One thing that I've noticed lately that contrasts Green with the rest of our ball-handlers is he attacks fast. Many times, as soon as he gets the ball, he's heading towards the basket. It doesn't always lead to a shot at the rim but even when it doesn't it causes the defense to have to provide help which leads to other players getting open. Green does far less pounding the ball into the ground than KPJ, Nix, or Gordon. Overall I'm happy with how Green has been playing lately. He's been our only bright spot.
Dude, me and you are not babying him. We have a nanny (organization) to do it and we pay them to do it. Just like the Pistons got something out of Rasheed Wallace that no one else could. Just think selfishly rather than holding onto principles for a second. The guy we can replace him with that you're talking about, that's a replacement level player. We can get that guy anyway, all the time. I don't really care if KPJ is a star. I just want him to be worth $20m. We can get that. His first year is guaranteed btw, it's not easy to cut him without paying him $20m. Anyways, I digress, there's a thread for KPJ and I'm derailing my own thread here. I understand your position.
The reason for this is because Jalen creates effortless seperation off his dribble quickly. KPJ might have more secure handles but that honestly is a curse for him because he isn't creating consistent seperation with his handle and therefore he just spam dribbles until he creates some semblance of seperation to collapse the defense. Green collapses defenses much quicker in the shot clock. It's Green's natural explosion that allows him to do that. Unfortunately you can't teach that to KPJ.
The difference between Green vs KPJ, Gordon, and Nix is that he has an elite first step. He's explosive and can actually blow by defenders even without a pick. That trait does not exist with our other guards. Defenses don't have to provide as much help defense. I would like to summon the spirit of Rudy T and just spam the Sengun and Green pick and roll. And let's see what happens. I also want to see the ball hop around more with KPJ. The ball just seems to stop for KPJ to unleash a dribble package that doesn't create any real advantages outside of a KPJ step back jumper. Green is doing a good job this year of moving the ball.
This. I'm not in the huddles so I'm not sure if it's the young players or the coaches but if something is working can we go back to it until the defense adjusts and it's not effective anymore. I could be remembering incorrectly but that PNR with Jalen and Sengun led to positive results every time it was run last night but for some reason we went away from it for significant stretches. Would have to re-watch the game to see if there were circumstances that led to us not coming back to the well on that play more often.
Just for the laughs its always fun to scroll back to when Jalen was a bust to watch the hivemind in action! https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/chapter-4-the-green-revolution.317286/page-9
Other was insane because it was a 19 year old rookie with his first couple of months. KPJ at this point is considered a veteran.
Jalen Green's evolution: Become a consistent scorer - CHECK Generate shots for others - CHECK Consistently draw fouls - WORK IN PROGRESS Get Stronger - WORK IN PROGRESS Tighten handles - NEEDS MORE WORK Learn how to handle double teams - NEEDS MORE WORK Another good game tonight even though Mavs definitely focused on getting the ball out his hands in the fourth with a few double teams. I like the progress and definitely like the fact that Silas has shrunk his rotation (kind of had to with injuries) and is giving Jalen the opportunity to be the primary scorer with the second unit. Love that second unit (Jalen, KMJ, Tari, Garuba, Nix), ball just seems to move more (not a dig at KPJ btw ).
5-15 from the field and 1-4 from 3PT for Green normally means a really terrible game, especially if we compare it to his mini slump in the beginning of the season. However, he ended with a well rounded 17/7/6 because he drew fouls (7 FTs), grabbed a lot of rebounds and continued his 6+ assist streak. Green now has 25 assists in the last 4 games. For comparison, last season, the fewest amount of games Green needed to accumulate at least 25 total assists was 6 games, and that was a stretch he pulled off once.
Jalen is the alpha for this team. He needs to start dictating that on the court. His game will force the others to fall in line, but he needs to be out there demanding the ball and moving guys out of his way. He's been a great teammate and plays within the construct, but he also needs to start nurturing that inner assassin and not allow himself to be forgotten for long stretches on the court. He CAN go up to KPJ and take the ball and move him away. He CAN tell Sengun to get out of the lane. I want to see that leadership and killer instinct on display more. He is the one.
If Green can tighten his handle (reduce his turnovers), gain more muscle and the Rockets start sending letters to the league about foul calls...he has the capacity to be the best player in the league. Even Harden didn't have some of the offensive abilities Green possesses. Some of those pull ups man....they're so *buttery*.
im tired of watching him get frozen out of the 4th. i don't have the stats in front of me but i would be surprised if he's averaging more than 2 shots in the 4th quarter.. that time seems designated for KPJ hero ball.
Looks like the 4th quarter he has the least amount of FGA's per basketball reference. Comparativiely huge drop off in FGA's from 3rd to 4th quarter so far.
Don't worry, it's going to happen this season. Same as Kobe and MJ, he's going to realize in his sophomore season that there's no democracy in becoming a winner in the NBA. You just gotta take it. It's a ceremonial part of becoming a superstar.