Jabari Smith Jr. is the Rockets' franchise player

Keep things simple and he does fine. Keep the decision making to a minimum.

 

The difference between Jabari/Reed and say....Amen/Sengun/Jalen is that who they play is sort of irrelevant. Their style translates because the opponent largely doesn't matter. Youre still getting those looks its just you have to be quicker at identifying them. The others are more contingent on specific MUs because their style (drive blitzes and an inefficient post game) can be taken away by specific schemes and players and they dont have something to fall back on (shooting).

 

[Highlights] Jabari Smith Jr. goes 5/5 from the field to start the game, including 4/4 from 3. Including replays of the beautiful fastbreak by the Rockets that ends with Smith's dunk, and a high five between Smith and KD.

 

More importantly: he's at 37% now. Don't need him to be on fire but we can't afford any more slumps and he just needs to maintain a steady percentage.

 

One thing I think we have to remember is that Jabari is actually the second-youngest player in a pretty young rotation. Only Reed is younger. Amen, despite being drafted later, is actually slightly older than Jabari.

Most 22-year-olds get better unless they have something specific dragging them down. Injuries, external distractions, bad work ethic.

It's an important bit of context when you start talking about "average, below-average" etc. All those things have to be considered in light of his age relative to the league. Most players aren't finished products at age 22. They'll often be sort of almost there, and you'll have seen flashes of their ultimate outcome, especially if they've had a few years of experience like Jabari has. But there's generally still some improvement left to be had. There's a reason people talk about roughly ages 25-30 as being a player's prime years.

In Jabari's case, I think it would be realistic to expect him to bring up his career 35% three point percentage to 38% or so throughout his prime. His scoring average will likely go up a couple of points and his assist rate and defense will show marginal improvements. What's not realistic is to expect a massive leap. He's not going to suddenly morph into KD's younger clone. Occasionally that happens, but the odds are low.

Still, if he can be a 17, 7, and 3 guy on 46% / 38% shooting, with above-average defense at the 4/5 spots, that's totally fine. Teams pay regularly pay guys like that 20 to 25% of the cap, and Jabari is only making around 15%.

 

Any word on Jabari's ankle? Would be a shame if this knocked him off his rhythm, he was really rolling.

 

Out Saturday is all I’ve heard. He was rolling last year when he got hurt as well. Really sucks. Anybody watching Jabari this year and saying he hasn’t improved is just a hater, even with the slump he had. It’s all confidence with every one of our young players. The more experience they get, the better they will get. Sengun looked awesome to begin the year, I think he just got tired and injured. I wish they could restrict him playing in Europe.

 

no, but knowing Rockets training staff…. If they say day to day one more time, it means he’s done for the year.

 

he has been so good lately

 

Durant knew exactly what he was doing