With Sengun out it helps floor spacing for Jalen, I said this before. Jalen is the franchise & sometimes it takes time for young stars to shine
I'm the biggest Jalen Stan but come on. Unless Green averages 30+ the rest of the way and the team is like 15-2 the rest of the way, I doubt people will question Sengun's place as the franchise guy. If Green can carry this team to the play in, then we can talk about having a pair of franchise players.
I mean wouldn't you want your players to be better in the second half of the season? Maybe the hot stretches would carry into the playoffs.... and yes I can see you rushing to the keyboard saying if he played better in the first half we would be in the playoff picture. I'd counter and say if Tari was healthy we would probably have at least 3-4 more wins, putting us right in the picture with teams that have all time greats (GSW/LAL).
They would toss game planning against Green and Fred VV and we have seen that there is a hole in the Offense when the 3s are not falling..... Dillon would feel compelled to drive inside and miss layups and you would hope Amen can hit shots.... Rushing back Sengün weak on his tendons and such, not the best of ideas long term either.
FVV + Sengun, plus some natural progress from Jabari and contributions from Dillon Brooks, are the main reasons we have a better record. Also a deeper bench unit--not in love with what we've gotten from Aaron Holiday or Uncle Jeff, but it sure beats the likes of Daishen Nix, and Amen and Cam have been positives. We're a better team despite Jalen, not because of him. His inefficiency has been a drag on every lineup he's in most of the season. I'll give him credit for becoming a mediocre defender though--his improvement on that end has played a part in our defensive turn-around.
Come on. By the end of this season he will have started for a top 10 NBA defense without a traditional rim protector in the starting lineup. That's a very good defensive floor at age 22. Being a positive defender is what will make his points have impact on wins in the future. It's not unheard of to regress, but I think another season under Udoka with more muscle and experience added will push him at least a little bit further. He's essentially two choices away from improving practically every single thing in his game this season. Take fewer stupid midrange shots and fewer stupid 3pt shots. Probably convert those attempts into FT's or assists as much as possible. I'd argue he's improved at every single thing this season except scoring efficiency. That's just the final and necessary piece of where he'll end up as a scorer.
VORP Green 0.4 to Poole -1.4 BPM Green -1.2 to Poole -4.9 He's not THAT bad c'mon lol. I would argue that he doesn't always shine against scrubs. He's had plenty of bad games against bad teams. Even last game against SA he didn't play well. He also has random good games against good teams. It's all mental with him. We need a sports psychologist.
He's certainly playing better over the last couple weeks. Does not at all undo what we've seen before. Needs a sustained and extended stretch of strong play for me to really buy in again.
Problem is he's still not a positive defender. He's okay at best. I'm glad he's no longer a defensive liability, but you can't run a 53% true shooting guy out there who plays average defense and is just average for his position at rebounding and playmaking. Yes, if he becomes an efficient scorer he will be a good player. But there's a large gap between where he is now and where he needs to be. I hope he will dramatically turn things around and--if he's even still on the team--break out next season. Just not high on his ability to do so.
It was nasty, yet if you watch closely he still dribbles like he's 7 feet tall. The challenge is going to be what contract extension he gets. We will probably be debating this guy for the next 3 years thanks to this recent spike in scoring. At this point I'm resigned to it - my only mandate for Stone is don't sign him to such a large deal that the potential for him to be a negative asset exists.
Last few games have included the Blazers, Spurs and Wizards. The games to watch for is the next game: Cavs. Then Bulls (defense can be solid) and Thunder. The valid tests should be with mid-tier teams or higher.
I am not expecting much against those teams TBH. Jalen's output the last time we faced those teams: CLE: 12, 6, and 3 in 34 minutes on 16% shooting CHI: 18, 8, and 6 in 39 minutes on 42% shooting OKC: 16, 6, and 3 in 28 minutes on 35% shooting All three were losses
Question... Did the Wizards have anything to do with Jalen hitting 5 of his 9 threes? I mean, that's been the biggest knock on him. He hit them last night. Does it matter who they were playing? It's a good thing no???
