Jabari Smith Jr. is the Rockets' franchise player

Jabari Smith Jr. last 10 games: 16.9/7.4 with 1.6 blocks on 66% TS

 

Never a doubt!

 

Turns out the Jabari haters are low key regarded

 

Yeah he's been playing good for a bit now, hopefully it's not just a hot streak and he's...dare I say...turning the corner....

 

Stats indicate he is better post ASB than pre (for his career).

Let's hope it continues

 

Other than that bad shooting stretch Bari’s been balling this year don’t know why some of you hate him so much.

 

Great game by Jabari. Much respect. If our other players could break out...

 

Way too early to call this breaking out... but I love the mentality and grit after the KD drama. A good sign for Jabari.

 

KD playing 4d chess trying to light a fire under this team

 

Bad teams have multiple guys he can guard.
Bad teams can’t guard us straight up and have to double and scramble.

Good teams have multiple guys that can cook him.
Good teams guard Sengun and KD 1v1 and don’t leave Jabari open.

It’s very consistent. Do we really need to go back and forth victory lapping. Good game vs bad team. Bad game vs good team. Until the end of time.

 

He always plays better when we give him more PF/C minutes even though people whine about his ability to play C. He's been playing the 5 a lot more since Adams went down (or you can say it's the 4 with Amen as the 5 at times).

Earlier in the season he was effectively playing as a 2/3 which is just so difficult for him. He can switch well, but for an entire game it's just too much on him. I felt bad for his knees having to get low for guys who are 6'4 to 6'8.

Let's hope he's on his way to having a 3PT% at the end of the season where we don't have to make excuses and can simply say "ok, now he's a shooter".

 

I watch, he’s been shooting well, I expect the 3 ball to go in, and cheer when it does. He’s been moving more spry lately but I’m not 100% in on that yet.

Knicks is a great example. I didn’t think that was a good game from him. Efficient shooting didn’t offset the speed, fluidity, extra creator we were giving up. Got cooked a bit, the -9 matched what I saw.

Mikal Bridges quieter shooting game was better, could see it in the speed and movement.

The defense in OKC game was better. No SGA or JDub but I still thought the other guys would
blow by him. They didn’t, props there.

Had a very bad one vs Spurs too.

We’ve got an easy schedule coming up, I concede, yall should have time to build the statue before the playoffs get here.

 

Jabari was one of the better performers in last years playoffs as well. Jabari doesnt perform good or bad depending on opponent (unlike other players we have or had). He's just been kinda random. But he has been much more consistent lately with the showings. Lets hope this continues.

 

I just disagree on all that. He averaged 7 points in that series and was a -9 in 12 minutes in game 7 at home.

He had 3 very good looking and timely baskets, good efficiency numbers, but was otherwise too slow and uncoordinated for that game pace. Gave up a lot of space for good looks defensively.

It is a bit more nuanced than good record or bad record.

Look out for the teams that have defenders to stick KD and Alperen Sengun without needing to double.

Look out for the teams with speed and multiple creators 1-4.

Watch out for premier Isolation hunters that can target him and hide out defensively on him.

When we get into a series and a good team is game planning to counter us, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

 

I think we're going to end up being glad we gave Jabari the deal we did. He's never struck me as a guy who just coasts, you can tell he's a competitive dude who takes things seriously and wants to get better. He won't be a star, but he doesn't have to be when he's getting paid around 15 percent of the salary cap.