Looking at stats he is 25 in the league in defensive win shares, with the only younger player above him is Wemby. In DBPM the only 2 players younger than him that are higher is again Wemby and Cason Wallace that plays much less minutes and against bench players. His shooting has increased across the board this year FG, FT, and 3PT %. In fact he will end up with the 5th most 3 pointers for his age ever after 4 guards. If I would have to put money on it he will move up even higher next year in defensive win shares and DBPM and slightly increasing his shooting %'s and people are b****ing about a 20 year old. People's expectations are absolutely wild. Calling him weak when he is doing all of that is just i dont know.
He was weak today though - you knew he was going to miss those FTs the second he stepped up to the line. It was the Spurs game all over again. You could see it on his face, you could see it with his FT form - which looked like mine. It was really bad. I don't really care about DWS, the centers and PFs on the team always have high DWS due to the way it's tabulated. Sometimes it's legit when you have a rim protecting gravity warper like Wemby or Gobert, but sometimes you get it by default by being the guy who gets more counting stats due to position. Or you get it by riding along with a good defense like KA Towns.
We forget Khris Middleton was a versatile player who can handle ball and be a secondary initiator who was like a point forward along with his shooting and defense. I don't see Jabari ever being a player like that.
Jabari may be 6’11 but he plays much smaller. He frequently gets blocked at the rim and even when shooting jumpers by much shorter players. He doesn’t seem to have much explosiveness when it comes to jumping at all, which has made him close to worthless at the dunkers spot and his lack of coordination has made him only slightly more than worthless as a roll man in the PNR. I suppose it’s possible that with the right training regime, he’ll become bouncier and a better finisher at the rim, but I doubt he can do that and put on the weight to be a capable post defender. He also doesn’t seem to process the game well on the offensive end - I consistently observe him fail to rotate to make the kick out pass to him easy and of course he almost never cuts at the right time or to the right place. If he had rotated properly to get the pass from Fred in that Kings game. Alpi would still be playing (fortunately, this kind of error is rarely so consequential). Again, can the right training regime help this? I’m not sure - it seems the improvement this year was not bricking everything, rebounding better and becoming a good team defender, all of which were projected strengths of his (but weren’t last year due to his youth and perhaps playing under Silas). I haven’t seen him improve his weaknesses beyond a very elementary level and in the case of his low BBall IQ, I’m not sure it could improve fast enough to keep up with Alpi or Amen (both of whom process the game close to an elite level despite their ages). Overall, I see Jabari as a disappointment as a #3 pick- not because of what he’s shown the past 2 years but because of the clear limitations he’s displayed. That doesn’t mean the Rockets should skip picking up his 3rd and 4th years, but I don’t see him as part of the core - he’s basically a young role player who will be useful so long as he’s on a cheap contract. The moment he starts asking for big money is the day the Rockets should trade him for the best value possible.
His ceiling is really low too. Aside from getting his %'s higher, what else can he actually improve on, realistically? He can't get faster, he can't jump higher. I guess his handle can get better? But how many bigs improve their handle? It's easier for guards because they get more rep, especially live game rep. It's a lot easier for bigs who don't have a jumper to get one, like Horford and that changes their entire game. Jabari is who he is.
He seems to be a perfectionist who is in his head way too much - specially when open or shooting late FTs … he never seems relaxed
This is a wonderful summary overall. At this point it is almost certain to me that he will underperform massively relative to his draft position. He has major weaknesses in several areas, basketball iq, not being able to put the ball on the floor, lack of jumping from standing position. He can be high end role player by improving his shooting, both 3pt and 2pt jumpers, and defense. He is a hard worker as well, so there is the potential to learn how to move better both on offense and defense. I hope I am wrong but I see him with little upside and nowhere near what we expect from a number 3 pick. Jabari is someone I would want in my team, but not as a star. The problem is I don't think he is a good fit sengun. Theoretically he was the good fit, long, switchable guy, who can complement Sengun but quite strangely he has the same weaknesses as sengun, remarkably being less athletic and more stiff than Sengun, and doesn't have the footwork or the iq to compensate for it.
He plays more like an oversized Small forward but without the footspeed. He is a good switcher but not elite as people might think. At almost 7 ft you should have dunked it most of the time, said it about his lack of explosiveness.
I'd look to trade him this off-season as well, if the right deal presents itself. The future of the team is Thompson and Sengun.
This fanbase sure has a funny way of rooting for the team. Literally the easiest thing to do is overreact to the thing that just happened. Stop acting like this is the equivalent of providing insight. The kid is 20 years and has potential and as a Rockets fan I have his back. Tough outcome tonight but there are a couple more games then 82 more next season. He's improved across the board this season and will likely do so again this season. **** happens and part of supporting a team involves riding the highs and lows with the guys that wear the jersey. It seems like sometimes certain members of this fanbase fall over each other trying to be the first one to the most negative take. First with Sengun, then Jalen, now Jabari. It has become trite and boring and predictable.
He's not even old enough to legally buy a beer yet. Yeah, he screwed up, but something tells me he's going to be alright.
Folks made he missed FTs but forget he also hit a big 3 and turn around jumper before that. - the FTs wouldn’t have mattered if VetVanVleet hit his 2nd
It's so predictable that whenever a player had a bad game or screwed up something, his haters come out in droves to post brilliant takes on how bad the guy is.
I think this past year has proven how little the typical poster here should NOT be involved in player evaluation.
