Why not? Kings did it with Marvin Bagley. Jalen is on the same level if not worse than Bagley. At least Bagley could give you rebounds. What does Jalen give you? Just name 1 thing.
Better floor spacer (in that defenders still guard him on the three point line) better attitude, better defender and doesn't come with an annoying dad who thinks he knows better than the team. Bagley was a monumental disappointment, had decent counting stats but injuries and some weird mojo killed his career before it really got started, at least that's what it seems like to me. I think Jalen has already outperformed Bagley (that's a pretty low bar, admittedly). Just to clarify, I'm definitely not arguing that Jalen has been anything but disappointing this season, but Bagley was ROUGH and missing out on Luka when the GM played with Luka's pops is doubly rough
I've never heard Udoka not sound hopeful that Jalen will figure it out. Can't remember if it was post or pre game, but he praised Green's overall development on defense. He's much better. I stand by my prediction. We are on the brink of a turnaround. Have a very strong feeling about it. You know he improved his defense and passing. That's a lot for 25 games. Defense is half the game. Passing was half his problem on offense. One LAST thing which is finishing at the rim. That's what will make the dominoes fall: - Better attacks on the rim means defenders will sag off him, improving his 3PT%; - His rim and 3PT% will be far superior to his least effective shot - the mid range - and cutting that out will raise his FG%; - Having to be guarded at the 3pt line and at the rim means passes open up to corner shooters. You can't improve everything immediately. He hasn't improved offensively nearly as much as we had hoped. However he's on or ahead of schedule for defense and passing. Off ball movement on offense and defense. He's been way more useful when his shot is off than he's ever been. There's just one tweak left and I feel like we're almost there. Udoka knows what he's doing, teaching him to hunt the right shots. At some point it will click and he'll be able to apply his athleticism to it. Further the offense overall needs major improvement it's not just Jalen. We can be better than the 25th offense. The defense is almost ready, we're almost at our ceiling. Improving the offense is going to help Jalen especially in transition and spacing.
You know that I have been right there with you being very pro Green. And I think that your optimism is well written out, and I get it. I personally just am becoming more skeptical. if it was just an issue of his arm mechanics on his jumper, I could be optimistic. But I am seeing issues with those mechanics and just his body control in general. And that is relevant to not only his jumpshot, but with attacking the rim. He really does a nice job, sometimes of getting to the rim, but just struggles to finish. so fixing all of that while you are focusing on learning a new coach and continuing to grow into your body just seems like a lot to overcome over the next two years. and that doesn’t even begin to discuss his handle or his (seemingly) shaken confidence. Not to mention, I would like to see him, shooting less with those opportunities going to Smith or Thompson. so I just think that all of these headwinds are going to make it hard for him to transform with us over the next 24 months.
I understand what you're saying. I think the NBA season started about 2 months ago. I think going by how he has developed over just 2 months (no offense, mostly defense and passing and off ball) he is going to develop a LOT in the next 4 months. I don't think it happens in a linear way, there was always going to be ups and downs to start the season and then more stability as we go along. When I say a turning point is coming, this big sign to me will be consistent efficiency. I think we'll see a bit of that soon. I'll put it this way. Right now we're at game 25. If I told you before the season that Green would improve his passing, off ball movement, all around defense and scoring efficiency by game 25 you wouldn't have even taken it seriously. That would be too optimistic. The way I see it he's done all those things except scoring efficiency. I think this staff will improve his shooting mechanics gradually, but as far as finishing at the rim more frequently I think it's mental and it will click at some point. Before the season started, I said give him 30 games. The season has gone exactly as I had expected except he improved defensively a bit more and offensively a bit less than I expected. Let's see how it unfolds. I think he comes to our rescue this season as a consistent 20+ ppg scorer with good enough defense for us to finish in the top 5 defenses.
I don't think so. We might be content with Sengun at 2 but we'd still be complaining about Jalen and it's all related to shooting efficiency. No matter where he was picked, the current efficiency numbers are inadequate. Now we may not be talking about him anymore because he probably isn't getting nearly as much playing time as he does as the #2 overall pick or the team may have simply moved on by now. But if he's still here and still playing, we'd be complaining about a starting shooting guard who can't shoot.
I struggle with whether to keep Jalen or use him to find a real back-up for Fred and/or package with Tate to also get a real back up for Alpi. When we started this season I don't think anyone expected us to be quite as good as we are already. I sure didn't. I was hopeful we might have a winning record but that was pie in the sky thinking. But here it is. We are right there. I figured we'd let FVV, Brooks, and Jeff would help us progress along and somewhere after the all-star game we'd see the team begin to show flashes. But instead we saw it at game 3. We have a real chance here. To be a play off contender already. We've seen Alpi take the step. We've seen Jabari take the step. But Jalen hasn't shown any consistency. It's been said already many times. He's looking like a shooting guard who can't shoot. The respect the other steams showed him during the winning streak has all but disappeared. They seem to be waiting on the drive because they are daring him to shoot, from anywhere. Does he still have that freakish speed? Yes. But someone asked if his ceiling might be Corey Brewer. That's beginning to look like a real possibility. I dunno. How do you solve a problem like a Jalen? How do you attack defense and break it down? How do you find a word that means a Jalen? An inconsistent bucket! A brick-at’-the basket! A frown! Many a thing you know you’d like to tell him Many a thing he ought to understand But how do you make him play And play in the right way How do you help a boy become a man
The only reason he is still getting so many minutes is because they picked him #2. Instagram followers don't mean a hill of beans. He just isn't shooting efficiently. We have better players. Give them his minutes.
Yeah, but people would be more patient with him. I think if Green was picked later, he would probably be sent to the G-league and would plie up impressive numbers there, and people would see him like they do Cam Whitmore, excited about his potential and wanted to see him play in the big league.
Jalen’s journey has been real life the curious case of Benjamin Button. as a Rookie we thought he just need time to get used to NBA speed as a Sophomore we thought he only needs to get better on defense and slight improvement on passing because offense was already there as of now we just hope he can at least be half decent scorer
I really want the kid to succeed, but he needs to stop wasting the starters minutes he’s been given. This team would be at least five wins better if he could just be average.
No Kyrie or Luka. looks like an easy win. I expect a highly efficient 27+ game from green, and the board doing a 180 on green’s future in Houston.
I feel like a lot of his struggles are cuz he gets a bad whistle. Seems like multiple times a game he gets fouled going to hoop with no call. Today that charge that took away his and one was ridiculous.