lol come on man. If someone said Maxwell or Clyde or Kenny or Sam was the main reason our Rockets won titles and I replied back no it was clearly Hakeem that’s not some crazy response that should question if I have any concept of “team”. It’s a statement of fact backed up by being an unbiased observer and any stats you want to look at. Hakeem was the main reason. That’s not detracting from others, that’s giving credit where credit is due. Having a shot at the play in is a product of the results of the entire season. Not just the 11 game winning streak where Jalen was kicking ass. On the season our two most impactful players were Sengun and FVV backed up by an unbiased eye and any stats you care to look at. Jalen was far from the “one guy who gave us a shot at the play in” as the OP claimed.
This seems profound, until you realise that nobody's out here slamming Amen, Jabari or Cam (Tari and Alpi get a pass being injured) who've done significantly less than Jalen over the recent good run. That's because "the solution" is some made up nonsense you've created to try and create yet another bizarre narrative why the draftee who's put up more superstar numbers than all the rest combined is apparently the "bust" and the ones who haven't done ****, or only done **** for one season after struggling to score 15 points the rest of the career are apparently future HOFers... seems legit.
There is no main reason that’s what you really don’t get. That’s what fans and writers love to do is sit around and compare. This really lessens and reduces the contributions of others. So we are wasting our time here. What did Hakeem say when he won MVP in 1994? “Basketball is a team sport.” As he shared his trophy with OT and all his teammates. Hakeem understood it.
So then I take it you had a problem with Hakeem winning that MVP, DPOY and finals MVP? It was wrong to identify him as the best because all it did was diminish the others on the team? You have a problem with all star, all nba, all defense, all rookie teams? Any awards meant to identify which individuals had the most impact for their team in different areas? You have a problem with identifying MJ, Lebron, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Hakeem etc. as some of the best of all time because it diminishes the teammates that played with them? Weird, but….ok. And again I wonder… why you didn’t read the original post of this thread and comment with your problem with him trying to credit Jalen as the one guy who gave us a shot at the play in? Did it not disturb your sensibilities of the “team” concept?
Jalen is year 3, the year most stars take the leap. Jabari is in year 2, while Amen and Cam are still rookies. Not to mention Jalen was picked the highest. It’s not that hard to understand.
for me Fred and Brooks didn't rise up when it mattered most and this was one of the reasons they got brought in. You can't have 21/22 yo playing out of his mind, rookie in s5 playing out of position, sophmore hitting shots and dissappear for 3.5 quarters in the biggest game of the season like Fred. Brooks didnt hit one meaningful three against mavs or gsw
Jalen's had more star performances than every other draft pick we've had combined, you seem to really struggle to understand that. Maybe wind the condescension in a bit when you're that ignorant.
Which stars? Do you have a list? Where is this information coming from in terms of 3rd year leap? Is there data on this both qualitative and quantitative? If not what makes you think there is a 3rd year leap? What are the origins of this thinking or is it mere myth?
For most of the season your star player was a net negative until the month of March and then regressed this past week when he started to face a stretch of real teams. If he had just been a threat from 3 throughout the year (at least 36%) we probably would have a play-in spot. But you can go ahead and continue to defend mediocrity. I expect more from a #2 pick in year 3.
I never said I had a problem with nothing that’s your words you’re putting on me. But I do believe the MVP award is arbitrary and pointless much like GOAT discussions or best SG etc. Without a defined set of criteria on what makes a player an MVP or the best then everything is mere opinion and relative to one’s thoughts. Should players be recognized for being good or great players sure. But discussions on who the greatest is or who contributes the most or most impactful is fruitless and arbitrary. I sure wouldn’t want to think my teammate employee B has less of an impact just because I am employee of the year. That’s stupid and disrespectful to everyone else and elitist. In your words you used “impact” which means to have a major effect. And I already addressed how Amen had a direct major effect in several wins including that streak. So again limiting it to one or 2 players is inaccurate and disrespectful. But again this is what fans and media love to do. Talk **** in barbershops and corporate break rooms and bars and make millions in the media. It is what it is
I think it's that Jalen is the flash, Sengun is the substance. Even when Jalen plays like ****, he'll still do something flashy... and for a certain type of casual, that's enough.
Green also out of all the draft picks have the most difficult role to fulfill. Self creating guard lead ball handler. That's the role he is grooming towards and is the most difficult role to fulfill. The minor leaps Jabari has shown are rather small given his support role. Slight improvement in his open looks.... Cam and Amen have never read a shot profile as difficult as Green's. Rookie Green already was at 50% of his made fgs self created as a 19 year old rookie while Can and Amen are significantly lower in their rookie years. Different roles have different difficulty scales and different progression scales.
Jalen Green was gifted minutes the first two years of his career which is why his percentages look better. Also, he deserves the most blame for his difficult shot profile…it’s on him to hunt for the right shots to take. Ime has said this many times.
Let's for example compare Can and Green rookie years. Cam is surrounded by superior playmakers in FVV and Sengun and even current version of Green. He has a 97 adjusted ts and a less than one assist to turnover ratio with .5 while averaging 13 ppg. Cam also scored 35% of his fgs self created. Green his rookie year had KPJ as the PG, self created on 50% of his fgs made, had a 97 adjusted ts and had significantly more assists than turnovers.
Strongly disagree. People should be and routinely are recognized for excellence in their field. Regular Joe Shmoe fast food worker, desk jockey, salesman, athlete, whatever. It’s common practice for companies and organizations to identify and recognize their top employees. The top salesman of a company absolutely has more impact and importance than the lowest. Just as the top players on pro sports teams are more impactful than the end of the bench guys. It’s why they get the max money and the others get much, much less. It’s why some players play 30+ minutes per game while others might get a few minutes in a rare blowout. Their impact and importance are not the same. It’s not an insult or elitist to identify someone as more essential/impactful than someone else. It’s a reality of sports and life. Hakeem being publicly humble doesn’t change the fact that he and everyone in the organization knows he was the most important player for those title teams. And no where did I ever claim that outside of FVV and Sengun that the other players impacts were negligible or unnecessary to the team, only that it’s fairly easy to identify who our top two contributors to team wins were this season. The OP tried to single out Jalen as that guy when it’s objectively inaccurate.
Because his coach made him expend energy on defense and he had to adjust his conditioning for it. Also confidence issues due to him adjusting to a new role where he wasn't "the guy". There definitely is a psychological aspect to this.
If that’s true, all the more reason to doubt he’ll ever reach NBA superstar status. Type A1 players aren’t known for having “confidence issues.” Those types of players have a mental toughness that most others lack.
Is that from your long intellectual curiosity examining past players and their context or is it just something. That sounds legit to you like those platitudes about "he got that dawg in him"? Adjusting to new roles and having a coach who demands max defensive effort can stagnate offensive production for a bit until they get used to it.
