Jalen Green is slipping through the cracks

Okay, we're four takes into this now. That one just got blown up by a phone call

So, um, I'm gonna just get this one off quickly. I've been watching a lot of Rockets basketball this year, um, and I think they've had a really fun season

A really underrated season, actually. People were talking about early in the season how they had, like, that six-game win streak

and this team was suddenly really good, even though they don't have a lot of talent on either end

They're, like, top ten in both offense and defensive rating. That was kind of the big narrative at the beginning of the season

I think they've kind of settled into this good spot right in the middle of the Western Conference

And I think they will be in that play-in tier come, you know, like May

And I think they're starting to move on from the stage Of like seeing what they have in guys

This is something that I've noticed that a lot of rebuilding teams do I think people have been following after the OKC

Strategy where the first few years they just like tank it out to see what guys can actually do

and then they actually like start to put it together in year three adding some veterans

and kind of just like moving the process along you know collecting draft picks on the way

and I think Houston has kind of reached the critical mass of like talent to get over the hump

and they're kind of at that point now where they can actually start to win basketball games

so we know what they have in like Tari Eason and Ja'Sean Tate and the big one Alper and

shengun we know what they have with fred van fleet right now we know what amen thompson potential is we know what jabari Smith potential is I think the long outlook of this team for all those guys is really good and there

one name I left off that list, and that's Jalen Green. And Jalen Green's a weird case to me

because, like, I think we've seen, Rusty Buckets just made a really good video about this that I'm

sure anyone who might be watching this has probably seen, um, the video where he talked about, like

the death of the power forward and the future death of the shooting guard and I think we're

starting to see all that see that in real time with players like Jalen Green because he's not

an elite playmaker he's not an elite catch and shoot three-point shooter he's not an elite

defender he's got like theoretical like crazy high off the dribble isolation scoring upside

but he doesn't like possess a lot of versatility yet and so his value is kind of mitigated because

of that. And I think this is kind of a problem because Jalen Green was supposed to be the guy

but to me, if they can build like a less heliocentric and more like, um, free flowing

offense through Shang-Goon and all these versatile wings that they're starting to collect

And then they have like Aumann Thompson at the point in the future. I think that is like a better long-term outlook. And I'm not really sure how a score first

past later shooting guard like Jalen green kind of fits into that obviously

he's still young so like the defense and the playmaking can like improve and

like there is a reason that we get so excited whenever we see like six or seven assists on the stat sheet for him Because like it so like critical that he gets to that point where he can be like a distributor

Because it's gonna open up scoring opportunities for him and everyone else

But like I think if we're being for real for a second

I think it's just gonna I think the realistically the outlook for him is not super great

I think he's got a lot of talent, but I just don't really know like how he can kind of like fit into this offense like if they're running it through

shangun which is obviously the best option for them right now shangun is straight up the best

offensive player on that team by far um then like how does he sort of contribute to that because

he's not an elite pick and roll playmaker he's not like great in the again he's not great in the

catch and shoot like i would rather just run things through my playmaking center who can score

from all three levels than give Jalen Green, like, an isolation every other possession to shoot 40

from the field for the season. And maybe I just have to kind of, like, get a better feel of, like

how he fits in with Alpi, but I just don't buy that he is, he's going to reach his ceiling just

because I think the NBA is kind of moving on from players like him. I think the only player who's

sort of like an exception to this new shooting guard standard is Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards is like just he an animal on both ends obviously He a great defensive player he a pit bull going downhill he super strong and super athletic he can score from all three

levels and he can create he can create plays for others a little bit he's also just got like the

like the gumption and like the the body language of a player who can like lead you and I feel like

Jalen Green kind of has none of those things he's not an elite defensive player he's again

He's not a great playmaker. He doesn't hit threes at a super high rate yet. So like, what does he do that like gets you excited? You know, very good basketball player, but I just don't think his game is built for the NBA anymore. So like, I don't know. I just wanted to talk about the Rockets. I just wanted to talk about like this thing I've been thinking about with Jalen Green

I think the long-term outlook of this team, I think they will probably try and make it work for too long

And I think in all likelihood, they'll probably be gimped of some opportunity to win some games just because Jalen Green shoots them out of them

But I think this team is still going to be really good. And they're really fun

Also, like, having a good point guard. Like, who would have thought that having a point guard that can actually distribute the ball and wasn't Kevin Porter Jr

Would, like, completely turn the ship around? Like, Fred VanVleet has been so good for them

Aaron Holiday giving them good backup minutes has been so crucial. So, yeah, the Rockets are great

But, I don't know, trade Jalen Green to the Orlando Magic