So you are happy to have picked a 3 and D player and will be happy giving him the max? What does playing 5 out have to do with any of this? We don't know if he can guard 1-5 in the NBA it's amazing how much we know he can do already and are fine with the 3rd pick being a role player.
2021: Jalen vs Mobley 2022: Jabari vs Mobley 2023: Victor vs Mobley 2043: James Harden’s Illegitimate son vs Mobley 2063: Imperator Furiosa vs Mobley 2083: Skynet vs Mobley 3083: The Reapers vs Mobley
About 45 minutes into the Film Session and some stuff stood out: 1) Spacing was awful at Auburn, specifically with Kessler on the floor. When Jabari was able to catch it within 10 feet of the basket in the post, he was $. He needs to *eat* here in the NBA. Auburn was absolutely terrible at getting him the ball here. Almost every time they did it was 2 points. 2) He settles way too much for terrible shots. He kinda telegraphs his intentions a bit and NBA defenders will recognize this way more than NCAA ones. 3) His release point is so stupid high it won't really matter. 4) He clearly doesn't trust his dribble and this should be Lucas' biggest priority with him. This is the biggest issue with him and clearly the reason he dropped to 3. He also is poor at finishing at the rim. He missed several bunnies (remind you of anyone?)at the rim and I feel this will linger into the NBA. He'll need to get more confident here. 5) He needs to learn to use his frame to bump off his man a bit more. Paolo has this down and Harden was the master of this. Jabari has the size to do this, just not the know how or will. A lot of his misses at the rim where due to awkward angles. It's almost like he's always used to his shots being uncontested and when they are he doesn't really know how to finish. 6) He's not a playmaker. He's a play finisher. I think if Harden had someone like Jabari Smith we would've won like 3 titles lol. Leads me to the assumption that the biggest difference between Steph and Harden is the existence of Klay Thompson.
Does he get max contract on the 22/23 season? does he can’t improve his dribbling at the end of his rookie contract? does he even play already for the Rockets?
I am on a car road trip so spent the last 10 hours listening to all the typical national draft/nba pundits and a couple of the local Rockets ones. The Rockets ones... well there's obviously an element of bias there, so ignore those... they're super excited. The national guys, interestingly, are pretty much all universally now "well, yeah, of course Paolo is the pick, he's the offensive engine, the offensive player that the Magic need, etc.". I mean... I didn't get it because indeed Orlando DID need that offensive engine. Also, draft boards, NOT mock drafts, for the last 2-4 weeks were fairly split maybe 40/40/20 on who they had #1 - Paolo/Jabari/Chet. The pundits have also seemingly gotten much firmer in a "well, Jabari is pretty limited" analysis. In other words... post draft, there seems to be a lot of "confirmation bias" analysis going on to me. Paolo went #1, we kind of thought he was "that guy" anyway, we knew Jabari needed to work on dribbling and Chet had ?? just on frame, so duh, Paolo #1... But, oh btw, Chet is awesome and in the PERFECT SPOT!!! Many people have noted this, and talked about how the Thunder are great at development. That part is a little confusing to me… I mean who knows if 2022 thunder are good at development??? With regard to Jabari… most podcast seems to gloss over him a bit. More of a “that was an interest situation” thing and “yeah he’s still really good but still needs to work on ball handling/creation but great at defense great complementary option to Jalen, perfect fit on Rockets”. on the whole nothing super interesting… I’d say the feel is more down on Jabari than it was 2 days ago when he was expected to go #1 and more up on Paolo now that he has gone #1. It’s interesting cause nothing about the prospects changed lol
Really good breakdown of Jabari including videos: https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/jabari-smith-worthy-of-the-first
1988: Frank Dux vs Mobley Yikes. Those were some Rodrick Rhodes-esque drives. He'll get better I'm sure.
This is true of all prospects. The same line of thinking concludes we don't know if Paolo can be a good scorer or passer in the NBA either. I think its fair to say that Paolo's ballhandling and passing is likely to translate. I think its even more fair to say Jabari's shooting and defense will translate. They are just things that generally do. Especially defensively, where from what I've seen, he's as strong a multi-positional college defender as possible. Regarding your max question... just how strong his defense is in actuality will come into play. Is he near Draymond level defensively? I can see it happening for sure. Again, his ability to switch 1-5 is as good as I've seen really in college. If so, and his offense is never more than the 3 part, that's still a max player. The reason why folks like Clutch, etc. were so strongly for Jabari in the first place is because those are aspects to NBA basketball you just simply can not win a championship without. Imo, Draymond is the 2nd most important player on the GSW and its not even a question. Which IN NO WAY means Draymond on his own is a better player than Klay. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But on a **** team Draymond becomes increasingly meaningless. But as a team gets more and more successful, roles/players like Draymond are so so key. See my comment above regarding Dray vs. Klay. I think the main difference was more the existence of Draymond and not Klay. The Rockets tried to close this gap with PJ, with Ariza and CP3... but they still didn't have anywhere close to a Draymond who 3,4,5, 8x a game depending on the game will legit guard all 5 guys on a possession and finish with a rebound and outlet. I think point 5 is where Jabari will see his "easiest" offensive improvements. His frame/body is perfect to get REALLY bulky. I don't think he will... not Dwight like or anything, but I think he will ultimately get very strong.
You're slowly becoming one of my favorite posters because you are very open minded and seem fair in your analysis... and you're simply a basketball junkie
Could be. When I was all in on the Paolo bandwagon I thought bizarro Draymond was an apt description. Draymond is a 0 on offense and a 10 on defense. But a hell of a playmaker and IQ through the roof on reads. Paolo has this as well but 10 on offense on 0 on defense. This is why I was highest on him because the Rockets still don't have that guy (lol please no one tell me KPJ will be that guy because he wont) and he's absolutely critical to success. With Jabari in the mix you still solve another puzzle piece that is increasingly rare in the NBA as well (top 3 shooter) but you still are missing the glue that sticks it all together. Chance that Al-P becomes that guy as Dubose said in the podcast earlier. If not then I'd mortgage the farm to get one of the PG prospects in this upcoming draft or find one in FA. The Cavs are in sort of a similar predicament in that they have the creator, the defender but are missing the "man" still. What sucks for them is that they're now kinda good and finding that man is going to be almost impossible due to being in Cleveland and not having access to high draft picks. Raptors are another one that has only the glue guy creator (Scottie) but little else. They don't have a "man" nor a gravity bending space maker like Jabari. I'll be watching a lot of Scoot Henderson highlights this year. That's for sure. Rockets are almost there but they're still missing one piece. I felt like what Jabari brings is a little easier to find in free agency (defense, 3 pt shooting) than what Paolo brings (breaking down defenses) but I'm cool with either. When we got 3rd, I was happy. Even happier with Jabari over Chet.
I agree. Between what we've heard about his work ethic / willingness to learn, and his picture perfect high release and touch, this is probably the first big the Rockets have had that I really want to see get in the lab with Dream.
@treyk3 -- these numbers were mindblowing. It was bad enough that the Auburn guards couldn't really shoot, but the rim % stats show just how gummed up things were with Kessler in. The PnR game with TyTy should be fun this summer. I also think watching Eason, Smith, and Garuba as a front line should be entertaining -- maximum havoc.
I am seeing this too and it is pretty maddening. These takes were nowhere to be seen 2 weeks ago. It is wild!
I have high hopes for Jabari even though he was third/fourth on my list but I do find it a little concerning that Orlando and OKC had him in for a workout and got up close and personal with him and both decided to pass. …With Orlando picking a guy they had very little interaction with if the reports are true. Could be bad scouting, awful decision making by Orlando. Hopefully it bites them in the ass.
I just think they went with the players they thought were best. I really do like Jabari, but I feel like he has the highest floor and lowest ceiling of the three.
