{"id":107642,"date":"2024-11-18T15:12:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T20:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=107642"},"modified":"2024-11-18T15:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T20:12:24","slug":"rockets-jalen-green-reaching-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/18\/rockets-jalen-green-reaching-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets High-Riser Reaching For Stardom, Where Will He Land?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are being rewarded for their recent decisions. Now 10-4 nearly a fifth of the way through the season, they\u2019re third in the mighty Western Conference. For a franchise with a team that looked bound for the lottery for the foreseeable future, the rapid turnaround has been a rush.<\/p>\n<p>Rockets general manager Rafael Stone might deserve the bulk of the credit for putting together a stifling defense.<\/p>\n<p>Stone put his money where his mouth is, signing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vanvlfr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fred VanVleet<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brookdi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dillon Brooks<\/a> to above market contracts just to ensure that they improved at that end. He drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompam01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amen Thompson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/easonta01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tari Eason<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sheppre01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reed Sheppard<\/a> with firm belief they would be difference-makers. He hired Ime Udoka, who coached them. Pushed them. Molded them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Rockets this season:<\/p>\n<p>3rd in DRTG<br \/>\n5th in NETRTG<br \/>\n1st in RPG<br \/>\n1st in OREB<\/p>\n<p>3rd in the West. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WfaKJfLDig\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WfaKJfLDig<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 StatMuse (@statmuse) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/statmuse\/status\/1858568352320659545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For all of that though, there\u2019s been just one glaring problem.<\/p>\n<h2>Rockets High-Riser Reaching For Stardom, Where Will He Land?<\/h2>\n<p>While Rockets guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> has made large strides over the past year, he\u2019s still too inconsistent to be relied upon. His icy hot streaks would be easier to absorb if he was coming off the bench. Yet, he\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/21\/rockets-sign-jalen-green-first-kind-contract-extension\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">highly-paid starter vying to be<\/a> a cornerstone of the franchise. For a top-three draft pick reaching for stardom, he\u2019s not inspiring enough confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Through 14 games, Green is averaging 19.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. For the most part, the production is there. However, there\u2019s plenty of points being left on the table, as he\u2019s made only 39.5 percent of his field goals and 32.5 percent from three.<\/p>\n<p>Frequently reverting back to bad habits, Green\u2019s taking at least one too many ill-advised shots a game. Being able to make tough shots <em>is<\/em> one way a player can separate themselves from their peers. Nonetheless, Green\u2019s performance isn\u2019t making him stand out in the way he likes.<\/p>\n<p>He tends to pound the air out of the ball, a truly insane 38.7 percent of his field goals coming after he takes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/player\/1630224\/shots-dash\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least seven dribbles<\/a>. Even worse, he\u2019s only making 37.0 percent of these attempts. He\u2019s a respectable finisher in traffic, an aerial acrobatic with a knack for completing circus layups.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jalen Green WILD finish over multiple Spurs defenders \ud83d\ude32 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZDKkLNEAdT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ZDKkLNEAdT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA TV (@NBATV) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBATV\/status\/1850370667000246568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Yet, when he\u2019s taking shots against a tight defense (the closest defender is within 2-4 feet) and he\u2019s at least 10 feet away from the rim, his percentages plummet. On those attempts, 64.6 percent of which have been threes, he\u2019s shooting just 28.9 percent from the field.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word On Jalen Green<\/h3>\n<p>There isn\u2019t a need to give up on Green, who could just be going through a shooting slump. To that point, he had nailed 38.2 percent of his threes <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/29\/has-jalen-green-dethroned-alperen-sengun-as-the-face-of-the-houston-rockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">through the first week<\/a> of November. It\u2019s only been less than two weeks since then.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jalen Green tonight vs the Spurs:<\/p>\n<p>36 points<br \/>\n2 assists<br \/>\n11\/22 field goal<br \/>\n7\/13 from 3<br \/>\n7\/7 free throw<br \/>\n72% TS<\/p>\n<p>Straight Buckets. 10 in the 4th. ROCKETS WIN!! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vmhVLVQznT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vmhVLVQznT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Julie Gilchrist (@JulieanneGilch1) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JulieanneGilch1\/status\/1851090430613467173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The problem is just that Green plays instinctively, but not necessarily cerebrally. He\u2019s picked up his energy when the ball isn\u2019t in his hands and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/31\/rockets-ime-udoka-commends-jalen-green-for-major-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">generally improved his decision-making<\/a> when it is. Still, he has a ways to go so far as consistently making the right play.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, while his confidence can be appreciated, he needs to take better shots, particularly from beyond the arc. He could also stand to make faster decisions, which could prevent the defense from loading up on him so quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are being rewarded for their recent decisions. Now 10-4 nearly a fifth of the way through the season, they\u2019re third in the mighty Western Conference. For a franchise with a team that looked bound for the lottery for the foreseeable future, the rapid turnaround has been a rush. Rockets general manager Rafael [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":107659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1608,62,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}