Has Jalen Green secured his long-term starting spot in Houston?

Has Jalen Green secured his long-term starting spot in Houston?

Jaylen green has been playing a lot better we spent the entire last podcast talking about Jaylen green talking about uh eoka benching him in multiple fourth quarters in a row uh talking about him kind of not really coming along as quickly as many would have imagined and

He’s been playing better uh he’s been playing better Forest are let me read his stats uh over his last uh five or so games he’s averaging 21 per game six rebounds per game uh three assists per game uh 44% three-point shooting uh and that’s on 8.3 attempts 62% shoot uh true

Shooting uh he’s been pretty good uh in terms of efficiently scoring the basketball some of it’s been kind of you know like his threes are going in but sometimes I feel like he’s not always playing the best game right uh sometimes I still see him lose the ball too often

But I he is the shots going in and we did did talk about a lot of this is just shots going in right a lot of this will correct itself when shots go in and they’re going in now uh Forest are you encouraged has he done enough to get off

The proverbial Hot Seat uh in terms of like his starting spot well yes I mean if he’s making shots you know and those those are good three-point numbers in particular especially given that like and that’s considering that he shot pretty badly this this game yesterday against the buck so

Uh yeah it’s very encouraging and I think that all right I mean the reality is that as long as they have a reasonable case to keep him starting they’re going to do so that’s so like he’s doing more than what he needs like he’s good he’s good

If he keeps going like this he’s good as long as people aren’t going oh yuck this is terrible then that’s fine now the bigger question is not just this is good enough for him to keep a starting spot but is this encouraging enough for us to

Think that he’s back on track to being like a future Allstar level player which is I think really The Benchmark that most people who care about him and Rockets basketball want to see from him right uh CU you know being a starter and being an also player are not the same

Thing if he’s starter quality great that’s fine but that’s not what you hope to get when you draft second overall in the draft and it’s also not what people hope to get when he was drafted and in you know the subsequent years since then so uh do you think he’s doing good

Enough to make us think that he’s back on track for the potential of being a future Allstar yeah so I I um I think I did someone else’s uh podcast this week and I was asked about this right like have I wavered on jayen green and I think what

I said was I’ve waver I haven’t wavered on a ceiling the ceiling has always been the same I’ve more I I’ve been more willing to acknowledge his floor uh through the stretch right which uh I on that podcast I believe I said Jordan Clarkson right like I I’ve never said it

Out loud that’s the kind of player like if he if J sa face you can say it yeah like if Jaylen uh doesn’t hit you know Allstar level like Jordan Clarkson’s the kind of player we’re talking about as a floor range uh for him right I never acknowledge that floor range at any

Point in his NBA career cuz I always thought he was a pretty safe Allstar bet to be honest like even in that 2021 draft thought he was safer to make an All-Star team than a lot of those guys on that on that uh in that draft class

Like I thought he was like just that kind of player just works a lot of times right like even if I question the kind of impact of that kind of player that player archetype just works a lot to make you know All-Star game so I thought

Um I haven’t wavered on that ceiling uh but I’ve been more willing to acknowledge that floor i’ I’d also add one more uh prerequisite you said is he good enough to be an All-Star level player like is that still his ceiling I’d like to add one more thing is he

Good enough to Warrant being played over his teammates right like like and we’ll we’ll talk about that in a second but like I mean we talked about on last week’s episode tar e potentially taking a SP starting spot right and tar e hasn’t played for like four games right

With an injury and we’re still and we’re still talking about players potentially taking a starting spot right and and jaylen’s playing better and we’re still doing that right like that’s how precarious this is that’s how well the Rockets have frankly hit uh in the middle range of the draft

Right they’ve given themselves a lot of optionality here for this rebuild right we kind of know one thing and that Al PR shenon these other pieces are still up for RBS right I think Jabari has solidified himself a little bit but these other guys you know they nobody’s fortified themselves after that and

That’s kind of the question I have right can Jaylen play well enough enough to fight off the onslaught coming from behind him right yeah I was actually thinking about that earlier today that like currently all right and right now as of you know uh late on January 7th

2024 it looks like of the of the Rockets big draft picks right you have Jaylen green Al shenon uh Jabari Smith Jr tar een cam Whitmore amen Thompson right of those six guys of those six guys Jaylen is the shakiest looking right they they all look they’re looking really good

Right now and that can change a lot I want I the pass like in this moment in particular Cam and am man are looking quite nice right and Bari and tar have been great you know have been great as far as prospects go for a while I I a

Man is a little shaky to me too uh just cuz the shoot the shooting is just so much sorry I didn’t mean to cut you off but like four or five out of six is really good and potentially six out of six is incredible right so I want to like put

That framing on everything we’re saying which is that right now these this group of picks are panning out really well and you know that can probably that’ll go up and down right things always change uh especially with these young guys but right now looking really good so being worried about jailing Green’s position

Is a great position for the Rockets organization to be in because that means that they have dogs nipping at his heels that means that they have these other guys who are making a case for actually maybe being the better Prospect than him and that’s a much better problem to have

Than going our guy who matters is not doing well yeah no you’re right like for the organization that’s a great thing for Jaylen not so much not so much you maybe hope some of these picks of missed right um but uh that that’s just the way things have landed

Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) and Forrest Walker (@DUNOTS) discuss Jalen Green’s improved play and debate if it’s enough to secure Green’s spot on the Rockets’ long-term core.

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