Jabari had the worse drop off of the starters. amen shoots 33% form 3 inthe fourth and he’s attempted the most of this 3’s inthe fourth. He shoots 50% from the floor in the 4th sengun and Durant shoot about their average. It’s their turnovers that increase dramatically in the 4th. It’s just halfcourt offense executions and the turnovers that really hurt the team. That’s on Ime. We need to run more polars and play more guards inthe 4th to open up the offense but he won’t make this adjustment.
I think it showed mental toughness to dig out of his slump and stay pretty consistent for the rest of the season. I need to see him finish the season at 37%+ from 3. Right now he’s shooting league average at 36%. He’s developing into a high end 2-way role player, but need to see the shooting at 38%+ next season.
Is it just me or has Jabari's ballhandling really improved? He is not losing the ball like he used to when he drives. And I noticed a couple of times he even did some nifty behind the back dribble moves. His pullup middie is getting close to where I've wanted to see. If he can hit that consistently, he might actually look like Dickerson after all.
I've noticed this too, he's been better all season at driving. I still don't like him to take more than a couple of dribbles, but he doesn't really need to most of the time at 6'11". His passing has also improved noticeably IMO, although it's still obviously neither his role nor his strong suit.
He's just dribbling with more purpose. He knows his spots. He's going to take the open 3 or dribble to his spot for a midrange pull up. In previous years he would aimlessly play with the ball trying to find an open space. I'm probably not the biggest Jabari fan but there's a world where he becomes the more valuable contract on the team, after all the rookie scale contracts are up.
Yes, he’s learning what he can and cannot do. He’s not a good decision maker or good at passing. He a catch and shoot or catch and drive player. And that’s fine. He needs other players to get him the ball at the right time, and it seems like Jabari and his teammates are figuring this out. Just don’t ask him to do things he’s not good at.
to me it’s really weird that people are just dumb struck by the fact that the 23-year-old player is continuing to improve.
I think Jabari has looked markedly better the last several months but the bolded is part of the crunch time issues..... If he was more decisive/had more BBIQ then we would be beating those traps/doubles by punishing opposing teams when we have 4 players vs 3 players of the opposing team.
Jabari's not even 23 yet, he's still 22 for a couple of months. But in my opinion his improvement has been negligible. Better lately than his play in the middle of the season, but he's practically the same player as two seasons ago.
He’s literally averaging two more points per game than two seasons ago, and the only reason it’s not higher is because of his cold streak. The last 20 games, he’s averaged 17 ppg on a .63 TS%. Do you seriously believe the difference between 13 ppg on a .57 TS% (Bari’s averages two season ago) and 17 ppg on a .63 TS% is “negligible?”
He has improved. If you watch games you can see it. His mid range game is almost automatic now. He’s a better player for sure.
I'm the ultimate Jabari hater here, and even I can acknowledge that he's made some significant improvement this season (most notably since Dickerson called him the r-word). Here's what my eye-test is telling me. 1) He is way better as a finisher on the break. I don't want him running it, but he both positions himself so that he's an easy target for the passer and he's now finishing at a respectable rate. 2) He is getting better as a weak-side shot blocker. 3) His finishing around the rim is better 4) His midrange game looks much more refined and unsurprisingly, he's hitting those more frequently. He seems to know his spot and does better at getting there efficiently 5) The other night, KD (or maybe Alpi) was trapped and Jabari raced to a spot that made it easy for the passer to get it to him. If he can start doing that all the time, it's going to both get him more shots and reduce our turnovers. Regarding 5, a lot of you have criticized Alpi for not passing to a "wide-open" Jabari, but so often, he's standing outside of Alpi's range of vision and with defenders either outright between them or within easy range of the passing lane. If Jabari moves more often, I think you'll see Alpi and KD passing to him way more frequently. That would be a win-win.
So you consider the last 20 games Jabari's entire season and completely ignore any prior cold streaks? That's convenient. Why not look at the season in totality? If we only looked at a player's hottest stretches Jalen would have been considered all-NBA. Jabari averages two more points than two seasons ago because he plays more minutes and takes more shots. His per 36 minute scoring was 15.5ppg in 23-24 vs 16ppg this season, on the same shooting percentages and the same efficiency. He plays the same role on offense and defense. His turnover and assist rates are the same. This is not to say Jabari is a bad player or isn't worth his contract, but his improvement is a matter of small refinements and not a quantum leap in production or skills.
You said he’s better lately but still barely better than a couple season ago. That’s objectively false - his recent play has been far better than any other time in his career.
