Nah it’s clear that none of them will EVER improve. Trade all 3 of them immediately for Trae Young, that will solve all the issues. That guy can create his own shot!
yeah i'm sorry but the "he's only 22" argument only applies to players who have flashes but are inconsistent. It's why so many of us still had hope for Jalen Green because he would at least flash star - player status on occasion (obviously the lacking on the consistency part). Jabari's highest scoring game this season was 25 points and he only has 6 games with >20 points. 2024-25 Jabari Smith Jr had 6 games > 20 points with the highest scoring being 30. 2023-24 Jabari Smith Jr had 14 games >20 points with highest being 34 but only 3 games were over 25 points 2022-23 Jabari Smith Jr had 12 games >20 points with the highest scoring being 30 and only 2 games were over 25 points. Jabari Smith Jr has played 253 games of NBA basketball and only scored over >30 points in a game a total of 3 times in his career. For a guy that was supposed to have great scoring potential, we've yet to ever see it. In comparison the guy that you guys all loved to hate, Jalen Green has played 307 games in his career and scored more than >30 points in game over 51 times..
Agreed. The Rockets do have a system. You can see it because we do the same thing and fail every game. Our system isn't polished, complicated, or effective. Change is needed. Jabari would thrive in an offensive system that featured cutting to the basket and coming off pin-downs or other off-ball action. And the movement would get him in matchups where he'd win on the glass or shoot over smaller players. I suspect other coaches would covet the rim protection he flashes from game to game, stopping opponents at the rim with weakside help. He is getting better at this part of the game. So Jabari has value. The question I don't know is whether that value is high enough to net a veteran shooter/scorer we desperately need (and will continue to need even if FVV comes back). Even if you could drop something as small as Luke Kennard or Malik Monk into this roster and have more ability to score in different ways. We might even be quicker on D. Does a move like that cost you Jabari or Tari?
I know as a fact that Phoenix wanted Jabrari over Jalen and our great GM held out until they accepted Green. Horrible GM and now we’re stuck with this player for years to come. Also, Hank said it was the first time Jabrari lost us a game single handedly this year. Not true look at the game before in Portland and look at few weeks back when he had a free throw to seal the deal with less than 10 seconds an choked it away. Seems like a nice dude, but shouldn’t be starting on a contender like the Rockets.
So Amen and Reed at 22 and 21 are not finished products but Jabari at 22 is? LOL at least make sense dude
Not my fault that you're too slow to understand. You're the one who mentioned age, not me. Amen has physical tools that increases his ceiling, we've already seen a massive jump from Amen from his rookie year to his third year. This is all without a jumpshot. Reed has also shown an improvement from last year to this year and his ability to create his own shot off the dribble is something that once again, Jabari does not have and never had. You're the one who thinks development is linear and think you automatically get better with age. Not my fault you don't understand what you're seeing.
Could we trade someone when their value is high just once.. I was a lot more psyched about trading Jabari when he was playing well in his stretch against eastern conference scrubs. He’ll have a good stretch again and that is the time to not overreact and not knee jerk. He’s gotta go, he’s not a championship piece on that contract, just need timing to be right.
game before in Portland most of our lineup sucked , so definitely not lost “single-handedly” by Jabari that’s insane lol and the other overtime game where he missed one out of 3 free throws, he scored like 7 and 8 points in that overtime was one of the only players to even do anything in the overtime to keep it close LOL so no his one free throw didn’t single-handedly cost us that game. We wouldn’t even be close in overtime without his production. Nice hater glasses though!
Bari is a problem that's multiplied with Sengun being out like others have expressed. He's being depended on as one of the main guys to pick up the slack and he just isn't capable. If Ime isn't aware enough to not keep playing him when he's stinking up the joint, then yes he needs to be traded. KD coming here I believe put everyone on the clock because they are expected to contend. KD's still one of the top superstars in the league but he will not last having to carry a team most of the time at 37. He probably didn't come here to heavy lift like he did in his prime. KD showed pure frustration for the first time last night. Bari was extended but he still is looking like a project who is starting for what was supposed to be a contending team this year.
This. Jabari looks the part, but when his team really needs to come through, he usually falters. I guess it's not his fault that he doesn't have the dawg in him. Amen, Alpi, Reed, Durant are dawgs.
Are you watching these games? Jabari was getting hunted in the pelicans, Kings, mavs, and both portland games lmao. Dude can get you a block or two. KD is a way better defender than jabari.
There’s a reason that deni avdija was hunting for Jabari smith jr on a floor with Adams and reed coexisting.
Jabari is like a litmus test for bball feel. Anyone who thinks he’s a good defender is either mad biased for some reason or can’t process what they are watching. He and Reed are food for opposing teams, they keep getting hunted relentlessly. I don’t know where this idea that Jabari is a good defender came from, I’m assuming it’s because people get hyped up on that one block highlight clip per game (which he doesn’t do on average btw), legit puzzling. KD easily clears him. Actually Sengun is better than him too.
Dude, he's inconsistent in that space. One game woopy doo! Most games its a dude especially when he's in the post...literally, he could average 20pts if he worked mostly on his inside game instead of trying to be KD. Honestly, I blame it on the Rockets basketball ops team for not developing him in this space. We should have Jabari working with Olajuwon
lol 1 player on the bench most the game and the other is injured … once again we don’t have a system .. that’s why it’s so much standing around and everything outside of corner 3s is so difficult
IMO, this is what's concerning.. I'm not saying his shot can't improve.. But using age as the guiding factor for progression is different than using it for more playmaking people like Jalen or Reed .. Bari's shots are essentially wide the **** open.. Even his midranges are basically him rising up over a shorter defender and shooting... While players like Jalen and other guards have to shoot while guarded tightly, and use body control when going up for shots off the dribble.. At the very least, because his shots are all damn near open looks, he should have much better shooting splits IF shooting was projected to be his best attribute.. That's the bullshit that makes me want his goofy ass gone.. He clearly works on it and its a staple of whatever the hell is orchestrated by the coaching staff , because that's all he basically does in games and nothing else..
