Sure, the point there was that Jabari wasn't 'disappointing' in Summer league, what was disappointing in Summerleague is they still effectively ran nothing for him at all and people assumed that once he made it to the main team he'd play better since he'd have more talent around him but outside of like the first game in SL people were not disappointed with his SL performance. I'm sorry these over exaggerations about his game is just fan discourse. This "He has no skills whatsoever..." just sound like angry hometown fan mad that Jabari missed another shot.
You don't run plays for players with next to no offensive skill. I mean....how would you even do that? We didn't run plays for Chuck Hayes either. Smith is a 3 and D player....or rather the hope is that he'll one day become that. Right now his D is weak and his 3 is non existent. Everything he needs to improve on has nothing to do with anyone else. Kid can't even make open shots right now.
You do it because you have a young player with potential and don't care about winning games. That's the entire purpose of being a young rebuilding team. He can't make open shots right now, that's not forever. Again, everything in life is about learning through failure. You don't just instantly become good at this stuff.
Running plays for someone with next to no offensive skill would only serve to embarrass them and kill their confidence. We HOPE he has potential, but right now he's allegedly a 3 and D player, but he's not even the best rookie forward 3 point shooter OR defender on the Rockets. Right now he's just hype and has shown almost no substance. You make those players EARN it, you don't just keep force feeding them opportunities despite nothing but failure. At this point, Tari deserves to be starting over Smith.
I never said otherwise? Of course you do. But again...strong offense beats strong defense much more often than not in the NBA. That's a fact. The notion that Jabari is outweighing his objectively awful offense with some sort of incredible defense, none of which is backed up by advanced metrics (or the eye test really), is just silly and not true. He's solid for a rookie, that's it. I'm not saying he's going to be this level for the duration of his career, but it's an objectively concerning start for him. He needs to be better, especially offensively.
They do, that's why he gets 5 open or wide open 3 point attempts per game....he's just terrible at shooting. How many more possessions do we want to waste on a guy who can't hit the shots created for him? Other than draft position and hype, Jabari Smith would be a bench warmer right now.....like, not even a 6th man, more like an 8th or 9th man based on performance. Jabari is SUPER lucky that the Rockets aren't a franchise that holds top draft picks to account, it's the ONLY reason he's still starting. If they did him the way the Cavs did KPJ, Smith would probably be throwing soup right about now.
The problem is there aren't many stats that effectively measure defense so its very hard to measure so there aren't even 'advanced' metrics to back up that claim. Everyone knows he needs to be better, EVERYONE on this team needs to be better. IS it objectively true that Sengun's offense is outweighing his defense? How about Green? I'm going to say no, seeing as how terrible this teams defense is and Sengun is the Rocket's center and as such responsible for a large part of its defense. Sengun fans can come after me if they want but he needs to be A LOT better defensively or become practically Joker on offense to make up for it. But at least you're contradicting your overly pessimistic "He has no skills at all" claim of earlier. Solid for a rookie is a compliment, rookies usually are so bad defensively and yet Jabari is solid most nights and has great defensive games some nights too.
Except no, the coach said they run nothing for Jabari so you're wrong and no point arguing further. If the coach says they do not then it means they do not or that they do it so rarely that they effectively don't run anything for him.
Okay, you win. They should be running 20 plays a game for the worst offensive player on the team instead of just getting them 5 open looks from 3 a game for him to miss because he's trash. Brilliant.
They should be running plays for him, yep. He's also not the worst offensive player on the team lol. All these hyperbolic statements. What yall need to understand is none of these guys are worth stanning for like yall do. Well, I understand why some Sengun fans do. He's a Turkish player and they want him to do well, I am the same way with American soccer players, so I get that... I don't get the stanning for KPJ and other players. None of these guys have proven anything. People telling me "Sengun is the best player on the team!" ok...he's the best player on a 13 win team. Congrats? KPJ, Green, my criticism has been fair towards them too. KPJ has huge decision making issues, maturity issues, etc while Jalen Green gets lost on defense constantly and also has decision making issues. My criticism for Jabari has been there too, I've been saying his shooting sucks, his offensive game needs a lot of work, but what I won't do is act like he's the worst player in the NBA or even the team, because he simply is not.
There really aren't many 'plays' you can call for him. Maybe a high post 1v1 or a curl/down pick for an open jumper. Seems like he's doing the same thing in college but at a worst rate. If anything the 'plays' he should be getting are how we had it for Tucker. Park him in the corner or the baseline and hope he hits his open shots(which he hasn't).
This. The running plays thing is very overblown. The guy doesn't excel at anything - catch off the roll? No. Pick & pop? No. Spot up? No. I don't know what the ideal Jabari Smith Jr "play" is but a guy who hits 30 % on open shots and can't play above the rim doesn't have a deep playbook.
It's not hyperbole, Smith is the worst performing offensive player AND worst performing overall player on the Rockets roster. He's simply not good at anything at all. The dream is that one day the baby deer will grow into something useful but right now he's absolutely tragic to have to watch. This makes 2 years in a row the Rockets drafted better players later in the draft than the guys they took top 3. I understand why people like you would want to pretend that isn't the case, but as of right now it's just objective fact. Going to bat for a 3 and D guy that can't shoot 3's and is mediocre defensively is certainly one kind of choice....
LOL this. Reads like "well, I'm glad we drafted a bust with the third pick because I expected him to be a bust!"
Well the "not skilled at all" claim was from who I was quoting originally. Not my own view. I thought Jabari would be a very capable shooter & secondary/tertiary offensive role player out of the gate. Clearly I was wrong, but that was not my original thinking. He's been significantly worse than advertised. Second of all, I'm not going to say Sengun & Green's offense are outweighing their defense. But I know Sengun and Green are more responsible for the admittedly limited success the team has had than Jabari, which is again backed up by the eye test & stats. Not saying that will continue to be the case or be the case years from now, but it's true today. You mention Sengun needs to be Jokic to make up for his defense? Well Jabari needs to be Kawhi/Giannis to make up for his offense. It goes both ways, and again...offense outweighs defense in the NBA. It just does. And to be clear...I do think Jabari will improve offensively. He won't continue to be one of the worst players in the NBA his entire career. But A) he's definitely well below where anybody expected him to be based on his draft capital and alleged skill set, & B) his defense is not mind-blowingly good like some are making it out to be. I know it's hard on a bad team, and he'll be a quality defensive player down the line as the team improves, but there's nothing to point to to say he's destined to be some sort of perennial All Defense player yet, though I hope that is the case.
This. The DATA is literally telling you he is one of the worst players in the league. For the record I want him to do well. Just like I wanted Ariza to do well that transition year. Just like I wanted Luther Head to keep shooting 45% from 3. Just like I wanted Rafer to actually hit his little floaters. Fact is dude sucks and needs to be in the G-League where he can have the entire gameplan run through him + get used to the NBA 3-point line in game.
