explosive version.
Strange comp seeing as how Smith and Landry are polar opposites in many ways. Smith's strengths are his versatility on defense. height, and outside shooting, while his weakness has been creating for himself and playing back to the basket in the paint (except against much smaller players). IIRC Landry's main strength was his ability to take the ball and make things happen in the paint despite his lack of height, while he showed weakness in defense and his jump shot wasn't always reliable.
Credit to OP for bringing happy memories to the table. ScoLandry was one of our best PF rotations and a bright spot at that moment. We had a few good streaks with them. With Jabari you are indeed paying a premium because of where he was drafted. But you pay the premium because it comes at 6'11, shoots the three at a decent clip, plays serious smart defense at 3 or 4 different positions, depending on your pov.
Making the “big bucks” in year 4 of his rookie contract eh?? You have to be more precise and accurate if you want to sound remotely smart with a bad take like this.
$23m per is a real good deal for jabari. you're stuck in 2006 or something. i remember when we were throwing our MLE at stromile swift and that contract started at $5m per. now MLE contracts start at $14m per.
Trolling the 4th-5th option of a team, lol, he got so much bandwidth to waste.... First Brickari, now this.....
