[The Athletic] Jalen Green’s defensive improvement is more than just hot streak

Even Kobe was not that hyped when he was young, it was when O'Neal and him had their spat that people sided with Kob......

And Kob won his first chip with 21 years.

His fans should understand that being hyped is more of a burden than bliss.......

Right now, all I see is that he sort of saved his career from a very bad turning point but is at nowhere where he wants himself to be.....

 

I'm buying it... for now. I think Jalen's finally starting to realize what it takes. That said, he's not all the way there yet and I expect some inconsistency going forward. I'm okay with that, as long as those periods are shorter and less detrimental to team success and he learns to keep the funk to a game or two at a time. He's still really young (and immature, obviously). Too bad we didn't get this level of potential with a Tim Duncan brain.

 

Hope he can keep it up.

If so, he can be our Jamal Murray to our Jokic.

 

Why does EVERY post have to insist Jalen is Robin to Alpi's Batman? You guys are maddening!

 

This final stretch is huge for him.

Several tough ones starting tomorrow in OKC.

If he carries them to the play-in...

 

...or breaking through the Corey Brewer glass ceiling depending on your view.

 

nerve touched

 

Been busy with work, but happy to see Jalen Green take another leap. If you'd asked me who the Rockets were letting go ahead of extensions back in December... I would've said Green.

Now the Rockets are set and now IDK who's staying or who's going.

 

....it will be a shame if people use those games against better teams like OKC as a referendum on Green. Even though we are winning against mostly lower seeded teams, the Rockets are still VERY thin the rest of the year so I don't necessarily have great expectations that Green is going to be able to overcome missing Alpi, Cam, and Eason(and hey guys like Adams and Oladipo would have been helpful too). At the end of the day, we have to recognize this was a team still not necessarily rich in "well developed" talent to start this year and missing guys like Alpi, Cam, and Eason means we have to get production in the rotation from guys like Tate, Bullock, and Landale who to their credit have stepped up and been ready but the gulf between what those guys can do against the Blazers of the world is a lot different than against deeper teams who have really good players languishing on their bench.

...and we aren't even talking about how Houston is finding a way to make this work with a guard on the floor who is a zero on offense outside of 10ft from the hoop. I LOVE Amen's game - but I think at some point against a good team there is going to be a reckoning on what to do about his role in the offense. I don't know what that looks like but it's coming.

 

Amen's lack of shooting is less of a issue now as Ime plays him at 4 and we do have stretch 5 now in Bari.

 

REPORTED!

 

Man I wish we had all those dudes. Obviously, especially Alp. But... We don't. That's why IF they were to get into the postseason without them, it would be huge. The fact that they're in the race is huge. And yes, beyond Ime, JG is the biggest reason why. It's great to see. Regardless how far they get, it's going to be fun.

 

nice article!

 

He's improving no doubt about that but what people are missing is that you CAN NOT go from being one of the worst guards in the league to a cornerstone of a franchise in matter of 3 weeks. I have never seen this quick of a progress in any sports from any athlete. This is an idealistic approach to a human sport. This is equivalent of expecting a flower to bloom without providing it any water, sunlight. It never happens because every living organism has to walk its own path to end up where it is evolved to be. This is Marvel fan logic. A mysterious bug bites the top of a virgin's penis while he is in a zoo and 2 days later becomes a literal sex machine who can go days in bed without cumming. On top of it he has full control on his penis he gives him orders and it listens. He gets a blowjob from a 10 and just before she expects him to come on her face he tells it not come and it suddenly becomes flaccid.

So Jalen was a bum 3 weeks ago AND SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS HAPPENED. OH THE BABY HAPPENED. Yeah when he was listening that slut's belly the baby kicked her. Atoms hit each other the sound waves travelled in the air and got inside Jalen from his ear and made their way to his cells. Interacted with his DNA and caused some mutations that resulted in him being a much better athlete in every possible way. OR we've been playing dogshit teams for 2 weeks and he's growing in confidence since they are letting him believe in himself. These people are missing another key thing in humans. When things are going your way it keeps going your way. You are more likely to smile at me in the next 3 seconds if i'm telling you a joke and guess what you are more likely to like me when you hear my joke. We are more likely to be friends after you like me. Jalen is confident and he's playing much better with confidence and we have played nobody that had capability to shatter his confidence in pieces.

 

Why would it be a shame? Nobody expects him to bring Rockets another 9 wins against tougher competition but if he goes back to oldself and play like absolute horseshit then it means Jalen is only good against teams that are trying to lose games with G-League players on the court.

 

This would be the case had Green not played good to great against playoff teams this year and past, his biggest issue was consistent good/great vs. As you say horseshit

Jalen is super Saiyan against so-called G-leaguers, and if he can shoot close to 50% against the Caruso/elite defense, then that is all star level

His defense and making the right plays Etc seem to satisfy the one who matters the most

Noble Ime Udoka

Green is who he is, a high talent 3 level scorer who is searching for consistency between his super saiyan(70+ts%) and 55-57 ts%, while limiting the horseshit version to around 7-10% of the long season

His defense had to improve being he is the starter for last year trash team defense and this year treasure defense (top 5-10)

These next games won't mean much other than if they win or not

You know you are on the verge of exploding when you just need to hit open shots that you are capable of doing

And if this Sullivan guy is this guru of a coach (that learned from the said best), then Green may come back next season even more in sync, along with AS/Bari etc

 

Not surprising to the people who have watched most of the games this year. His defense has been much improved all season compared to the years prior.

His ability to use his speed and flexibility to weave over screens is really underrated. when it comes to our perimeter defense. If we ever get a mobile shot blocker on the roster then you could see a really smothering defense with our athletic wings funneling traffic to the paint.

 

I am guessing you are a super normal dude in real life.

 

If you look at high scorers in the league, most of the top 20 take plays or games or weeks off from playing defense. I think he’s more likely to be a high scorer and let’s be honest that takes lots of energy. Let’s say compared to the top 10 high scoring SG’s in the NBA, I’d expect him to be above average at defense. Anything above that is a bonus as long as he’s giving us efficient points on the other end.

If you look at the elite two way wings, other than all time greats their offense is not 30+ ppg. Playing defense requires you to build stamina. It’s very possible a guy playing serious defense for the first time ever didn’t have his legs under him early in the season.

If you were ever expecting him to quickly become an elite defender, that’s on you. Not realistic. He’s probably not going to be a completely consistent defender for another year or two. The best defense I was ever expecting is basically the way he’s been playing the past month or so. He’ll exceed this level easily.

Defensively he’s ahead of schedule right now in his career if you ask me. Devin Booker was comparatively a terrible defender at this age. He doesn’t seem resistant at all to being taught how to do this and being held accountable for it. He’s shown gradual improvement in just 60 games under a competent coach for once in his life.

His defensive ceiling is higher than I thought which is great news for his potential impact on wins and net rating.

 

I'm glad that Jalen is finally putting it all together. Really hope we can get into the play-in game with Sengun back to help our push for legit playoff success.