They left him open for THIS game is my point. This one game. This is not an all season "Leave Jabari Open Thing." the entire team knew he was mentally broken for this game. Ime pointed it out, guys knew, thats why you saw players going up to him and talking to him. Portland knew, so they dared him to beat him. Teams are not doing this consistently, hell, they have like 3-4 other Rockets to lay off that Ime puts on the floor. There really is no need to when you have Amen and Sengun at times both standing behind the arc for whatever reason to also lay off Jabari. My point on the shooting % is that no one is leaving Klay Thompson open, despite now being 35%, no one leaves Klay open, because of that reputation. I don't think this week Jabari has lost that reputation, if he keeps shooting like this he will be. Also this point about how these metrics don't matter I just disagree. Tate isn't having these numbers...because Tate doesn't space the floor, Tate isn't comparatively a good rebounder, Tate is not a good passer, replace Tate with Jabari and see what happens. In fact, we can go back last year when Jabari got hurt. Pull up those threads and see what people were saying and how we were all wanting Jabari Smith back. Suddenly that defense and length and versatility matters. https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/jabari-out-4-8-weeks-with-fractured-hand.325055/ All throughout this thread you can see people missing his defense, maybe Jabari needs to go out another 4-8 weeks for people to understand his value to the team again and why he plays every night? Also, while you are right wing defenders are easy to find...6'10 wing defenders that can defend out in space ARE NOT easy to find, not at all, I'd say there are less than 10 of them? Wemby Mobley JJJ Giannis Davis KD (used to be, I'm starting to doubt it) I also understand that the players above are generally a lot better defending man up on the perimeter and in space, but as you've mentioned, Jabari isn't bad. Sure, he might get cooked buy good and elite guards and smaller wings, but he also is great help side, great switching and being present, and gives good effort and it in general helps the team contest more shots which is why his team metrics are good...because he helps that side of the ball. So no, I don't think a 6'10 guy that can switch out and put up some kind of challenge and move around like he does on defense is common at all. Bigger guys are often slower and not very coordinated to do what he does, even at an average level, which he does it. While yes, you're not over here calling him a garbage player, I agree, but you are comparing him to Tate over and over again. Who is a career 31% shooter from three and is some odd 6'4 wing player with very little NBA skills outside of defense and hustle, everything else is questionable. Like Jabari is several tiers the player Tate is, they are in no way comparable at all. I just do not think Jabari is the replaceable player people think he is, especially on a team as reliant on Amen and Sengun, both non shooters, as we are. You're not going to find many 6'10 versatile defenders just sitting out there with even average shooting. IDK, that's just me, I think we are well past the point of underrating his value to the team and since the team is not 2nd right now in the west everyone is far more pessimistic about every single player we have right now.
You can't change his shot this late in his career, at least not his upperbody motion. I've seen some say his footwork is what changes, I don't pay enough attention to it from game to game, could be that. I'm sure he knows what it is being a shooter all his life and growing up in an NBA family means he's probably had the privilege of having excellent teachers. If you ever see Jabari hesitate on an open shot you know he's about to have a bad night shooting. No one fully confident as a shooter sees an open shot and goes "Wait..." nah, it should be automatic, go into your motion and shoot, without thinking. Your open shot has to be the same thing every single time without fail, from the swing up to how your feet are set, otherwise of course you will be inconsistent.
By miss #8 I wanted to punch everyone who kept encouraging him. Udoka pulls people for 1-2 defensive slip ups, I don't know why he kept him in there.
I'm still saying the one thing that's never been disputed: it's unacceptable for a shooter to go 4 years without an average shooting season no matter how many excuses we pile onto each other. That's his number one duty. Number two is defense and we have 4 better wing defenders on the roster. Basketball is nothing but offense and defense.
The fouling the 3 pt shooter was when he should've been pulled. Missing shots isn't a "slip up" in the way a defensive mistake is i get not pulling players for that, but he was clearly mentally broken.
Talking doesn't mean confidence. If you don't think he has confidence issue, then you have not really watched. He has had hesitation issue. He passed up shots. That has been improved this season. His shooting form is good. His arc is not consistent. It might well be the beginning of recognizing what he is. But I'd give him till the end of this season to judge him.
About miss #7, we should’ve pulled him out of the game, but I guess we were hoping the law of averages would kick in. it really does suck dropping these games to low level teams, but there is still plenty of positive data in regards to our club. This is not the finished product.
If you run the pros and cons of Jabari height vs an average 6’8 guy for the regular season only, don’t account for his cons amplifying in the playoffs and use last years data when he was in the defensive spot Kevin Durant is now occupying, he’s great.
Well 6'8 vs 6'10 is a world of difference in the NBA....one means you can play PF or Center while the other means you're a wing almost exclusively. Hmm I don't think Jabari played badly in the playoffs? Wasn't most of us wondering why he didn't play more? Even the Warriors Green and Kerr would randomly compliment him? He shot 45% from three in the playoffs even? I thought he should have saw the floor more and I was confused as to why he saw significantly less minutes in the playoffs, it was so odd to give him 30 mins all year long then give him just 20 in the playoffs when he was actually shooting well in the playoffs and was going up against an always midget Warriors team. We can't say hey, Bari's shot is what matters most, then say he play badly in the playoffs when he was shooting 45% from three, now can we?
And I'm not even aruging that his shooting needs to be better, everyone agrees with that. I do think people take him for granted, like I listed above, not many PFs that can switch and defend in open space at an even tolerable level like Jabari can. We do have better wing defenders, but none of them are bigs.
Your saying he can “get cooked by good or elite guards and smaller wings” like it’s just a down tick against him when in reality the frequency of that in the playoffs when on the court with KD and Sengun is a death sentence, nothing else matters or can offset it.
The net rating of KD/Sengun/Bari is 10.3 Anything above 8 is a good net rating, so I'm not sure where we're seeing that this trio of players is a bad thing this season. What offsets this is that we dominate the boards. When the Rockets win the rebounding battle (outside of last game lol) are 22-11, which means yes, we HAVE to out rebound our opponent to win. When you put it like this, it then starts to make sense why Jabari means a lot to this particular team as it is built right now, since replacing him with a smaller player means we won't be as effective getting rebounds and that player would then have to offset that with more scoring. There are more ways to skin a cat after all. But seeing as how we do NEED to win on the boards to win games it then does make sense why we play him as much as we do and why some see him as more of a glue guy. If we swapped Smith for MPJ then yeah, we're giving up some defense and rebounding but taking in a lot more scoring. Is that worth it in the long term, who knows? If he's still on the team for this playoff run we will see. My point has always been that Jabari is not a 'nothing' player that gives you nothing at all. I think people take a lot of what he does for granted, as the last time he got hurt showed that a lot of people did take things he does for the team for granted. We all agree we wish he shot more consistently.
Why are we even talking about guys like Jabari or DFinney like they are game changers. 'Decent players' They are just not. I feel like being in the wrong discussion channel all the time with people devoting so much time typing about their shooting.
Oh look. Chalk it down to yet another thing that's been predicted correctly. The moment Jalen Green's trash is gone. There's no shield for Jabari's subpar play anymore. And oh look what's happening right now. It's hilarious a nobody can see these things years before they happen yet people paid millions can't. F*cking losers in this organisation ruining our lives.
You can see that his confidence in himself is down, his rebounding numbers are down by 2-3.......the last few games. Usually one of his strengths.
What I'm mostly disappointed about Jabari is not his skillset, but his lacking of self-awareness. He seems to not accept he is just a role player. For example, he continues to play some ridiculous isos this game, thinking himself as Kevin Durant.
Not a hyperbole but when you consider his salary(yes I know it doesn’t kick in till next season) and his actual production, he might be one of the worst rockets I’ve ever seen. It’s one thing to be ass on a vet min and it’s another to be ass making 25M a year
To be fair, $25M is nothing in this day an age... But Jabri is who he is... I don't ever see him getting better than the BEST version of himself that we have ever seen on the court. While he his a good rebounder, which offensive skills blow. DISGUSTING. Having said that, I would trade him and picks for Trey Murphy III in a millisecond. Wishful thinking.
Congrats on Jabari getting a Triple-Single in this game for a starter. He should develop into a post up game, but he rather camp around the 3 point line to shoot low percentage shots, or shoot jumpshots. Pillowbari....
