Even if he hits a few more shots and gets his % to 41/35, think about if that would even make him look that much better. That’s the problem when you don’t contribute in any other aspects of the game, you have to be absolutely elite in scoring efficiency to make a dent on the game.
If Sengun got 25 minutes a game he would easily be third right now. But respect to nba.com for at least recognizing he’s the best rookie on the rockets. Now we wait for the coach to catch up.
For two 19 year olds to be putting up those stats in nba is pretty impressive. Even with the losing, you really have no alpha dog yet, nor chemistry with vets. This team is Wip, going take couple years to really see them work together better. Team is just too young. If they want to spend some of that money after picking top 5 in next year draft in the free agency market. Here hoping they can get wall money off the books and try to find 2-3 big signing to get this team winning in near future.
What happened to his jumpshot? I mean good lord, look at the degree of difficulty on these shots in the short clip below. He’s not even touching the rim — all net.
That's what happens when you look at a small sample of a streaky shooter playing against scrubs and make too much of it. If you look at his full on numbers, Jalen Green wasn't even a net positive for his G league team despite his hotter than usual shooting during that stretch and the laughably low level of competition.
Confidence is a big thing in basketball that people just...people get far too much into analytics when the mental of the game also matters. It's why I say we need to get him easy buckets, get him going, then he starts hitting. If you notice he scores in bunches and usually after hitting a shot. Would be nice to start games off with him getting an easy dunk or two just to see if that gets him going. Green needs a lot more fastbreak opportunities, a lot more cuts to the rim, stop ISOing him at the top and expecting much from him when he's cold.
I think most of us thought he would already be at 41/35/80 at this point and working on other aspects of his game that "make a dent". Now he needs to figure out his shot while trying to figure out how to do the other things like play make, rebound, defend....He's behind where most of us thought he would be by now but luckily he has plenty of time to figure it out. Edited to add if he hadn't been the #2 pick I would send him to the G-league.
Can’t really blame anyone for only having 15 games to sample from. Is what it is. Regardless, his numbers were solid: 18ppg 46% FG 36% 3PT 83% FT 61% TS Dropped 30/7/5 in the one playoff game. I’m referring to his jumpshot alone. Something is off mechanically and/or mentally. He’s missing WIDE open shots. This has absolutely nothing to do with level of competition:
Im willing to give Green the whole year and be judgy 15 games in next year. Do I wish we'd taken Mobley? Im not there yet but maybe will come to that point. Green needs to improve in multiple ares but I also see 3 unique traits. 1 Athleticism 2 First step/burst with ball 3 Passing is better than i thought What will a 21 year old Jalen Green be in the 2023-2024 season? IMO he will be a special player. I definitely acknowledge his struggles.
You can point out his GLeague stat line, but my point was that he was a net negative to his team while on the court even in the G league where there was such a pathetic level of competition that he could still score a bit. He wasn't overall good even then.
The problem with Green is when he's terrible on offense, being an inefficient chucker, he's useless on defense. He has really bad defensive IQ, often being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's also terrible at 1on1 defense, often letting guys blow past him easily. Sengun on the other hand can still pass and plays defense hard. He fights for rebounds too. He basically plays the right way but still doesn't get recognized by the coaching staff.
He was inconsistent in shooting in the G League, too. You can't look at one or two highlights and say how good those were then apply it to the NBA and say "what happened?". I can look at a couple of clips from this NBA season and be amazed at his skill/athleticism level, too. Look at his overall G-League numbers and you'll see his 3 pt. shot was crazy inconsistent against inferior competition. If you disagree, maybe we should bring Trevelin Queen and Anthony Lamb up because they're doing pretty good in the G-League for the Vipers. 1) Level of competition 2) He's probably having to read the defense more 3) More complex offense With 2 and 3, he's not going to just get by on athletic skill alone and with 1) there are people that can or can almost keep up with him in the NBA whether it be on blow-by attempts or if they poke the ball away from him on drives.
Comparing Green's development is on par to somone ike Anthony Edwards' development last year by looking at his game logs lfrom his rookie campaign. The first 1 1/2 months, Edwards avg just 13 ppg. Throughout the season, month by month he gradually improved his play and ultimately average 19 for the whole year. Be patient..no need to panic guys. Green actually shows more explosive 20/30 pt games earlier than Edwards.
He’s hella smooth and his flashes are beautiful. I even think his jumper is very smooth. but you have to be a bit concerned 35/28 is very bad. a bust is strong assessment, but at the same time their has been plenty of players drafted high and are out the league or end of bench by the end of their rookie contract. Remember Terrence Williams? He was very good in the GLeague drafted in the lottery all world athlete great size could Handel the rock pass but just counts get it together with the big boys but in summer league and GLeague he was a triple double every other game. Now I’m not comparing him to green they are different and I do think green is a much much better shooter but mainly green from what I’ve read and heard from teammates and coaches he seems to work really hard and has very high expectations. I think ultimately he’ll be a solid player not sold on franchise player. I would have liked to see more flashes and atleast be shooting 40/33/80 by now. He is on a bad team with all the opportunities a rookies could hope for.
One thing i do remember about Jalen Green in the G League is that he started off struggling and then he eventually just took off and started being more consistent and looking so great! that's what i am hoping for in his transition to the NBA... he wasn't ever gonna be lighting it up the moment he played NBA games.. We need to just focus on his development and what he becomes by year end! the win loss record shouldnt even be a factor this year! Be patient everyone! our time will come... i am also curious what OKC thunder fans were saying when they were at the beginning of their rebuild with durant and westbrook
Edwards is and was the stronger player, he weighs 45 pounds more than Green, so in his rookie season he must have had 30+ pounds more on Green. Hence he could finish better around the rim and above all he averaged 2 rebounds more than Green, he has the better physical tools if you will. Green might become the better jump shooter and in game dunker but cannot compare them right now.
So about that portion, I've made a post before that I'll re-post here, this data might be slightly out dated (Green's touches have actually gone down to 47.9) Rockets - Touches per game KPJ: 71.1 Wood: 60.6 Green: 48.2 We can actually look at some of the other rookies for comparison Scottie Barnes: 63.9 Cade Cunningham: 65 Evan Mobley: 56.4 Jalen Suggs: 61.8 Josh Giddey: 68.7 Chris Durate: 56.7 Jalen Green is pretty far behind other rookies in terms of touches, he's actually 7th among rookies, lower than even big men who don't handle the ball like Mobley. So the question is did we draft Jalen Green because we want him to be a low usage, Klay Thompson type player? If so, this is how we are treating him right now and he isn't delivering at this role. Klay Thompson had similar touch numbers as Green does before his injury, and Thompson was widely known as a minimum dribble/cut/catch and shoot player. If we are drafting him to be a player who we can give the ball to, and create shots for himself and/or his teammates, then the number of touches he is getting right now is nowhere near enough for that to happen (or for us to see if he can make it happen). In fact, Green has less touches than even Zach Lavine in his rookie season despite Zach playing fewer minutes. Green is getting shots sure, but is he actually involved in the offense as much as he should be? I don't think so.
