His cousin was a bust and his father was one of the worst role players. I don't know about his advice but at least Junior would be the best in his family.
Tari is just better at everything, including 3-point shooting - that was the one thing I thought Jabari would be elite at - unfortunately not.
The biggest improvement he could make IMO is to know his limitations. At some point he has to come to terms with the fact that he's not the guy he thinks he is, and that's okay. He is still a good roleplayer. 6'10, good defender, active rebounder, and can hit catch-and-shoot 3s in the high 30s. No dribbling, no playmaking, just hit shots and defend with some effort on the boards. That's a valuable roleplayer and a starter on a championship squad.
His dad has overslept his development as a big guy only encouraged him to shoot. And switching Defense on the perimeter. He has subpar performance on stocks (blocks and steals) for a mobile big..... and not much of a post game. His career FTA (Free Throw attempt) rate is abysmal too ....averaging 2.5 per game for a big......I guess he camps out at the 3 point line. No playmaking, not a well-rounded guy in times when almost every Top 2-3 pick can sort of pass.
He wants to be Kevin Durant, but his ceiling is Channing Frye. He can't playmake, can't dribble, and can't create his own shot.
It’s only been 7 games but coming into tonight he was shooting 32% from 3. At year 3 of observing his shooting, I still don’t see the touch you want to see from a pure shooter. I am noticing that he’s getting stronger. Seems to hold up better through contact on both sides of the ball. I think he’s an underrated rebounder. And there’s still a lot of growth coming. But I just don’t think he’s better than Amen or Tari. And those are the two guys who we’ll need to pay.
I’m starting to see from the core 7 that Jabari and Cam Whitmore are probably the two odd men out. We have a cluttered bunch of talent, maybe if we can trade those two and get a player that is on the verge of stardom like what we did with Harden and what OKC did with Shai.
Agree that while there have been some flashes of good potential (last season he strung together a few good games and was dropping 20-30 points on good efficiency with decent def during those games), Jabari hasn't lived up to his draft slot status, yet. Maybe there is room for more growth (my hope)... but at the very least, as he grows into his body and matures, he is bound to get more consistent at things he is currently able to do. Maybe it's a good thing for the Rockets that he hasn't been a revelation yet. As long as Jabari isn't asking for some absurd money, I don't see why a decent extension - something in the range of around 4 yrs/$70-$80M would be bad thing for the Rockets. Jabari is still a long, lanky body that can play somewhat big and space the floor shooting 3s while switching on the perimeter for defense - that type of player is always needed on any team. And a lower contract number would go a long way in helping the Rockets keep most of the core together for longer. Even if Amen and Tari leapfrog Jabari in terms of actual star ability, that doesn't mean Jabari doesn't have a place on this team going forward.
I can get used to this. Brickari Smith not being on the court down the stretch. You can't call yourself a 3 and D player, when I expect you to miss every single wide open shot your teammates get you.
It's really damn hard seeing him becoming a better player than Amen and Tari, who are going to need to play heavy minutes here pretty soon. Amen+Tari+Alperen makes sense.
Its so funny to see the hate for Jabari and the cope for Reed Sheppard when both are just looking like solid role players. Jabari will be fine. He is better than Channing Frye because he is a good defender and he tries hard in the post. His baseline is already a 12+ yr vet like Jeff Green. Ime likes him as a small ball C when he plays Tari Amen and Brooks together usually its Jabari who is the 5th man.
Reed Sheppard is a 19-year-old rookie who has played 50 total minutes. Some folks see the upside, some don't... and that's okay. Some didn't see Alperen coming either. Hell, many didn't see Harden... Conversely, some thought Marcus Morris was Carmelo Anthony. Jabari is in year 3. We'll see how long he lasts at C, with Alperen's out-of-character struggles seemingly over... Jabari was benched more than anyone last year, and he was benched again tonight with Alperen rolling. Last year he was dead last on the roster in plus-minus too. We need more data.
7 games is a tiny sample size. We have 76 games last year where he shot .363... If he improves on that by just a little bit, he becomes super valuable at the right price.
Well first of all Jabari has barely started yr 3 right? So ita like Rookie Sheppard with 2 yr experience Jabari. Secondly Jabari is so far ahead of Sheppard so again I don't see the double standard. In my opinion both of them still have upside, the difference is Jabari is usable now but Sheppard still needs seasoning. If people think Sheppard's college performance is a good basis for him to have upside then the same is even more true for Jabari who played as a star in a much deeper college era.
No way man, we need Jabari. Successful teams have excellent off ball players. Amen/Sengun/Green/Shep need the ball in their hands. He fits around all of them. Just has to slowly get that 3PT% closer to 40%.
People trying to make Fetch happen with Jabari Smith for 3 years now. He's not an elite spot up off the catch shooter. He's an ok finisher down low. He's an ok defender overall but can't really guard up high or in the post. That's a replacement level player - if you give that guy a big contract the jokes on you.
