[2022 NBA Draft/1-3] Jabari Smith Jr., F, Auburn

....the deep dark secret is most all rookies suck. Even "good" rookies are terrible by comparison to the league average vets. It's just a matter of some rookies suck less than others. That's what makes the "we would be better off giving their playing time to some bench player" crowd so annoying because that is mostly true with NBA rookies but it's the playing time and game reps that gives them the ability to develop into stars if they have the right coaching.


By the way, if you are wondering - we do not have the right coaching.

 

Sengun hasn't been getting that privilege, although he has been way more productive and efficient than Jabari.

 

The guy with the partially obscured face down the bottom there never gets benched for his poor performance. Excellent coaching, just impeccable

 

I have no idea why this is a Jabari v Sengun thing and because it seems a lot of people are making it so, we are now increasing the hate on Jabari as if Jabari playing limits the minutes Sengun has.

Obviously Sengun and Bari can share the court, they do not play the same position, the reason Sengun does not play is solely because Silas has decided that his defense is so bad that he doesn't trust him to play.

This really should not be a Jabari and Sengun thing.

Like looking through the past few pages it's Sengun this, Sengun that, as if Jabari is somehow responsible for Sengun not getting minutes and as if tearing down Jabari.

Good thing they didn't. You never sell low, especially on a 19 year old rookie. Unless the player being offered was an all-star the reply should be hell no, goodbye, have a nice day.

Posters mocking Stone and his GM abilities but it looks like he's at least a better GM than a lot of posters here.

 

Why are we acting like Jabari has never flashed this entire rookie season?

Bari has had stand out defensive games already. Bari even last game took guys to the rim with his handle (that people don't want him to work on because they want to win meaningless games) and once Bari missed the layup you can see the Gamethread light up with "LOL JABARI!" ignoring that he came into the NBA with no handles and has been developing his handle. His handle has developed IMMENSELY through the start of the year but yall just poopoo that entirely because it doesn't fit the narrative that he does nothing well.

Lol, every player that becomes a multi-allstar is defying statistical odds. There are HOF players that had worse starts to their career than he has. Want me to name them?

Steve Nash took like a whole 4 years to even show his potential.

Kawhi was another guy that took time to develop.

Dirk was a pure bust based on his first season and SHOT WORSE than Jabari. Some of yall would have traded him and would have looked the fool for doing so.

Harden also wasn't tearing things up his rookie year, he also shot very poorly.

Joe Johnson? 7x Allstar? A guy who became a sharpshooter in the NBA? Shot just as poorly as Jabari has.

I'm tired of yall removing all the context of these discussions, acting like there is no learning curve, as if rookies come into the league ripping it up when that's actually the RARE exception. The discussion can't be "No he sucks, we can't talk about him being a rookie, or being 19, those are excuses." that's reality. Reality is these players usually come in struggling.

As @glimmertwins said, most rookies suck when compared to vets. That's why they have their own award section because its only fair to compare them to their peers. Some rookies look better than the others but if Paolo were to never improve his game, if he were the exact same player 7 years from now, he'd be some nice depth forward to have or just a really solid starter. Fact is, Bobby Portis could come here these last 20 or so games and easily be the best player on this team. Not because he's this amazing player but because he's a vet, he's been around, this NBA stuff is routine to him. He knows his strengths and weaknesses, he knows his lane. Like yall remember how good Kelly Olynyk looked or how role player Christian Wood was treated as a main go to guy but is nothing but a role player on a good team?

The fact is, you don't know Jabari's trajectory, neither do I, but this attitude that players can't turn it around and have great careers is just flat out wrong. What's funny is when you look at the pure busts, they were A LOT worse than Jabari. Anyone comparing him to Bennett or Kwame or Bagley, I don't know if you saw these guys play.

You can't say people can't bring up Ingram because I know for a damn fact if we had rookie Ingram most of yall would have wanted him off the team too. Just like Nash, Kobe, Dirk, you name it.

So consider the context. He's young, he plays on a young and terrible team with terrible coaching, what are you really expecting here?

Like are we really whining that he's working on his face up game? This is the whole purpose of having a young team, it's not winning games, its developing players and in any craft in life you learn and develop through failure.

Like we act as if he was going to acquire a handle in one month, this ain't 2k, he don't get VC and pour it all into his handle and suddenly one game crossing over like Durant. Don't work like that.

 

Lol nobody is disputing that.

He came into the league touted as the next big man shooter.

The big Klay.... now he is just a glorifed role player.

Now you have lowered the bar again.

How many times during a season, next time you know you clap hard when he makes an open shot.

Attaboy.

He will get better no doubt because this season was semi disastrous for him, no excuses.

 

I agree with what you say in principle. The problem is your Dirks, Kobe’s, Hardens and all the players you mentioned are absolutely the statistical abnormalities and rare exceptions. For every Kobe there’s 100 hyper athletic guards that are out of the league in a few years. For every Dirk there’s 100 stretch bigs you forget even existed. For every Harden there’s 100 guys that get the “sixth man curse”. And don’t pretend you weren’t shocked when Nash took his game to another level at Phoenix.

We all hope Jabari does well, but statistically speaking he LITERALLY is one of the worst top high draft picks in recent history.

 

It seems like since KPJ went down, Jabari is everyone's favorite person to dump on.

I have no problem with him yelling out defensive assignments. He will learn to play excellent defense, but you can't teach that kind of attitude and confidence so you have to use it. It's ok if he makes mistakes, he'll figure that stuff out. Unfortunately there are very few people qualified to be defensive leaders on this team and it's cool that Jabari has stepped up at his age.

Even if he were a prospect we drafted mid lottery and he never had a good shooting touch, you would draft this guy and teach him to shoot. Fans act like we're owed something, no one is owed anything. We get out of Jabari what we put in, and if we fix his shot then we are talking about a 6'11 agile switchable defender with a 3pt shot. We can differ over the meaning of franchise player, but a Klay Thompson can be the second or third best player in a dynasty and we don't know what our future looks like. A Jabari Smith can provide greater value than that.

I've backed away from the idea he's a 1 through 5 switchable player. I think once he puts on some muscle he's going to be a 4/5 big who can also hold his own very well on the perimeter. I believe he will be able to anchor an elite defense in the future.

Sometimes as a fan you have to take a step back so that you understand the context of things. When was the last time you called a 19 year old a good defender? Can you name 5 good 19 year old defenders? Defense is 50% of all the possessions in a player's career. If we're talking about on court value rather than on screen value, Jabari Smith is behind on offense but WAY ahead on defense. What happens when his 3pt shot starts falling is that his drives to the rim become counter moves for those who guard him too closely on the 3pt line. Imagine giving up on a 19 yr old kid because they're shooting 30% from 3 and making those 3pters would unlock their offensive game and net impact.

Improving someone's 3pt shot by 8% starting age 19 is not a difficult thing to do, especially since it's not a dexterity or consistency issue.

 

Whose lowering the bar bro?

If you expected Klay Thompson his rookie season thats a problem with your expectations.

You should know when you read NBA draft scouting reports the scouts are talking about who the player can be 5 seasons down the road, not his first NBA game.

Yes, he's a role player, as we have just discussed, like 99% of rookies are not good when in comparison to vets. So you saying he's a role player is a compliment.

 

I guess my point is people need to temper their expectations in the first place. It's statistically low that he would ever be Dirk or Kobe or Harden, the chances of that is EXTREMELY low, nothing to do with Jabari though, those are all time greats, we'd be extremely fortunate of course if Jabari takes that career route...

My thing though is that there is a CHANCE he takes that path, in fact, its statistically more likely that he takes that route vs other players drafted below him.

Statistically speaking, the higher you are drafted the better chance you have of being a great player. Let's not forget that part either.

But what irked me is people SERIOUSLY considering trading the guy.

 

I wish I could like this more. This is what I mean, he's definitely flashed and on defense he's done it a lot.

This is why Jabari was drafted 3rd, if he just shoots like we expect him to shoot he's instantly a super role player. If he adds a face up game he then becomes an elite player. I'm talking elite elite.

Yeah, he's not there now, of course he's not, but he's a prospect. That means he has to put in the work to be great and yeah, we have to put in the work making sure he's growing in the right environment.

 

Nah. As of now I think Jabari has dropped his value from a lottery pick to a mid first round pick.

So that is what you would probably get for Jabari as of now.

 

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...mith-jr-f-auburn.316196/page-15#post-14140277

That was your own comment, it was level headed and 90 percent of CF was over their head with expectations.

But Duncan mindset? For real and you are talking my expectations....

He is far from having a Duncan mindset but I expect you to spin it your way now.....

 

Which is weird, he's been the worst player on the team all season long and he has a terrible attitude, always blaming his teammates for his shortcomings as a player. Fans should have been dumping on him all season long.

 

You're leaving out I also said he had a MOBLEY mindset too.

Mindset bro. I'm saying that Jabari puts the team success before his own success, yes I stand by that, apparently the guy gets nothing run for him offensively all this time and we haven't heard a single peep of complaint about that and all he's ever talked about has being better defensively.

So yep, I stand by it, a very team oriented, team first player.

 

Whatever Jabari is doing in terms of barking at Alpi, and if he actually meant Alpi by shouting at Silas "Take him out" - is a direct and immediate consequence of the disrespectful treatment Silas and Higgins and their clique has been giving Alpi.

A new coach must put Jabari in his place and must explain to him to respect his superiors. Alpi is a better basketball player than Jabari Smith in every facet of the game except perimeter defense, and it is not close.

The first thing a new coach must and will do is to establish a clear pecking order.

Jabari will hopefully become a fine role player one day, but he is not even remotely as talented as Alpi. So when Alpi demands the ball, you pass the ball. When Alpi tells you you go there, you go there. And you never yap at Alpi, or you get yanked. That's how it will be.

 

That's the extreme end and an overcorrection. Alpi is a better player than Jabari as of now. Doesn't mean he should be dictator of Jabari also. Don't act as if Sengun is already a MVP player who demands MVP level respect.


At the same time Jabari needs to be more concerned about his issues and stop scapegoating Sengun.

 

Jabari hasn't even shown flashes of being an elite player - unlike some of his fellow draft class members.

I know they came back to earth, but Banchero and to a lesser extent Mathurin showed you what they are at full power. Kessler and Jalen Williams also. Even Jeremy Sochan a bit.

Jabari Smith has not had any nights where he can't miss from 3. He's not an inside presence (though mercifully he is not as inept there as when he started). He's not really a dribbler or passer other than as an occasional change of pace.

Sure, the jury's still out but if you haven't seriously downgraded your expectations from when we had thought he was a legit #1 quality pick - I don't know what to say. Nothing about him says "future all nba" or "future all star" or even "future all Defense"

It's also nuts to think hes untouchable based on draft position - the draft is over, he has more NBA games than college games now.

 

Alpi is a better player than Banchero or any other player from the last two drafts.

Fight me.