It's clear that the main reason Jalen sucks is that he has terrible basketball iq. When to drive, when to shoot, when to pass etc is based on reading the defense. Ime alludes to this. He is great in a one on one setting but against a set defense you need to be smart. Right now he doesn't know what to do and overthinking it therefore it's also tanking his shooting percentage.
He's never had to do this before. He's in the 1% of the 1% of athletic ability and he's always gotten by on his blow by speed. His coaches were always lazy as well and never felt the need to teach him how to read a defense or analyze. Didn't help that he went to the G League instead of a college program. Now he's trying to make the right reads in his 3rd year and he's guessing wrong most of the time. It's a process. Sengun grew up learning team fundamentals. Jalen didn't. Going to be harder for him to adjust.
Right now Jalen Green is ranked #42 in his draft class when it comes to VORP, only 14 players from that draft class who have logged any minutes at all in the NBA are ranked below him.....including Josh Christopher. If not for Sengun, that draft would have been such a disaster.
I would like preach patience, I think the Silas era really set him back. But I understand the frustration. It feels like he’s starting over and has to forget whatever Silas taught him.
I don't want to erase such a young player suddenly. Sengun is without doubt this teams #1, but he can not carry this team alone, he is also just 21, want to be optimistic about Green. His problem is the problem of many American young player prospects in NBA.. They do not know how to play structured, real basketball. Their athleticism overshadows his deficiencies like fundamentals and basketball iq, court vision. His trade value is below zero and it is not optimum to trade your #2 draft so early. He needs rehabilitation, if he carries on in the starting unit and continues with inconsistency, this will damage him mentally more.
Its hard to know whats best for the kid. I just wish there was a way to fix him without costing us games in the process.
He's the perfect example of why you don't waste a #2 pick on a kid who didn't play college ball, or who didn't play in the Euro League. We are losing games teaching him basketball skills while he plays catch-up for 3 years with those who learned those skills in college or in the Euro League.
Lebron, Kobe, KG, Dwight, and tons of others went straight to the NBA from high school. Sometimes you have to trust the traits and hope the work ethic takes care of the rest in the league. In Jalen’s rookie year we definitely saw the athleticism flashes that warranted his high evaluation, and by all accounts he was a good kid who kept his nose to the ground and was willing to put in the time necessary to improve. What’s happened the past year, unfortunately, has been a complete yips situation with all parts of his game. He’s more timid than a 2009 backless knee-less TMac. It’s like the Josh Christopher video literally neutered him. There isn’t a single Jalen fan out there who can find any silver lining in his play this year. It’s been utter ass. The only remaining question is if he’s gonna buck up this offseason to try and salvage what’s left of an NBA career that he could have based on that initial promise. What a shame.
I get what you are saying, but I'd prefer to draft more mature players with college experience. It's probably less of a hit or miss risk. We missed. Comparing Green to Kobe isn't a fair comparison though. He started playing ball at 3 yrs old, and was studying film, and a ball boy at professional games when his dad played as a kid. He was immersed in basketball. I'd also guess guys like LeBron or KG were a lot tougher players than Jalen when they were drafted. I posted this before, but I'll post it again. It really does make me question whether he ever took his game and team as seriously as his image. Quote from his high school coach. “It didn’t matter who we were playing,” Roznovsky said. “He drew crowds. We always do a postgame talk after the game to talk about the game and get ourselves ready for the next day. Jalen would usually miss those because he’s being absorbed by the fans and signing autographs. We were OK with that. Fans were all over him.
This guy can barely speak, I am not sure why that was not a red flag to scouts, he seems like he can barely read.
