It certainly seems to be when I got attacked for it by ppl like you and now the very things I mentioned and predicted happen. Sorry that I'm not just saying "he's a beast and will turn everything around" or "look at LMA, Giannis, Klay" nonsense I guess, as that seems to be the analysis many here seem to have. No one said it makes or breaks a player and we can see pure handles aren't the only issue.
Defending against NBA players takes time and I always said he will likely turn into a great defender, but that isn't what he is right now. Paolo isn't a terrible defender (look up ncaa numbers), and also everyone now whines that we have bad ballhandlers except for Sengun, so I don't know why people were against having a good additional playmaker on this team. Also, I don't even want to bring up Paolo here and know we couldn't have even drafted him at #3, so no idea why some want to make this about Jabari vs Paolo now instead of just focusing on Jabari as a player.
I get what you're saying and went back and read your takes. Obviously your not in the group I was originally referencing. He does have plenty to work on no doubt, but he has the foundation to be great. I expect, like Jalen, he'll look a ton better by the end of the season and in the end, if he doesn't pan out. I will sadly eat my words.
Don't want anyone to eat their words and I too think Jabari will likely be a great 3&d guy for a contender later in his career, just gotta acknowledge what issues he has a player right now. In the end we are all Rockets fans and want him to succeed.
I’ve actually found Jabari’s dribble game way better than anticipated so far. I think it’s because of all the spacing. College has way less. And summer league even has less. The court just feels bigger in the nba so more space. In any case it’s one of the few things that really stand out positively for me. if the shot was falling at an ok clip it’s be a solid start where you can just see some processing stuff that needs to speed up for him. Not great but ok. without the shot even falling it’s just a guy that is raw raw raw. being that raw it’s unclear what the end looks like. I just know we hear lots more of “it’s early, we learning, I can be that someday” that feels like talk at the moment. We get it they’re young.
This dude is actually a level headed poster, a passionate one surely. Just saying. I am also guilty that I didn't watch him as much in college.
Why are people surprised that he’s raw? If he was a polished NBA ready star at age 19 he would have gone #1 and been compared to prospects like Anthony Davis and Lebron James. We just watched Jalen Green suck for 75% of the season and now look like one of the NBA’s brightest stars.
Rashard Lewis wasn’t packing the middy game like that. Bari has Aldridge like mid range game potential.
I think if you’re trying to say he’s raw like JG was raw though you’re being disingenuous. JG more or less dominated his summer league. In his 3rd real game he put up a rookie record for 3s made. There were absolutely some eek was this the right choice moments but there were plenty of holy **** this guy can be amazing moments. the closest we’ve seen to that with Bari so far has been solid summer league defense. But… to the extent defense can translate faster… and that hasn’t in the real games… it definitely gives you pause. in other words, he’s not just raw… hes RAW RAW RAW. I’m not a fan, AT ALL, of the “what did you expect he’s so young” type arguments. Alpi was younger and immediately came in and made an impact and is shat on by coaching on the regular. Paolo’s not exactly 30 lol. yeah want to compare him to Keegan Murray, who’s what 3-4 yrs older, yeah that’s a difference. but USUALLY when we get this level of rawness, that ultimately turns into something great, they were drafted later. especially with bigs at times it seems being drafted so high while being raw seems to be a detriment to development at times - Wiseman, Patrick a Williams, Bagley, Carter, JJJ, Bamba. Not always - AD. Mobley so far. And I’ve pointed out lots of good things I like. His dribble. The way he blends into the game offensively and defensively. Some of the aforementioned guys looked lost almost early on. If Jabari turns into a 25 ppg, 10 board game guy with great defense in 5 years i would not be surprised AT ALL. and I’d still prioritize his development over KPJs. But I’m not going to overlook some obvious things. There’s shooting slumps and there’s hasn’t shown the ability to be a good shooter in any way at the next level yet. I don’t think you necessarily have to prioritize Bari over Alpi or Tari.
I thought he was ready from the get go superstar, got disappointed and lowered expectations accordingly.
You sound like you are an expert in evaluating basketball talent. But ALL NBA scouts base their evaluation on every college students on thier entire NCAA tenure for the draft. But there are still so many busts and surprises from every draft. The fact is, talent evaluation is not an exact science. Even the professional scouts make many mistakes. Don't sound like you have all the facts down and everybody who disagree with you are dumb or homers. The reality is, we all are just doing educated guesses (admittedly with a little dose of homerism). Saying (after only 3 games) something like "he will never be a superstar" like you have a crystal ball to the future is just inviting flames. People did it last year about Green and Mobley. It just never fails.
I never said that tho? Ya act like people here slam Jabari and say he will be a bust, instead of valid criticism. Bad comparison because Jalen had a very legit skillset already and lit people up in summer league. Whereas with Jabari you could see the skill deficiencies even when he was scoring 20+ in ncaa games. Well but my issue is people here don't really acknowledge how large some of his issues are and that you can't just act like it's a shooting thing or compare him to guys like Aldridge, Klay, Green who were much more developed coming into the league.
Again, Jabari is one of THE youngest players in the league right now (no ****) but the way you word things with your expert analysis almost comes off as if he will never improve his skillset. You mentioned Aldridge and Klay being more developed - they both played two seasons in college and no, I watched a lot of GSW games before they became assholes and Klay was raw as hell his first two seasons, but showed glimpses of potential here and there. Paul George, Kawhi, Jaylen Brown... all these guys were just as raw, with worse shooting, and seemed just as limited in terms of overall skillset as Jabari.. but you know what set them apart from their peers? A tireless work ethic. Jabari, from all accounts, works his ass off and I wouldn't bet against him to improve a ton by year 3. While I agree that people need to temper their expectations, on the same token, it's really not the time to dissect and criticize Jabari's game left and right as if he's got so many issues to resolve. He just needs to take it simple and catch up to NBA game speed. And anyone who played ball or follows basketball religiously knows all the skill improvements happen in the offseason. If he doesn't show any improvement next yr or at the latest, by year 3.. then yes he's open season to all sorts of criticism. But right now? like damn, he's just a barely 19yr old rookie... let him **** up, make mistakes and learn.
That's complete revisionist history, sorry. Kawhi was often primary playmaker at college and you can feel free to check out ncaa, summer league and rookie season tape of the guys you mentioned to see they were much more developed than Jabari. Agree with the rest of your post about work ethic, but we really shouldn't make up that the guys mentioned were just as raw and completely changed.
You can call it what you want, feel free to call it insecure even, that's just more bump material. I'm being optimistic. Not safely realistic and not pessimistic. Just optimistic. Not conditionally like "well if he does this and that". I'm telling you: Jabari Smith is going to be an elite player in this league. I'm not optimistic about all the players on the roster. There are ominous signs I see from some that I don't see from others. Everyone has a narrative for what they believe and there's no games you watched that others didn't. You could have learned that from highlights even. Did you think it's news to anyone that the 9th youngest player in the NBA will take time to adjust? What does that have to do with these NBA games he's played? I knew that before he played a single minute in the NBA. He does not seem more raw than I thought. It sounds like what you're saying is that you underestimated his rawness. Me: I think he's going to drain more 3's than any rookie this season and at one of the best percentages for that volume. And he's raw right now. It's not mutually exclusive.
I show pre-draft excerpts of me completely predicting what issues he'd have coming into the league and you say I underestimated his rawness? You guys are just making up stuff now instead of having actual arguments, I guess.
You can get into the weeds all you want. The fact is Jabari needs to play better. .3 from the field is unacceptable. .3 from 3 when you’re supposed to be a sharpshooter is unacceptable. A 121 defensive rating when you’re supposed to be a defensive anchor is unacceptable. People say he needs more shots, but he is taking the third most shots on the team despite posting a .4 TS% so far. I realize he’s very young, but I expected a higher floor. We’ll see how he progresses from here.
Smith has looked raw. There has been lot of good defense, mixed in with some times where he just shies away from physicality. We need to generate him some easier 2ptrs.
Uh no... I actually caught a few games of Kawhi in college live in person, and no he was absolutely not the primary playmaker - he manned the forward spots and sometimes played the 4 and was mostly a mid-post player, not an initiator. He started becoming a playmaker his 2nd summer league with the Spurs - his first season in the NBA he barely even had the ball in his hands...he was mostly a spot-up corner 3 pt shooter. Talk about revisionist history lol. Either way, it really isn't the time to do the whole "I told you so" routine with Jabari yet. Not sure why you want to brag about your expert analysis of Jabari so early into his career.
