Well, I guess that draft class is still not up to standard but you cannot count them out yet. Way too early. Flashes in the pan. Top 3 - Paolo, Chet, Jabari.....
I think Chet's a pretty damn good player and his contract isn't bad, 25% for a top 40 player at his age with his versatility is reasonable. His low minutes make his production rate look weaker than it is, he won't ever be a dominant scorer but he's a guy any contender would love to have as a 3rd guy. People are overreacting to a rough series against a true freak of nature on pace to be the one of the greatest of all time.
That is nonsense. Chet hasn't lost his fire. The Spurs got into his head and he was a mental shell by game 7. He had no confidence at all on offense. It's like he was scared to take even wide-open shots. Take a look at his regular season, which was his best. Ask the Suns and Lakers about him. Chet was just fine. But the Spurs chipped away at him mentally by going out of their way to shove him around and yap at him on the court, and it finally worked. NBA opponents have been doing this since day 1 and he would just play on. But the Spurs finally cracked him. Chet definitely has mental work to do and some pieces have to be put back together, but there wasn't an ounce of complacency in him this year.
Would be funny if after all of the fuss Jabari actually does end up being the best player from that draft class. I do still think it's unlikely, but with Duren and Chet crashing out in the playoffs, Jalen Williams being injury-prone, and Paolo being a terrible-efficiency shot chucker, it's not impossible.
Question: If Jabari was in a playoff series with the Spurs and they did to him what they did to Chet, do you think he would have done any better?
Probably not, but I do wonder if Jabari might end up having better shot creation abilities than Chet, at the expense of being a much less-capable rim protector. That was kind of the book on them when they got drafted, and I think it might still be the case. Edit: I also do think Jabari has more dog in him than people give him credit for as well. I don't know if he'd be as easy to go after mentally as Chet.
The Spurs' handsy defenders would have chewed up Jabari's dribble and spit it out. On either end of the floor, he can't handle physicality any better than Chet.
