Go back to an interview of his when he spoke from his nasal parts again and it sounded like mumble... (teach my kid not to do that) 'I was surprised that we were in the mix for the Play In' to say that out loud as a professional and not as a fan.... That's the statement that says it's clear why he is mentally not strong enough... Or another reason would be he's not confident in the coaching staff which is also not a great thing.
So then all our picks failed this season except Sengun who only failed when he started getting double teams? In this particular game, one player stepped up FVV. Cam on one side of the ball, still acting like Trae Young on defense. Where were these thriving picks the last 3 weeks we were chasing the play ins? Jalen had a terrible game and deserves to really hear about it. Worst game of his career. I'd even bench him next game. Doesn't mean he didn't put this team on his shoulders when Sengun went down and you guys declared the season over. We have 39 wins and Green led us to 12 of the last 14 wins going all out on defense, passing and scoring. The Rockets are trying to instill a winning culture but the culture guys can't win a game against the Jazz without Jalen. Both things are true simultaneously. After processing my anger at this game, I can see Jalen could have turned it around in the second half but Udoka did the right thing denying him that opportunity. As a Rockets fan I found his performance to be so insulting. Bad habits are like bad drugs and Jalen has been on basketball-meth for half a decade. I understand why his mindset is a disaster and why he relapses. I just expected more from him by now. Time to grow up Jalen. You got a kid and you got a great basketball family too. You have to have a more serious attitude towards missing "rhythm" shots or whatever the hell excuse you have for it. There's nothing wrong with admitting to yourself that you suck at shooting from 26 feet. In a game like this, go get 10 FTA, take the "luck" into your own hands. Not everything is only about confidence, everyone's confidence oscillates we can't give up on everything we're not confident about. Sometimes you f*cking grind it out. Sometimes do it just to not let down your brothers in the locker room. Just like I would say to my own brother if he didn't show up to something important, f*ck you for this one Jalen. This one is different. Take 101% of the blame immediately and make it up to your fans and teammates. Welp, seems like my anger is not fully processed yet.
This thread should be carried to Mordor and thrown into the fires of Mount Doom!!! Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
No star player brings it every single night of every single season. Yall forget about Harden? Yall forget when Kobe literally quit on his team in a game 7? Also several times Lebron looked so bad he had people wondering if he quit. I think a lot of people have it in their mind what a star player is and a lot of times its this perfect dude that has no failures, which simply is not it.
The issue with Jalen is that he's not consistent, for whatever reason. Harden has issues (e.g. primadonna, uncoachable, etc.), but at least with him, you knew you were getting to the postseason. Kobe was a 5x NBA champion so you can't question his talent or work ethic. You can't even put Jalen in the same conversation as Harden or Kobe at this point. We're still trying to figure out whether he should have a role as a starting guard or just a 6th man off the bench. There's a growing sample size of data on Jalen now that says he's trending towards the latter. A "superstar" doesn't have a game where he only scores 3 points and gets beat by players on 10-day NBA contracts. Even Utah Jazz fans are mad that they won that game. They were trying to give us a win. Where is his pride? He should be ashamed. We've seen way too many games from Jalen like this.
They kinda do though, that consistency is what makes them stars. Not exactly 100% of the time, but it should be very very rare to put up these types of awful games. Giannis has only 1 game below 40% TS, and 0 games below 30% Jokic has 2 games below 40%, and 0 games below 30% Shai has 1 game below 40%, and 1 game below 30% Embiid has 1 game below 40%, and 0 games below 30% (though he's only played half the season) Tatum has 1 game below 40%, and 0 games below 30% Even a guy like Brunson has only 4 games below 40%, and 1 game below 30% If you're a star these types of games are supposed to be once in a blue moon. It can't happen 20 times every year.
The hope is, no matter how slim, that the post-ASG Jalen has turned around or started to. The bad games are much rarer now than a couple of months ago. I'll hold off my judgment until next season. If he starts off half of a season like what he did this season, then I will bury my hope for good.
The people who can't grasp why FVV and Dillon were paid as much as they were, are the same ones who think like that.
Yeah I know and I agree, but that's not the point of my post. My post wasn't even really about Jalen. I'm pushing back on the idea that superstars have games like this with any kind of regularity. Among the top 5 MVP candidates, 1 guy has 1 game in this category and the other 4 have 0 of them all season. It's not a common thing.
Stars aren't judged on a single night. No one expects perfection. Players are judged on how they perform consistently. No player gets to play well one month out of the year and still be considered a star. Since Jalen has been regressing to the mean in April it's fair to be concerned that March was just a hot stretch.
This thread is aging so well, like fine wine. Let's do our best to keep it alive and to honor the wisdom of Jalen fans on every occasion.
