Jaden Rising

[Monster]

I agree that he is still inconsistent too much. Top 25? You got to bring it nearly every night, which he mostly does on defense. I voted top 50. I think that is fair.

But I also agree his game is getting better and better. His rebounding and driving to the hoop are really nice.

This is a good series in terms of match up for him offensively. He is literally longer than almost everyone the Lakers put on the floor most minutes. If he can get into the paint he should be able to finish. Basically all you have to do is not have Lebron block you. In addition there are some guys guarding him that he can beat off the dribble. He seems to have found the confidence this season to actually do this more consistently which is great and what was expected and hoped for him by fans and the Wolves. I think he has a chance to be more of a cositant threat on that end.

Meanwhile his rebounding has taken a pretty significant jump which makes him much more valuable and points to what Q mentioned that he could end up the Wolves PF at some point.

Correct, monster. Jaden is a remarkably humble player, but he literally said what you said post game 1. He basically said he noticed that other than Hayes, there isn't anyone with his length on the Laker roster (and what he didn't say is that Hayes isn't much of a rim protector). I'm not sure why he was so ineffective on offense in Game 2, but he certainly took advantage of his length and quickness advantage in 1 and 3.

Wolves played bad and Lakers energy had something to do with it. Let's see if he can keep bringing it.

[Monster]

I voted top 35 due to taking a tough defensive assignment every night and his offensive game really coming on. I think he will play in an all star game in the next 2 years.

Cool ylu were on the Jaden bandwagon early and I jumped on especially after I watched some of his college games and saw his potential to do role player stuff. I was hard on him earlier in the season but he did take a step this year. I don't think he is anywhere near this high but a very high end starter for what he is getting paid is easily worth it. He is showing flashes of being a legit offensive threat that both of us thought was there. He just needs to keep progressing. ALOT of that is feel and confidence.

[TheFuture]

Considering there are 30 teams with 5 starters, so 150 players I voted top 75 as I believe he's firmly in the top half of the league. To say top 1/3 or higher every night is a stretch imo, too inconsistent offensively, especially from 3.

[FNG]

As I was admiring amen Thompson tonight, I was considering him as a reasonable comp for Jaden. Freakishly athletic defenders with offensive upside. But I had to take off my homer hat and admit amen is better. So if we stipulate that, is amen top 50? I would say no.

[Coolbreeze44]

As I was admiring amen Thompson tonight, I was considering him as a reasonable comp for Jaden. Freakishly athletic defenders with offensive upside. But I had to take off my homer hat and admit amen is better. So if we stipulate that, is amen top 50? I would say no.

Amen is better? He can rebound a little better, can't shoot, and only averaged 22mpg this year. I sure as hell wouldn't trade our guy for him.

[TheFuture]

As I was admiring amen Thompson tonight, I was considering him as a reasonable comp for Jaden. Freakishly athletic defenders with offensive upside. But I had to take off my homer hat and admit amen is better. So if we stipulate that, is amen top 50? I would say no.

Amen is better? He can rebound a little better, can't shoot, and only averaged 22mpg this year. I sure as hell wouldn't trade our guy for him.

Yeah, I'm not even trading Jaden for Amen and that Suns pick.

Neither of those brothers have a semblance of touch. Just hyper athletes.

[kekgeek]

Jaden is such a tough guy to rank.

He’s probably around to 80ish to me. Hope this makes sense Jaden is one of the better enhancers to better teams in the league but I think he would struggle if he was the guy or second guy on a bad team.

Sort of saw it last game. The lakers started the game with Lebron on Jaden and Jaden was taken out of the game early going 0-2 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 turnover in the first Q.

Then as the game went on the lakers had to adjust their defense to focus on Ant and Jaden took advantage late.

Jaden gets a huge plus of usually getting to attack teams 3rd or 4th best defender.

He’s taken a big step this year but I think he is a super hard guy to rank in the whole scheme of the NBA.