Houston must choose between nurturing Smith’s flashes of elite shot creation or leveraging his versatile value in a blockbuster trade to elevate their postseason ceiling.
There’s an interesting conversation to be had about Jabari Smith Jr. entering next year. It’s not difficult to imagine what a bigger offensive version of him could look like in the near future, because at times he gave breakout performances- just not every night.
Smith finished the season shooting 45-percent from the floor and 36.3-percent from three while starting 77 games and averaging 35 minutes per night for a playoff team. Young players with potentially empty upside don’t earn that kind of trust on a roster trying to win immediately, especially under someone like Ime Udoka and not when there are multiple scoring options.
Smith recorded 17 games with 20 or more points this season, while posting 14 double-doubles between February 19 and April 10. Some of the shooting performances themselves were ridiculous for a player his size.
Against the Pelicans back in January, per StatMuse, Smith went 7-for-13 from outside. On February 23 against the Jazz, he shot 6-for-11 from three while finishing 12-for-17 from the field in just 33 minutes. In another outing, he knocked down 5-of-7 from deep while shooting 9-for-12 overall, just to name a few remarkable flashes of high-level shot creation.
Scoring efficiency like that completely changes a team’s ceiling if it ever becomes consistent, which is where the Jabari conversation starts. Houston has a decision to make: continue developing the offensive potential that already suggests real upward trajectory or use Smith as a trade piece for a more established scoring option.
What’s already been made clear, especially over the regular season, is that Smith can defend multiple positions, rebound, stay healthy, and fit into winning lineups. He averaged 1.4 offensive rebounds, 5.5 defensive rebounds, nearly two assists per game, and more times than not maintained a positive plus-minus.
The question now, if Smith remains in Houston long term, is whether they actually want him evolving into a more aggressive scoring piece or if the organization prefers keeping him as a perfectly complementary forward next to bigger offensive engines like Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun.
Yes, there were still stretches this year where Smith almost disappeared offensively for entire halves despite clearly having another level available to him, which is where the frustration- the looming decision- comes in.
Smith hasn’t disappointed- the version of him capable of becoming a 20-point-per-game scorer already showed up several times this season. The Rockets just have to figure out how to bring that version out more consistently and where to maximize value.
