bad luck lol. how many teams have had 2 top 3 picks in consecutive years? that's the NBA doing us a favor right there. top pick means nothing most of the time. look at the best players in the league right now: Ja, Luka, PG, Trae, etc... Jalen was a great pick. Jabari is going to be decent I think. it just happened to be a year where the 3rd pick was a consensus pick so the Rockets really had no choice.
lol wheres the accountability... ? you did have a choice you could traded up for the 1st pick...youre wasting the picks anyway by depreciating your vets by overplaying them and youngins by not playing them enough...garuba chris..theyr wasted already if you had just let sengun win the roy you could have packed up sengun with top3 pick and got to one...(or give them even something more valuable...eg a few first rounders or future first rounders) its not like it would some extra hard work or assets...nothing.... but just to let the kid play...
Smith led the team in rebounds vs. the Pelicans. The first time he's led in a (positive) statistical category, I believe. But predictably Zion ate his lunch at the defensive end LOL. Good thing the Rockets had Garuba to take on the assignment for a while. Off tangent, but bad night on defense for EGO as well. Looked as if Ingram was targeting him all night.
It takes two to tango. You can’t just say we should’ve traded up. Pistons & Magic might’ve loved where they stood and unequivocally decided they were not going to trade the pick. Larry Nance may not be the best player on their team or any team but stop acting like he isn’t still 245. Dude is no slouch. He’s been around for a reason. A rookie is not going to push around every vet just because he’s projected to be way better. Sometimes y’all don’t see the progress in your timeline so you want to find a reason to complain.
Well then give him time. He has been really bad so far, but there were a lot of glimpses of what he could be. There is something holding him back right now. It may be conditioning, it may be strength, maybe the game is still to fast for him, maybe they are working on adjusting his shot. In some games he looked really overwhelmed. Last game he looked pretty comfortable and he really crashed the glass (not just on the 15 rebounds he got). He also played pretty good defense. Yeah, Zion is a nightmare matchup for him. He is both stronger than him and faster. But he blocked him once and contested some more shots that Zion just made. I still believe his shooting will get back to normal. I don‘t expect him to hit 43% this season, but something around 38% should be his target. He has also shown, that he is willing to drive hard to the basket - he just needs to improve finishing. The transition is a lot more painful for him than most imagined - but most expected Paolo to be more NBA ready and be the ROTY. And even guys like Keegan or Ivey to finish in front of him. So let‘s give him time. Green was also historically bad at times in his rookie season…
The number 1 problem with Smith is strength. One play on defense the other night against Toronto that can illustrate this problem. He had Koloko sealed under the basket with nowhere to go. Koloko just bumped him and he literally was pushed back 2 steps, giving Koloko an easy dunk.
Yeah - I agree 100%. I actually see him in the right place a lot of times but you are right he tries to contest with length and the average player is savvy enough to just bump him enough to get the separation to score. I agree that strength will help him immensely because right now he is getting pushed around even by some guards and wings. He’ll be fine - that will come with time.
I don’t believe Jabari has been that bad defensively- the numbers are def not reflective of his ability. I would imagine a rookie playing in lineups with other 2nd/3rd year guys is going to skewer negatively by default(context matters) - especially if Jabari is acting as the only rim protector on the roster at the moment to a team of poor perimeter defenders.
Take a look at the below stats their rookie year: Kevin Love - 10.5% Dirk Nowitzki - 20.6% Brook Lopez - 0% through 6th season. Then 10% and 14.3%
I'm not here to hedge bets on a rookie season in a year that is a lost cause with a terrible coach. To do so is laughable at best.
Cavs do a great job trying to develop Mobley. They feed him in the post and he does a spinaroonie floater.
It looks like strength and conditioning, I'm hoping something clicks after the all-star break. Also KPJ is killing his growth, IMO
Jabari covering Zion was a cruel joke, a jewel of a tanking stratagem. Playing Jabari at the wrong (bigger) positions is either intentional tanking or a whole new level of coaching stupidity. For the love of basketball, the man is clearly a high quality 3&D small forward, waiting only for a proper PG and a defense-oriented coach to blossom. Somehow we must summon the patience for yet another miserable year of tanking.
