This is going to surprise many people here because fans always have grass is greener syndrome....Jaden, Naz, Murhpy, are not better than Jabari. They FEEL like it because you don't watch those teams every day and so you don't see their bad games. You probably see when they pop off on highlights but when they have their bad games it never really sticks out to you as an opposing fan because you don't care. You care when Bari has a bad game since it can mean the team loses the game. Murphy MIGHT be and improvement tbh but he also has a bigger offensive role on his team than Jabari does. Giddey is part of Chicago's core, not getting traded. Brooks has his own set of flaws its funny how we all forget them now that he plays on another team because we don't see them every game. I don't think much changes for this team if you trade Jabari for those first three guys except Jabari is a better rebounder than those three guys. We're not trading him for Giddey so forget that. Brooks is also much older so I'm not sure that's a good trade... Speaking of Brooks, the Rockets had a chance to probably keep Bari instead of Brooks and chose not to do so. I really don't think swapping Bari for Naz Reid is going to make or break this team. You instead traded him for an older player who I think most would agree has less room for growth being older and a lower projected pick. Meanwhile, just to show you have grass is greener syndrome...here is a reddit post on the Twolves board about Naz Reid... This was 7 days ago and you can see that twolves fans realize Naz is just a role player, like Bari is, and he has his ups and downs like any role player. MEANWHILE... Here's a suggested trade of Randle for Jabari and funnily enough, Twolves fans think the Rockets would never do the trade because of Jabari's potential and that he'd be a great fit for the team...because thats the thing about Jabari, he literally fits on every single team in the NBA. His flexibility to be played in any lineup is probably what will get him the most money in this league unless he takes another jump.
always love your takes. Agree with Giddey and Brooks, I just ran through a salary spreadsheet. but Jaden, Naz, Murphy. Jabari’s young but a 4 year player who hasn’t shown too much growth. I’m sure if you put a poll outside of Clutchfans, Jabari’s not getting majority of those votes. defensively he doesn’t bother anyone, dribbling he is pure ass. Rebounds, forget about it. Lost on offense half the game, scores his points in spurts. I forget he’s even there half the time. He doesn’t utilize his size, I’m not sure if it’s him or the coaches. I don’t see Jabari getting much better than what he is. He’s a good 5th piece on your team, but any right deal comes our way…. Don’t think stone will care to hold him.
Lol dude 100% this. The team didn’t do anything wrong drafting him it was a consensus top 3 that year and EVERY single team in the league would have taken Jabari at #3. He’s slowly improving but yea he’s not some star or anything but it is what it is. We have Amen and Sengun to hopefully be our stars. I don’t get all the b****ing and moaning about it lol. I would maybe understand it more if he was some women beater and a knucklehead like KPJ but from all the info we have Jabari hasn’t caused any off court issues.
Jabari better than Jaden? Jabari is not close to Jaden Mcdaniels according to any impact metric/advanced stat. He's not better than him to anyone that watches both teams. Mcdaniels is one of the best wing defenders in the league, averages the same amount of PPG as Jabari with a lesser role, and shoots 42% from three. I would much rather have Jabari than Josh Giddey or Naz Reid but Jaden Mcdaniels is simply a better player than Jabari. Trey Murphy is too.
I mainly agree with you for the most part. I think currently Jaden Mcdaniels and Trey Murphy are better than Jabari. I don’t see the wolves trading McDaniels and not sure what’s going on with Pels or with Murphy’s health history. Giddey is not getting traded so not sure why he’s on the list. And I don’t know why folks would want Reid for Jabari honestly. 4 years older and Jabari is probably already better and more versatile than him. I also think like JayGoogle said Jabari would fit on any team in the league with his size and shooting and defensive flexibility. Just for ***** and giggles I asked AI who is better Jabari or these three players and I actually agree with the AI answers on all three of them: AI answer on who is better Jabari or Jaden McDaniels: “It's a close call, but Jaden McDaniels is often considered the better player right now due to his elite, versatile defense, while Jabari Smith Jr. holds higher offensive upside and potential as a primary scorer and shooter, making Smith the better long-term bet for some, though McDaniels offers immense two-way impact with his defensive prowess and growing offensive efficiency. McDaniels excels defensively, impacting both steals and blocks, while Smith Jr. is a strong floor-spacer and developing scorer with greater offensive ceiling.” AI answer on who is a better player Jabari or Naz Reid: “Jabari Smith Jr. is generally seen as the more impactful player due to his elite defense and potential as a 3-and-D forward, while Naz Reidshines as a versatile, high-level offensive big man, recently winning Sixth Man of the Year for his scoring and shooting, but Smith offers more defensive versatility and overall impact for a starting lineup, according to most experts, though Reid's offensive spark makes him a valuable asset.” AI answer on who is a better player Jabari or Tray Murphy: “Both Jabari Smith Jr. and Trey Murphy III are excellent young forwards, but experts often favor Trey Murphy for shooting and overall impact, while Jabari Smith Jr. offers more versatile scoring and rebounding, with Smith sometimes preferred in fantasy for his dual-forward eligibility and more consistent fantasy production recently, though Murphy's improved defense makes him an elite 3-and-D threat. The "better" player depends on team needs (shooting vs. all-around play) or fantasy format, but both are key players for the Rockets and Pelicans.”
Yes: Jaden McDaniels Trey Murphy VJ Edgecombe Interested: Andrew Wiggins Keegan Murray PJ Washington w picks Jrue Holiday w picks Some young defensive guards I like Some not currently available 2 way stars I’d give up more for. I think we’re getting more disadvantages from Jabari’s height and trade off that comes with than advantages from it.
Does anyone here really believe that Jabari plays like a 6’11 player? He isn’t getting blocked by shorter players like he did in previous years, but that’s mostly because he fades on almost every shot he takes inside the 3pt line. He’s never had any semblance of an inside game (per basketball reference, he’s taken and missed one hook shot this year) and even after 4 years, he isn’t a rim protector or post defender. He’s a capable but inconsistent rebounder, but not one who tracks rebounds down the way Taris does. My thoughts on him as a long term piece have been stated previously, so there’s no need to repeat those. But I do want to challenge the idea that he’s valuable because of the combination of his height and his slightly above average 3 pt shooting. I would agree with this if Jabari had any of the positive characteristics of a big man. But he doesn’t and I don’t see the building blocks to develop them. So really, he’s more like a 6’7-6’8 forward without any dribbling abilities. As far as him being the no brainer at 3, the Rockets should have traded down for more depth and possibly better players (if they had taken JDub or Duren) - it was clear that the 2 teams who worked him out were unimpressed (Orlando chose a guy they didn’t work out over him) and his unwillingness to work out for just 2 teams was a red flag in itself. But the Rockets didn’t read the tea leaves and so here we are.
Wild/idiotic statement requiring 20/20 hindsight lol . The rockets were just starting their rebuild and focused on getting the best player available from a draft that had a consensus top 3 players. This was the scrub rockets team with basically only Jalen and KPJ as players with some potential in the very early stages of a rebuild. And they should have traded down a top 3 pick for more depth?? Lol I’m sorry dude but that sounds idiotic. Every single team that got the third pick would have drafted whoever was remaining from Chet, Banchero, Jabari trio. Rockets pick was a no brainer at the time. There is no way you can blame the Rockets for that with a straight face especially saying they should have traded down for more depth, that’s wild…
Jabari is the 10th best PF rebounder this year. Not great, but definitely far from embarrassing. He was higher last year, but our guards and small forwards this year (Amen, Tari, Durant) are grabbing more than their predecessors as is Sengun.
What is your proof Jabari doesn't bother anyone on defense and doesnt rebound? https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/jabari-smith-jr.-defensive-rate He is a +223 for the season according to you he doesnt do anything so why his net nos so high? Jabari hasnt shown any growth in 4 yrs but his defensive net rating went from 127, 121, 113 each year? Now it has slipped a bit to 114 but still a massive improvement from his rookie year. If we look at his scoring efficiency he went from 51% TS to 57% TS and his 3 pt went from 30% to 37%. Jabari has shown a lot of improvement it looks like you just pulled everything outta your ass without even taking the 10 secs to look up his stats. Jabari is what he is, a solid role player. He is still valuable and quite rare in the league. 6'10 stretch forwards who can play good defense are hard to find.
Even as a 3&D prospect he's been a disappointment so far. Despite the Mavs game, he's been at 37.5% on 6 3PA which is better but he was touted as a great shooter. It may still develop over time. BUT we still need role players with room for growth on good contracts. If he can become 40% on 8 3PA with solid rebounding then we are talking.
Ya'll need to stop twisting your panties in a bunch because of a down game. It's like ya'll have Tourette's syndrome, hating on every single player we have when they have a down game, thirsting after every other player on other teams. Ya'll sad.
Fair enough, I would say though Bari is mostly a big with most of his minutes being at PF so him being a wing defender is not something we should expect him to do consistently well. I think his benefit on defense is how much he flies around and switches and he's a good team defender. He's not a lock down defender, he's a switchable big though. But for me the question is would I trade Bari for Troy or Jaden? No, I would not. He's still much younger and even if you say those two are better players, by how much? Is it enough to completely sell on whatever potential Bari has? I would say its not personally, I know some people think 22 year old players are set in concrete, I don't. I think Bari has shown a lot of growth from just being a tall body out there hustling and occasionally hitting shots to literally knocking down middies regularly and putting the ball on the ground and becoming a good rebounder. I did say Troy is a better player but he's stll a few years older and so I'm still not moved that I'd trade him for Bari. I don't really care about players putting up numbers on bad teams, that has just never impressed me so with Troy that's where I'm at. I just don't care. I don't think about it just like I don't think about MPJ putting up numbers on the nets. It's just irrelevant noise to me. So all I can say is Troy puts up good numbers on a bad team, Congrats to him. Not saying he's a bad player or he couldn't do it on a good team...just I don't think much of it. On bad teams SOMEONE has to get numbers.
I mean this is something you can do on your NBA 2k MY GM Eras mode...I love that mode. My last one I did starting from the 80s and since I didn't get Hakeem or Jordan I traded picks for that 1992 draft and then traded picks for that 1996 draft and built around Shaq and Iverson! Fun stuff...but GMS don't have hindsight like this. But the Rockets had no idea Jalen Williams would be who he became, if they did, then they would have drafted him at 3...this is all hindsight. Real sight mostly everyone here wanted Jabari at 3.
I don't think the years played caps him out though, I still think 22 is 22, 19 is now the high school player so that means a lot of times you give these guys more time to grow because at 19 Jabari was barely a man and likely had to learn how to be an adult first. 4 years is enough for the average 21 year old entering the league, but Bari was one of those 19 year olds, I think 22 is 22, he's shown improvement in multiple areas. I think he's one more jump away from being something. He might NEVER make that jump in fact sure, if you gave me over/under on 1 all star appearance and said I had to bet 1k, I'd bet the under. It is most likely he won't make that jump because statistically...most players do not. Still, he could be a late bloomer, he could make that jump, and yes its hopeful wishing but you can always do that with 22 year olds, that maybe something will click or he'll have that one glow up off season and he'll take the next step.... But even if he doesn't, even if this Bari is what we get for the rest of his career...it's still a pretty damn good role player that's starting on most NBA teams that don't have a star power forward. It's still a nice piece. And yeah if a move comes yeah. I'm not saying he's untouchable. I'd put Sengun, Amen, and even Reed above him on guys to keep on this team.
