His height, yah, but what good is that if you’re too skinny to guard anyone with some girth and too slow to keep up with most 2s and 3s? To be fair, his defense has looked better this year. Last year I was worried but still understand he’s a rookie and needs to build strength and experience
Too skinny isn't an issue. The weight or power isn't what determines defense. It's how you position yourself. Draymond Green isn't too fast and yet he can guard PG some of the time. He's not as big but he can guard bigger players. Bari will be stronger through the years but his footwork is the most essential so he can establish his center of gravity. I can see he's got promise here just inexperienced.
Well this is certainly true for most player, but against centers, particularly guys like Jokic and Embiid, you can’t gain position when those guys are just pushing you around like an ice puck. Body positioning, ie hips, feet and shoulders, is important when on the perimeter or basically guarding anyone outside the paint has improved this season drastically — it was not very good last year especially considering defense and athleticism for size was what made him so intriguing. Admittedly I didn’t watch a second of him in college, nor anyone else. College ball, bleh. Good news in my eyes is the improvement in both his positioning and shot. I’m not at all giving up on him or Jalen. Just was expecting more. Maybe that’s my fault. Draymond isn’t big, he’s strong af though. Particularly in the lower body. That’s why Chuck Hayes was so dominant, plus lightning quick hands. Side note, I don’t know why we didn’t even attempt a few minutes of Boban on Jokic when he was just killing us with 3on1 put backs.
The nature of his role. If it was style and not a product of role and importance Jabari would t have a career one to one ratio of assists to turnovers. Green's role and talent creates more offense in general. Hence more assists and being top ten in the entire NBA in secondary assists.
Weight or power do come into play because when you do foul, people don't get as many And Ones when you are strong enough because you alter the offensive players form, not the other way around. I think Jabari shifts his hips very well for his size but he is narrow and that doesn't give him a large enough base which makes it easier to move him off his spot. I agree that he will be fine eventually but I think he is going to benefit the most from a lot more core work and functional strength than just putting on pure muscle. Honestly his body type would really benefit from Yoga to help him better connect muscle groups. The thing about playing basketball is physical resistance is often very dynamic so you really benefit more from strengthening a lot of the chain in motion....but yeah, I think he is already getting stronger and will be fine - his shoulders are already broadening out - he's just going to have more of an Ibaka frame than a traditional big. ...what worries me with him is how easily he seems to get blown by - his first step is SLOW despite all the physical gifts he has. He's not very 'twitchy' if that makes sense.
Other than the Durant teams, when wasn't Draymond the 3rd most important player? Do something for me, type in "Warriors Big 3" and see what pops up. I think if you ask most people they will say Draymond was the 3rd guy outside of those Durant teams again he was always the 3rd guy and I Think that's the beauty of that team is because he didn't have to score even 10 points for that team to win. He simply moved the ball, played defense, and he's had a few big shots hit here and there. I don't know what Jabari will turn out to be or how good he will turn out to be, no one really knows. Most of the superstars we have today no one thought they would be as great as they are now, other than guys like Lebron of course, but no one thought Curry and Klay would be all-time best shooters or that Jokic would be a 2x MVP etc, so who knows. But right now his main things are defense and shooting, in that role, he fits perfectly as a 3rd guy. In that I don't think the team goes out in the game and think "Jabari going to drop 30 tonight," they expect that out of Green and Sengun, but they do want solid shooting and great defense and I think even if that's all he does that's a player that could help you win championships.
Also I will say this...at this point, people are underestimating his defense. By a lot. If you look at him on Kyrie the previous game, Kyrie just couldn't get a good look on him. Kyrie. One of the best and dynamic scorers of this generation. When I see people say "His defense is meh..." I do wonder what games they are watching or if they are just looking at 'defensive stats' not thinking that his would not reflect his ability since he's often guarding great offensive players. He's just a very hard guy to deal with as an offensive player and his team defense, his weakside, all this is getting better and should be amazing after a year under Ime. It's why I've always had faith, his defensive woes are all just lack of experience stuff. I know some people will point to "LOOK AT HOW PLAYER X BLEW PAST THEM!" but people that say this don't realize that even the best defenders get crossed, get blown by, get bullied, and abused. Just the nature of the sport the better offensive move will always break down defense. I do think guys that get Jabari on them aren't licking their chops though and thinking BBQ chicken.
Naturally he's a hard cover, but would have liked to see us at least match his physicality for a couple minutes. There were a bunch of possessions it looked like 3rd graders playing against high schoolers in terms of rebound putbacks. Ya, Jokic would have likely quickly realized just take him off dribble but I would have dared him to make a couple long shots over Boban. If he misses, gamble pays off, keeps him out of paint during those crucial minutes where we were forcing a lot of misses but couldnt get rebounds (or score).
I'm not convinced Bari will ever be a superstar but I've been wrong before If he isn't he will still be a damn good player
yeah this is my take on Bari as well. He has a chance to be a poor-man’s Chris Bosh. He’s still so young, and he’s got the size and work ethic. He’s gonna be a good player; probably not a superstar.
Every great team needs about three guys. Three franchise guys. Some have four, but in the new era of the second apron, I think three is the perfect number that permits depth. I am of the firm opinion that we have two of those three in Sengun and Smith. The best part is that they are perfect complements. There are two issues, however. First, I view Bari as best suited as the eventual #3 on a great team -- basically the the Draymond Green/Kevin Love/Chris Bosh/Horace Grant role. Ideally, the best fit next to a Sengun/Smith core is a high-scoring, efficient guard. FVV is great, but he is too inefficient, and that's not Brooks or Eason's game. As such, I really hope we find that high-level scorer between Green, Amen, and Whitmore. The good thing about signing FVV and Brooks, though, is that it gives us cushion to see if we have that guy, or if we need to make a trade. We have time to figure things out. Patience is a virtue.
So nothing like Trevor Ariza who did not turn out to be a dead eye shooter, just a decent 3 and D, more D than 3.
He is going to be stronger than Ariza eventually. If he plays defense like Ariza he will be a special player. He will be a much better offensive player than Ariza was and a better rebounder.
Trevor Ariza is a lazy comparison. Ariza never averaged more than 14 points a game. Bari may average more than that this season at 20 years old. Ariza averaged 4 ppg when he was 20 on awful efficiency.
