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

Number 3 overall Draft picks......in history ....noteworthy it is either a star or a total role player (not relevant)
Jabari seems to be one of the only ones that is probably an important borderline good player

1. He is far below the likes of Jordan, Harden, Tatum, Doncic, Embiid, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Deron Will.
2. But should be above the likes of Jahlil Okafor, *maybe ? Reed Sheppard, Enes Kanter Freedom, Adam Morrison, Dunleavy jr.

 

Career season? He’s basically the same player he was when he entered the league. This is what he is, which is not bad, but he’s not really improving. Statistically he’s right where he was in year two. It would be nice if he could do at least one thing above average. I’m still hopeful he can be an above average three point shooter.

 

Agree. There is only one ball. I don’t see how Jabari gets more involved with Durant, Sengun, Amen, Reed all needing touches. I think his defense is great and it’s by design that he doesn’t gamble as much as Tari. His length is key to our defensive strategy. He rarely is not locked in defensively. He and Amen are extreme space eaters for the opposing team.

 

He is extremely mature for a 22 year old and the ultimate team player. I’m glad we locked him up for a while. If Durant, is out for a bit, I don’t think our offense misses a beat, maybe even be a little more fluid and Jabari could play a bigger role.

 

He’s a low IQ player. He’s aggressive but he constantly makes dumb mistakes. See the last 3 minutes of the clippers game where he kept trying to give it away

 

Fred being gone is the best thing that couldve happened to Jabari. He's insinuated it multiple times in interviews where teammates "now pass him the ball". Averaging career high in shot attempts and points.

Fred here and youd never ever ever see Jabari bringing the ball up the court which he does now. Or attacking.

 

He's currently the third highest in plus/minus behind Amen and Alpi. I don't disagree with the Clipper reference but calling him a low IQ player feels harsh. Same could be said for KD at times, as far as giving the ball away in key moments, and I don't think anyone with BBIQ themselves would consider KD low BBIQ.

 

lol that “foul” on him was one of the biggest bs calls I’ve ever seen. They fouled him like five times before that point. Absolute nonsense.

 

Agreed, that wasn’t on him, but you’re acting like that was the only dodo bird act he committed

 

His defense has improved over the years, although there's no reliable stats for individual defense.

Offensively I'm a bit disappointed too for his lack of improvement since his second season. He is visibly more aggressive this season but statistically he has not gained anything. I am hopeful that his 3pt shooting will pick up. He always needs a long time through the season to raise his shooting average.

 

Jabari is actually below league averages in FG%, 3PT%, EFG%, and TS%. His statistical improvements have been very small and league improvement has basically nullified them.

PF’s are supposed to be a decent bit above league averages as bigs, too. On average PG’s have the lowest efficiency and C’s the highest.

 

Statistically he has improved. Although the improvement is minimal it is there. If he is the same person as when he entered the league why his TS% improved by 5 pts?

The main issue is his usage is always low so you wont see a large improvement. His usage is only 18.1, still lower than his rookie year.

He went from shooting 11.9 last year to 12.9 this year. If he only gets 13 attempts, unless he improves drastically it wont show in his stats. Improving by 10-20% every year is already a big improvement even if it only results in +2 ppg.

If we compare him to Amen, Amen is getting 4 more attempts than last year but only increases his ppg by 3 not to mention dropping his efficiency from 60% to Jalen nos at 54.5%.

 

I don’t cringe and look away when he has to put the ball on the floor in transition so there has been improvement there. His game is nice but I was always a fan of this pick.

 

I don’t cringe AS much. I still get nervous if there’s anyone around him. Those rebounds that he gets around the elbow when there’s kind of a triangle around him. He takes one or two dribbles st quarter speed before taking off and the guy behind him that was on the block disrupts him from behind. Loses it every time. I can recall 3-4 of these exact scenarios.

I don’t scream “noooooo” when he pulls up at the top of the key, but I do go “ehhhhh, alright.” lol

Jabari has impressed me with his improved rebounding and strength. I thought that was a BS call at the end of the game. He kept his elbows tight — no Deke elbows. His midrange game is pretty reliable. Defense, especially on the weak side, is good to great. Needs to get just a bit stronger in the base so he can get off better midrange post shots that he likes, and of course improve his handles and court vision.

I don’t see Jabari becoming an allstar anytime soon, if at all. But I can definitely see him earning an All NBA team in the future.

 

Didn't Sengun have 2 crucial 4th quarter turnovers? Low IQ?

 

No, the contrary.... Sengun is so high IQ his body can't keep with his brain resulting in turnovers...

 

Of players below average in all those categories, is there a player less below average combined than JSJ? JSJ looks to be about as close to average as one can get.

On 2nd sentence, that is just false. He was way way below average his rookie season. He's an all-star if he improves as much as he has going forward.

 

So Jabari is "average" in every sense of the word. So it's not great but not bad. If you are an average NBA player, you are pretty much a solid rotation player either a 5th starter or a 6th or 7th guy off the bench, which is what he has been with the Rockets these last two seasons. (With FVV out, he's our 4th guy now.)

 

yep! He’s a C average student. 70 all the way. He can’t get into Cornell, but he can get into TSU and maybe becomes a pharmacist? But I doubt it. He’s def getting dealt with the right offer.