Interesting take. Most people see it just the opposite. Jabari is unlikely to be a total flop, like the Kandi, Marko, Thabeet, Fultz of the world. He is almost guaranteed to be a very good player because of his defense and his shooting. The knock on him is that he may never be a mega star because of his lack of handles and the ability to create.
Would people be disappointed if Jabari became a higher usage bruce bowen? Lockdown Defender, 40% 3pt on 6 attempts a game? I may be way off but I can't help but think of a more physically gifted Bruce Bowen.
I'm getting tired of him getting compared to Shawn Marion or 6'6 defenders. 6'10 players like Jabari rarely stay on 1's, 2's and 3's.
Bruce Bowen was limited to being just a corner 3 pt shooter. He had no other offensive game. He also didn't have the length to guard bigs. Jabari Smith was able to shoot 3s from all over the court and from deep last season in college. He also has a mid-post turnaround and a 1-2 dribble pull-up. Jabari Smith was also guarding bigs during summer league, and playing in the middle of the defense, hedging against screens, playing weakside shotblocker, but also guarding on the perimeter when he was switched onto guards. Bruce Bowen did none of these things. He was simply just a perimeter defender and corner 3 pt shooter (not even an elite shooter at that). Bruce Bowen was a fringe NBA player for the early majority of his career until San Antonio gave him a specific role to be the dirtiest player in the NBA. Jabari Smith and Bruce Bowen are nothing alike lol. Of all the comparisons this board has made, this has to be one of the worst. This is what happens when you simply look at stats or just have vague memories of certain players and try to box a player (who is only 19 yrs old) into some kind of specific comparison.
Personally I don't like comparisons, because in most cases they're off. Jab has two elite skills (jump shooting and position defense) and a lot of complementary skills (shot blocking, BBIQ, etc.) that at worse he should be a solid to very good player/contributor. I'm just excited to see him on the court and working with the other players. Those 2 elite skills are definitely areas our team needs and will be huge assets for us going forward. Everything else in my mind is gravy.
gives me that Duncan vibe, super confident. I also see Marvin Bagley haha. That guy looked amazing in college. best thing for Jabari is he is not the main man. It’s jalens team.
I said Duncan too and got killed lol. don’t see bagley at all but get the point both looked great in college. although Jabari is elite on Defense Bagley was terrible. bagley reminds me of the 6’10 athletic big with a decent offense game that comes out it seems every year in a draft and is almost always a bust or just never lives up to the hype of were selected because of the lack of defense and is almost always very inefficient on offense. Jabari will be great I believe and having a guy like JG to be the focal point on offense will help a lot. Smith can focus solely on what he’s great at Defense, catch and shoot. While also honing in on stuff he’s good at but not great like rebounding. and have space to also work on what he’s not great at like his handle and creating for himself since he won’t be asked to start the offense or create so he can attack closouts with his handle and get to the basket and try some iso/creating stuff also when he has a lesser defender on him. Jabari will be great here I believe.
Can easily see him hit 38% on 9-10 attempts in the future. I bet he’ll be solid with steals, blocks, rebounds and taking care of the ball too. Put 20lbs on him and he could add some more interior scoring. He projects to be a really unique player. There aren’t many efficient high volume shooters who are also elite defenders especially at this height and wingspan. His net impact on the floor is always going to be positive imo. Also, he’s not going to be a POS like Bowen so that’s definitely in his favor. His demeanor on defense is more like a Tim Duncan.
That's not something Smith has shown he can do, either, and Marion could create shots off the dribble better.
He needs to improve his ball handling no doubt, but to say he can't create his own shot is plain false. His pull up is money. Inside AND outside the arc. Has a nice turnaround J. Has shown the ability to put the ball on the floor and drive either for a dunk, layup or pull up J.
He has shown an ability to drive in a straight line and dunk and that is supposed to mean something? He has shown no ability to drive while being guarded and he is terrible converting at the rim, to say he only needs to improve is comical he needs to shop for an entire bag. This has been said many times no need to sugarcoat anything he currently has no dribble drive game and we saw how bad he can offensivley when his shot is not falling in SL.
I think I've posted this before, but I'll reiterate... It's helpful to look back at a guy's high school footage. That's where you'll see skills that he possesses, but wasn't necessarily comfortable showcasing, or allowed to deploy at the college level. Often times, a kid who looks like a catch and shoot guy in college will have high school highlights that look like an And-1 mixtape. That's a guy who has more in his bag, but needs to dust it off and polish it before showcasing it as the NBA level. Jabari isn't one of those players. His high school game looks exactly like his college game, aside from being more dominant around the basket due to his size and athleticism advantage. If he's to develop a dribble drive game, it will have to be from scratch...and I wish him luck with that.
