He did everything, including defend which our "franchise player" did not. He also took over down the stretch when FVV went out
At the moment he's playing almost exactly the same number of minutes and almost as many shots as last season. He's improved at literally every single thing except blocks and steals (which were already good for a young PF). Scoring, efficiency, rebounding, perimeter defense, interior defense, ft%, 3pt%, 2pt%, turnovers, assists, steals have all improved. Not to mention the improved strength, handle, flexibility and mid range jumper. You can call him a role player if you like but I think he can be as good as Prime Rashard Lewis before the age of 24 with more improvement coming. My one concern is that I hope his game doesn't remain too jumper-dependent because those players are inconsistent and streaky. He needs a high efficiency bread and butter 2PT shot of some sort. If he has put on muscle and can execute a simple go-to high efficiency hook shot when matched up against similar/smaller players, then I'm sure he will be worth the max when it's time to extend him. Especially with the way Udoka is developing him making sure we get his maximum potential defensively. In his mid 20's no one will want to be guarded by this guy and his mid range and 3pt shot will be so good. If we had Banchero and Sengun, we would be wishing we could swap the lesser one for someone more like Jabari. We really got lucky with this perfect pairing. In my mind the 4 and 5 spots are locked up for the next 10 years.
He needs to bulk up and become an almost elite rebounder because sengun will never be a great rebounder, so Jabari has to overcompensate for that. We get killed on the boards so far with this young core
Agree completely, except instead of the hook I think he can develop a nice little turnaround midrange like LaMarcus Aldridge or Duncan. Simple and quick to punish small defenders, and shoot 3s when bigs are on him (or just threaten 3s to keep the paint clear for Sengun). With a bit more strength and focus on rebounding over the next years, he is easily a max player given his defensive awareness and skills.
I think he really needs a shot - any kind - that he can reliably make at better than 50% from the field. Scorers who baser their game on most mid range and 3pters are very streaky and he's young enough for us to avoid that from now. The mid range shot will be good with repetition I have no doubt, but what will stabilize his night to night performance is a slightly bigger chunk of his offensive diet being high % shots. Developing his handles has helped a lot in that area as well, he's much better at attacking closeouts and driving when it's open.
6 sure defensive rebounds turned into looseballs that ended up offensive boards for the Jazz. Why? 4x Sengun had to close out on a shooter, which left Brooks, Bari and fvv fighting for boards vs Kessler and Lauri. That's what happens when perimeter players miss assignments or you intentionally play it that way.
Yeah, this is exactly it. Jabari and Jalen are good at securing the ball, but they don't box out like Sengun and stop the other team's defenders. It's complete chaos when Sengun's not around the rim and he can't always be there.
He probably is a roleplayer in the sense that he may never be a go-to guy that beats double teams and scores on all three levels. He would have to find another level with his ballhandling and/or paint scoring to become an All-NBA type of guy. But his defense, rebounding, and shotmaking abilities will make him the type of extremely valuable roleplayer who makes it into multiple all-star games and would improve any team he's on. Not a star in the classic sense, but perhaps one of the three best players on a championship contender.
Typically nod along with many of your posts but I'm struggling with the end. Objectively, Banchero is tiers above Jabari offensively. His offensive load is slightly higher than Sengun's. Imagine what the Rockets record would be and what Jabari's value would be if we fed present-day Jabari the ball as much as we feed Sengun. Not pretty. Banchero's advanced O-stats look exactly like what you'd expect from a 2nd year player shouldering a large share of his teams offensive burden - High usage + poor efficiency. Wagner and Sengun are anomalous in terms of efficient offensive production as young offensive cornerstones. But back to the point...super excited about Jabari. IMO his present-day value is below Banchero's but 6 months ago there was a stratospheric difference (re 6 mos ago Jabari + Tari + 2 firsts for Paolo). Only Jabari's improvements have bridged this gap and at his current pace it would be unwise to bet against him bridging it further.
I honestly have no idea how people are defining “role players” nowadays. I mean, is it really the case that if you’re not a star, you’re a role player? We’re asking if someone can both be the second best player on a good team and be a “role player?” That’s absurd. Is Michael Porter Jr. a role player? Kris Middleton? Fred VanVleet? A role player is someone how performs a very limited “role.” They are the glue that complement the strengths and weaknesses of your core players. A good team’s second or third best player is a core player, not a role player.
There are many different definitions of role player, that's the main source of disagreement. Some people consider every player who is not an all-star a role player. I, personally, place the guys you mentioned in a tier below all-star which I don't really know what to call. I've also seen the use of role player as a player archetype. People tend to call the players who don't handle the ball and mostly score of off assists role players. By this definition, guys like Michael Porter Jr. can be considered a role player by some. even though the term "role player" sounds a bit weak to describe Porter Jr.'s huge impact on the court. I don't find "team's xth best player" a good way to measure the player's level. There all different kinds of team in the league. Second best for one of them could be a bench warmer for another.
FALSE - this team is one the better rebounding teams in the league. We team rebound - there isn't just one guy who grabs all the boards. Utah just happens to be a top 3 rebounding team in the league and the best offensive rebounding team.
Where did you pull those stats from? Just curious - hadn't seen that format before but looks like something I would like to dig into.
Can we change the title to something less offensive. This is Jabari's thread, no need to disrespect Sengun.
