Rockets Rookie Jabari Smith Jr.’s Toughest Critic During His Shooting Slump Is Himself

HOUSTON – Being a top-five overall selection in the NBA Draft comes with a lot of pressure. Most times, you get selected by a team in a rebuilding phase coming off a terrible season that landed them in the lottery.

Fans of the team ponder over the thought of adding a player of top-five quality and magnitude that they should immediately be ready to compete against the teams who made deep runs in the playoffs the previous season.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, as it takes time to adapt to the playing style of the NBA.

You cannot rush the process. If a player tries, he will be adding stress onto himself, which will also hinder his process.

That is what 19-year-old Houston Rockets rookie Jabari Smith Jr. is going through right now as he tries to figure out his role on a team with four starters under age 23.

Houston selected him with the third pick in the 2022 NBA Draft after witnessing his stellar one-year performance at Auburn University. His offensive skill set included a very lethal jump shot for a player his height, while his ability to guard any position on the defensive end stood out to many.

Yet, like his teammate Jalen Green, whom the Rockets selected one year prior with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Smith has struggled to find where he belongs through the first 50 games of his career.

“You are not going to make every shot,” Rockets assistant coach John Lucas said to Smith. “He is shooting every shot like he’s got the weight of the world on him.”

Smith is averaging 11.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, which are fair numbers for a rookie still getting acclimated to the NBA, but they are different from where he wants or expects them to be.

One thing that has constantly been on his mind is his inability to consistently make shots from three-point range, which was one of his strengths in his one season at Auburn, where he shot 42 percent.

In 12 games played in January, Smith is shooting 17 percent (9-for-53) from beyond the arc and is 1-for-16 in his last five starts.

“I would say just pressure knowing that I’m a shooter and they’re not going in right now,” Smith said after taking extra shots with Rockets assistant coach Rick Higgins. “It’s kind of frustrating, but you know, trying to keep that pressure off. It’s hard because I’m my toughest critic. So, it’s just hard sometimes.”

One lesson that the Rockets coaching staff has been teaching Smith is to use his other abilities as he works on getting his shooting touch back. His hustle and lockdown on the defensive end helped Houston secure a victory over the Detroit Pistons this past Saturday.

Smith finished the game with 12 rebounds, three blocked shots, and two steals, but his defensive stop on Pistons guard Alec Burks caused a jump ball with 20:6 left in the game and the Rockets leading by one point that caused his teammates to erupt off the bench.

“The shot wasn’t falling, but just trying to cover for my teammates,” said Smith. “Do the little things like defense, rebound, and defend. “Just trying to help to impact the game in other ways.”