I'm mostly talking about him only shooting like 30% on open 3s. That's definitely mental. Him forcing bad drives and shots after missing a few is also mental. Him making like 38% of his wide open 3s alone would catapult him into being a much better player. His lack of aggressiveness at times definitely seems mental to me.
In the words of James Harden, Sengun is the cornerstone. The rest of the guys are role players or pieces that complete our team. Spoiler Dwight (Howard) and I are the cornerstones of the Rockets,” said Harden. “The rest of the guys are role players or pieces that complete our team. We’ve lost some pieces and added some pieces. I think we’ll be fine next season. Sengun will get the bag. Jalen, well, they already tried to trade him. And if they go “star hunting”, you better believe he’s gonna be part of the trade package.
Sengün very likely had 1 tenth of his inconsistencies and showed up in his first year despite Silas not counting on him. It is comparing Jalen Green to Kobe Bryant. Exactly. Both were scorers and dunkers, the resemblance fades after that.
Jalen already makes like 38% of his open 3’s (4-6 feet). He has a low percentage on his wide open 3’s because he’s taking 3’s from distances he just can’t make them consistently. The data says he’s 6+ feet open but that’s because he’s several feet behind the 3pt line. He just needs to take them from as close to the 3pt line for the time being and shelve his long range 3’s till he’s worked on them a little more. That’s a shot selection issue. He definitely is a person who lets his recent play affect his shot too much. I don’t think it’s a mental toughness issue at all. Just needs to take smarter 3pt shots and maybe fewer overall. He’s making like 3+ on over 38% when he’s open. He’s over 40% in the corners. His shot selection there must improve.
Kind of a tangential topic here, and I've suspected this for years, but I think the data that we are being fed about "open" and "wide open" shots is completely bogus. I think the way it's measured does not accurately capture the situation and I think breaking down the "openness" of a shot based on the distance of the players feet is just a really really flawed way of looking at things. I finally got some confirmation on my theory/suspicion a few days ago when the CEO of Synergy Sports (the company that tracks this data and gives it to the NBA) went on a podcast and said that Victor Wembanyama blocked a shot they had classified as a "wide open" shot. Obviously Wemby is a freak but think about that - if a shot gets blocked then how can it be wide open? He said Wembys feet were 6'1" away from the shooter when he shot the ball, but Wemby was running towards him and jumping, and because his body was angled toward the shooter with his freakish outstretch arm, he was able to block the shot. I think he said it was the first time they recorded a wide open shot being blocked. And that shot is being put into the same category as a broken coverage corner 3 where nobody is attempting to recover, and the shooter has all day to shoot the same way he would in an empty gym. Kind of similar to this was back when Harden was in his prime, they actually had a large majority of Harden's stepbacks as "open" 3s, because of the space he was able to create. Again, I think this is just completely wrong and against the spirit of what it means to be open. If Harden steps back 4 feet, and the defender was RIGHT on top of him, and jumps into him, and has his fingertips 2 inches away from blocking the shot, does any human being classify that as an "open" shot? Seriously? Anyway I don't really have a solution here, I'm just ranting. I am not suggesting we just throw out the data altogether. But take it with a huge huge grain of salt, it is VERY far from perfect.
I think the point I was making was/is STYLE of play. They were better when they had Sengun, because they also had Cam. The point I was making and will continue to make is, does having an open lane help three or four players more or does playing w/Sengun, who slows the pace and who clogs the lane, benefit him more. Whats most beneficial? According to Ime, Cam loves to run, Jalen loves to run, Amen loves to run, Jabari loves to run, however it is not Sengun and FVV preference. So, if trading Sengun to obtain another player who fits a more running style, similar to what Indy did with Sabonis and Halliburton, I thinknthat benefits the masses. Rather than trading the masses to fit Sengun.
Superstars look like superstars in any system. Doncic wouldn't look "worse" with Sengun. Whoever ascends will do so next to Sengun. Period.
The quality of opponent and their defense matters quite a bit in my opinion. Jalen got into good rhythm with his blow by and the 3's were landing. Able to score on bad teams, was something Jalen has done before (even during Silas era). The hope is he can carry this production more often on the mid/top-tier teams. Unsurprisingly Wizard isn't a good team. But couple of their trees: Bagley (6'10") and Richaun Holmes (6'9") were out. Just as CFers said pre-game, and Ryan Hollins calling it out during the game; their paint was opened for business. It's not a knock on Jalen, as Rockets can only play the team in front of them. Wiz game: TS% for all the starters + Landale were way above their seasonal average. FVV 79.0% (season as a snapshot in time is currently at 57.0%) Jalen 77.5% (season 53.2%) Dillon 73.2% (season 56.0%) Amen 77.6% (season 56.1%) Bari 73.5% (season 56.5%) Landale 86.1% (season 51.5%)----------------------------------- not speaking on defense, but nearly everyone was hot on offense. ---------- I low key follow Wizard this (and last) year box score wise. Mostly because they're in a rebuild, I want to see what paths they take. Opposing players having seasonal highs or near highs is not uncommon. They're playing guys like Johnny Davis and Baldwin Jr. off the bench right now. Some of it is development, other is for new front office to see before they sell on those guys. (replace by their next draftees). The Cav's game tomorrow is at home, which is good news. If the idea is to have growth, real tests are Jalen (and other young Rockets) to do well against the better teams of the league. If they can blow by Cav's perimeter defense, and score around their backline (twin towers: Allen & Mobley), then yea, it'd be more impressive. On the micro, it's not all on Jalen either, other guys have to show up against Cav's defense.
Doncic would honestly look worse in a system he's asked to do any sort of off ball movement off of a post playmaker like Sengun Luka has the same flaws as Harden where he is useless off ball.
I agree with this wholeheartedly tbh. Unfortunately, the majority of the Rockets fanbase have been heavily influenced by Morey for a long time. This means that a large portion of the fanbase basically lives and dies by their "advanced metric" of choice: Every basketball opinion they have hinges around said statistic (BPM/VORP/RAPTOR etc.) The fact is that none of these metrics (or any metrics) are the bottom line on evaluating talent, if it was as simple as "read this statistic, be perfect on evaluation" then nobody would ever draft busts, everybody could be a scout and there'd be a LOT less money spent on player evaluation, scouting and development.
Houston Rockets is preparing to make a maximum contract of 5 years to Sengun bro, what you talkin about? İn this team everyone goes, Sengun stays. If we are talking about play inn chances today,80 % of this performance belong to Sengun and Fred. Sengun without a doubt proved that he is NBA's top 5 center with Jokic,Embiid, Sabonis and AD. He is in different tier than all players in Rockets. He is out of discussion, he is not anymore a prospect like Green, Jabari and others He is a future allstar... He dominated Jazz history records this year.. This type of messages of your sound silly and after some time, stoopid and idiot.
Not true! I don't think Magic would have looked as good with a halfcourt team nor do I think Luka or Harden would look as good with the Rockets, as they are currently constructed. Can you imagine Luka playing defense and running out on a fastbreak several times a.game? You have to surround players who fit their styles. Some players like to play fast and some like to play at a slower pace.
Artistic rendering of a "wide open" shot that was blocked. This is why I think the way they measure "wide open" is stupid ->
He was also sent down to give Jalen space. JG plays better without Cam breathing fire all around him.
That's great and all but they way you type makes me believe if one of those others like Jalen or Jabari do make the leap you'd dismiss it.
