I'm not going to lie, whenever the talking heads have us as favorites. It doesn't bode well for us. I feel like the Lakers are going to actually come in tonight and try to blow the doors off of us. That being said, so much has been talked about Amen and Alpi and Reed, but I feel like the heart of our team, the glue is Jabar... I get eerie reminders of Horry with him. His height and build and even his game to an extent. He came in (to me) as a stiff offensive outside shooting guy. And his defensive was a highlight of his game. This series highlights his defense as well... He is taking the initiative to guard his man and he moves his feet and his help defense has been a highlight as well. But he is doing more on offense to expand his game where Horry never did. When Robert was drafted he always reminded me of Pippen the way he was long and rangy but I always wanted him to build on his handles. It never came. I feel like this is next for Jabari. I don't know if it will come but if Jabari can maintain his defensive intensity and identity while getting a decent handle to be able to hit the three and hit the midange but also be able to slash as well... He could grow into the number 3 pick he was. This is just where my thoughts are tonight going into game 6 and looking toward what the future holds for us should we falter tonight.
Still reminds me of taller Reggie Miller, obviously without much of Reggie's hilarious cellis.... Reggie not known for some of the defense..
Jabari wasn't scared to say what he had to say, and he backed it up. Two huge blocks, clutch 3's, some big rebounds. He's become one of my favorite of the young core that we have. I just really....really hope we don't break up this core this off season to try and make a big push next year with Durant/FVV/(insert trade for another big name player). I'd like to see what this group does on their own next year. FVV fits with the teams chemistry much better than Durant does. The sad thing is Durant -could- fit in with this team perfectly, but it's all about making sure every other player gets their looks too. One of the things I agree with Barkley about is when he said last night "When everyone's eating, the defense is so much better". When we had to sit around and wait 10 seconds to get Durant the ball each possession, it just lead to laziness on other players part and I don't blame them. Anyways, I've derailed this thread enough, I'll get back on topic. I've grown to love Jabari Smith.
My observation is that I’m 40 years old. For a large part of my life my knowledge of the NBA was a lot of players didn’t get into the NBA until they were 21 or 22 and sometimes didn’t play major minutes until later on than that. so maybe at that point players did have a tendency to stop developing as much around years three or four. one thing that has always been frustrating about our roster is that we have waited on younger players. Seems like it is finally hitting that 23 year olds have runway.
I told you many aeons ago. Vegas decide the games. Not talent, not skill or mental....its all about business n $$$ The moment I saw no 48 Scott Foster that's it I am out, a goon sent by Silver instructed by Vegas. How the efff he's still able to ref a game after being investigated for blatantly calling an out of bound play when it's clearly not.
