I'm starting to notice Green is very confident with his left hand. This was a part of Harden's game that he never mastered but having a strong off-hand completely opens up the court, especially on drives.
Glad the Rockets won and glad kpj hit the shot. Rockets seem hell bent on forcing this guy to be a good pg here so I hope it works out. As a Rockets fan I hope all these guys play well. As a realist, I see flaws in some of these guys and wouldn't put up with some of the **** they do. While Green's defense needs improvement one thing that I like is that he usually seems engaged and energetic on defense. As long as the will remains I think his iq and strength will catch up and he'll be fine there. Wood seems like he had a good game. That's good news for his trade value. Kpj hitting that shot might not have been the best thing if he gets irrational confidence from it. Kpj jacking up more shots isn't what the team needs. Kpj making simple reads and finding the open man is.
Facts. KPJ biggest development as a PG is dropping the turnovers significantly. He needs to take a long look at Dejounte Murray and get to work. Across the board, his shooting percentages need to come up, too. I am willing to be patient. He is the same age as a few lottery picks this year. That said, this season going into next, we need to see some progress. In today's NBA your starting PG can't be shooting 36-33-62 splits. 42-36-75 and we can talk. To put a positive spin on things, his defense looks a hell of a lot better.
He needs a midrange game, or a floater, AND he has to stop jumping in the air as he drives and contorting his body AWAY from contact - go THROUGH the contact, and he gets to the FT line. Too often he bends away and makes the shot harder. As for Jalen, I have been on him about defense and tonight he was struggling in the 4th as they were going at him, BUT, he was IN POSITION most times, and that is very positive he will get stronger over time...... Jalen is coming on - maybe he can get that ROY yet. DD
I’m normally not a huge fan of this kind of stuff but in this specific situation I think it was the right call. A 20% shot that leaves no time on the clock is better than a 50% shot that does, when you factor in that the isolation has a ~0% chance of turnover, the other play could be a turnover or a blown up play that turns into a heave…and then the other team has time to get a shot off on the other end. Maybe KPJ isn’t the best player to choose (though I think the idea was just iso against whoever Neto was guarding) but I think the iso is the right decision.
Game has finally slowed down for him. I sense him stringing consecutive 30pt games for him before the season ends. Defense, ballhandling and strength should be an offseason focus, but still has enough time to snatch that ROY as he vowed at the start of the year
One thing to be mindful of is Green is only 4th on the Rockets in touches. At 46.1 touches, he is behind KPJ (69.3), Wood (56.7) and Gordon (51.0). This is good for 9th among rookies in touches. The fewer touches you have, the fewer passes you'll be making, and the fewer chances you have to get assists.
4th in touches and 2nd on the team in ppg. What's more impressive is even with the absolutely atrocious start in terms of scoring efficiency, his season ts% is near 54% which is respectable. If Green continues his upward trend he can easily approach 60% ts during his rookie year at 19 years old which is a very good sign for his future of being a high volume AND efficient scorer.
Jalen Green haters looking dumber and dumber as the season progresses, but no surprise there I predicted 17, 4, and 3 on 41/34/78 shooting splits for Green as a rookie, and he may surpass that in some categories those idiots loved when he was struggling to start the year, but he’s ballin now and making it look easy, so now they have nothing left but to keep reaching with pathetic post after pathetic post, then they’ll turn around and be like “I don’t hate Jalen Green” like they’re fooling anyone
I also checked last year's number one pick in Ant. A lot of one to one comparisons to Green as they came into the league at the same age and playing the same position with scoring as their primary talent. It seems like Green is having a better start than last year's number one pick as he's already a more efficient scorer at this point. Ant had a much better second half to his rookie campaign which seems to be the same path Green is taking but he's doing it better. Ant ended the season with a 52% ts so that's with his impressive second half of the season included. Green might blow Ant's rookie season out the water and Ant last season was very close to winning ROY. Green would have been the first pick overall last season. Hell, it's still too early but he probably might be a more prolific player than Cade also when all things are settled.
Pretty much this for me right now. What the Rockets are doing with KPJ is giving me Ariza as a franchise player vibes from his first stint as a Rocket. I get that he’s young with potential but feels like he just lacks that natural playmaking ability. Obviously if you’re forced to play PG you’re going to have games where you might get high assist numbers but I’m just not seeing him as the long term solution there. That doesn’t mean I can’t see him on the team. It’s worth the exploration while we’re rebuilding but eventually they might need to see if he fits a different role.
KPJ should bulk up more and be our starting sf. He can flash some off his playmaking ability sporadically but mostly concentrate on scoring.
I doubt it will happen but I'd love for him to be 6th man. He has all the tools to put up points and if he can fit the "professional scorer" role his value would sky rocket. Starting 5 is struggling to score, insert KPJ to get buckets. Need a last second game winner, insert KPJ.
The retirement community always needs something to complain about - those seemed to be his loudest critics since they attacked everything but his game to begin with. They'll jump back and forth between miserable takes about Scooter and Jalen - just watch. Finally they'll just be mad at anything they can since the disconnect isnt with the game - its with their own outdated expectations of the current generation(s).
