zaymon wrote:Xatticus wrote:SOUL wrote:
This is opposite of a quote I've seen of an (I think) college basketball scout who said the guards he played with were the worst he could've been paired with because of how badly they shot and how greedily they played. (Particularly Green who only took 1.6 less shots a game than Jabari on horrid numbers.) Said Jabari would much rather get his offense within the flow of the game. He also said Jabari definitely took some bad shots but with the space he was given + unreliability in his guards made it so he had to try to create something out of nothing.
Blaming the potential #1 pick for extremely **** guard play is certainly.. a take.
Ehhh... I take it as apologism for Smith's shortcomings. Experience has taught me that these sorts of arguments are usually BS. Again, you can like Smith for what he is, but he was a contributing factor in Auburn's lack of ball movement at the offensive end. Everyone is blaming his guards, but college basketball is lousy with guards of that type. It's just odd to me that people have lasered in on that particular argument on behalf of Smith, because you can make the same argument for so many others as well.
I am highly critical of Cole Anthony, so I get it, but Jabari Smith Jr. needs to be judged based upon what he is, independent of the quality of the guards on his team. The hope is that Smith evolves as a player, but you can't simply assume it will happen in the absence of such guards. And if he gets drafted by Orlando, he is going to be playing with Cole Anthony anyway.
It's also a bit confounding because people are also lauding Smith for his iso potential. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either you love him because "he can get his shot off over anyone" or you hope that he evolves as a basketball player when he gets out from playing next to a couple selfish guards.
I prefer Chet because he already knows how to play basketball. He knows when to attack and when not to. He knows a good shot from a bad one. He knows how to make the simple pass. He know when to cut and when to get out of the way. I'm not ruling out his iso potential for late clock situations, but a significant part of his appeal for me is that you don't have to feed him the ball and watch him burn clock to try to get his own shots up.
People pick their favourite prospect and just ideologize him (i do it too with Banchero, but at least i do my research). It was the same when i was against drafting Bamba. Its so easy to say "you just hate him" and so much harder to have independent opinion based on research. People just create excuses to feel better about their choice.
Why every player except Zep Jesper shot worse from 3 than year before ? Wendell Green and K.D Johnson were good shooters as freshman but bad shooters in Auburn. Is it bad luck or is it the downside of having offense created around one trick pony player ?
Why Auburn guards are pictured as selfish while Wendell Green had 36% assist rate which is the highest among Auburn, Gonzaga, Duke guards? Their 2 point attempts are not that high, its 3 point attempts that stand out. Johnson was the more selfish guard but he had 5.6 two point attempts on 46.3% while Jabari Smith had 7 two point attempts on 42.9%.
I am not saying that Jabari is the only problem but that he was part of the problem. If he could dribble and read the game better his teammates would have a better time playing with him.
Players projected to go number one should elevate their team and make everyone around them better. While Auburn guards were not the best year earlier they were even worse next to Jabari Smith this year.
I think that is exactly why most of us compare him more to Rashard Lewis rather than some who think he is Tatum. The guy is a shooter and scorer and doesnt look to pass.
I mean, even watching his highlights when his Big Kessler has sealed off his man under the basket , instead of making the easy pass he instead launches a 3pt bomb.
During fastbreaks when they have an advantage instead of passing or even going to the hole, he stops at the 3pt line and launches another one.
Its good if ot goes in. However, it shows for NOW that he is just a shooter-scorer and can't really raise up the team. Maybe with reps and more understanding he can in the near future.
