Rockets scouting for "parallel goods" labels, starting from dominating the summer league VanVleet can help him break out in the new season

On July 10, Beijing time, the Rockets defeated the Pistons 113-101 in the Summer League, and the Rockets' 2022 scout Jabari Smith Jr. broke out again, he shot 13 of 25, including 3 of 10 three-pointers, and 9 of 10 free throws to score 38 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. In two Summer League games, Smith Jr. scored a total of 71 points, and in the last game he scored 33 points and hit a three-point shooter.

Although this is only summer league, it is a good starting point for Smith Jr., who is eager to remove the "parallel goods" label. Especially with the addition of VanVleet, the Rockets have a reliable point guard, and Smith Jr. is expected to break out in the new season.

Those early morning hard exercises

Smith Jr. was born in a basketball family, his father Jabari Smith Sr., who is 2.11 meters tall, was the team's No. 2 scorer in Louisiana that year, and later entered the NBA to play a total of 108 games in 4 seasons, and had a wealth of overseas basketball experience after leaving the NBA.

Smith Jr. has made his life goal of "entering the NBA" clear since kindergarten, and the elder Smith wakes his son up at 5:45 a.m. every morning to start training. It's dark before dawn, what if you can't see anything? The elder Smith would drive the car to the training ground and use the headlights to illuminate it.

In the process of cultivating his son, the elder Smith attaches great importance to the cultivation of basic skills, he never teaches his son fancy dribbling, breakthrough, little Smith practiced a lot of dribbling, snooping in place after the dry pull, dribbling after the step, shooting in various positions. Smith Jr. was able to throw 25 hollow shots in a row when he was a sophomore in high school, and studying Smith's growth process can find that from the beginning to the present, Smith is pursuing projection, even if his height has grown to 2.08 meters as he grows, his playing style is still projection-based.

Smith Jr. was the same after entering Auburn University, and industry insiders gave him the evaluation that he "can use his height to ignore defensive shooting", and he was regarded as a "changing defensive space interior line" that met the requirements of the times, which is a correct definition. Smith shot more than 40 percent from three-point range during his college years, scoring 1.2 points per round on catch-and-shoot shooting, more than 91 percent of college players. Defensively, Smith Jr. defends players 1.98 meters or less 15% of the time, and 15% of the time defends players 1.88 meters or less. These qualities were enough to get Smith into the NBA.

Review of last season's performance

Smith Jr. is one of the most favored new stars in the class of 2022, and he was once considered a top pick before the draft, but on draft day, the Magic fooled everyone, they picked Banqueiro, and Smith Jr. fell to the 3rd pick and was picked by the Rockets.

Last season, Smith Jr. averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, shooting only 40.8% from the field and 30.7% from three-point range, and his performance was completely inferior to the top pick Banqueiro, and Magic fans were glad that the Magic chose Banqueiro instead of Smith Jr., and many people refer to Smith Jr. as a "parallel trader."

Smith Jr.'s performance last season scored from several angles. The Rockets' offensive system is not formed, and Smith Jr. can only wait for a pass in the bottom corner, or cover the ball carrier and immediately detach it to open up space outside the three-point line, and his tactical involvement is extremely low. Most of the time, Smith Jr. is reduced to an outside fixed battery, and it is not surprising that the offensive performance is too undulating, this style of play is not aggressive in the senses, too testing the feel.

With Smith's technical characteristics, he cannot get rid of the defense by dribbling, coupled with the lack of strength in his lower limbs, even if he dribbles and shoots strongly, he cannot maintain his body balance to ensure efficiency. On the defensive end, Smith does not have enough awareness to play the No. 4 position, plays the No. 5 position to fight insufficiently, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the ability to protect the basket. His change of defense is indeed good, but the Rockets do not have a mature defensive system, and they are not mainly based on changing defenses.

Smith Jr. has many shortcomings, but as the experience points increase in the schedule, Smith Jr.'s performance gradually improved, and he basically averaged between 11-13 points per game in the first four months, and his shooting percentage was not high. But in March, Smith Jr. averaged 15.1 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 46 percent from the field. In the last four games of April, Smith Jr. averaged 15.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.

New season outbreak?

With Smith Jr.'s style of play, he desperately needs a reliable point guard, but Kevin Porter Jr. last season and occasional guest appearance as the main ball carrier Jalen Green were not good playmakers, and the Rockets' offense was chaotic.

This offseason, the Rockets poached VanVleet for $130 million in three years, VanVleet is an excellent blocker with a solid style and low turnovers, and he has the deterrent power to hold the ball and create opportunities for coverers. With VanVleet's organization, Smith Jr. has a chance to break out in the new season.

Last season, Smith Jr. only had 1.1 blocks and catches per 100 rounds, scoring only 0.85 points per round, and he is expected to skyrocket these two numbers in the new season. Perhaps, the excellent blocking duo of the new season will join the duo of VanVleet and Smith Jr.