Jabari Smith Jr., Jalen Green seen as complementary fits in Houston

Though he averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in 29.7 minutes while excelling on defense, rookie forward Jabari Smith Jr. wasn’t a strong shooter in summer league for the Houston Rockets. He shot just 37.7% overall and 25.9% on 3-pointers over five games in Las Vegas, which doesn’t mesh with pre-draft scouting reports that raved over his form.

But there were some extenuating circumstances for the No. 3 overall pick of the 2022 first round, and it goes beyond simply a small sample size. On the Game Theory podcast, The Athletic’s NBA draft guru, Sam Vecenie, explained while speaking with fellow draft analyst Adam Spinella.

“Offensively, I think there’s been some consternation because of the shot creation,” Vecenie said. “It looks like what we thought it would look like, basically. It’s not polished, his handle is still quite loose. His passing has been a little bit better than what we’ve seen at Auburn.”

“But a big part of Jabari’s value proposition is his spacing, and his ability to consistently knock down shots,” Vecenie added. “Up until that last game, Houston’s guards have just been horrible in terms of distribution. There’s just not another way to say it. They have not done nearly a good enough job of getting him the ball in the right spots, to where he can be successful. It is what it is. When Josh Christopher is up there chucking 30 shots every 36 minutes, it’s a disaster.”

Spinella largely concurred with that assessment, and he made it clear that he expects improvement once Smith plays with Jalen Green on Houston’s real roster, as opposed to one comprised of summer league guards.

Spinella’s comments: