Uber-athletic guards with tough shotmaking abilities get compared to Tracy McGrady and the late, great Kobe Bryant on the regular. Those two were arguably the best perimeter scorers of the deadball era (Allen Iverson says hello), and measuring up to their bucket-getting is a tall task.
That was the reality for Houston Rockets flamethrower Jalen Green entering the league. His top-of-the-line vertical and three-level scoring drew the T-Mac comps dating back to high school. But his NBA journey didn't begin with that comparison so easy to spot.
Green was labeled a chucker his rookie season, getting DNPs in 4th quarters of his third season when the Rockets began to compete. But the light has begun to come on this year, and he's now starting to finally live up to all those lofty comps (even in a niche, Thaddeus Young stat type of way).
respect JG pic.twitter.com/fnMJxm6H0u
— optimistic rockets fan (@drf_00) March 28, 2025
The markers Green's hit are icing. More importantly for Houston, he's put together a complete season, and the potential scoring champ vibes I had for him pre-draft are creeping back up.
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Jalen Green can still be an elite scorer with the improvements he's making
The hype around Green ahead of the 2021 NBA Draft stemmed from his athleticism and scoring prowess. Things weren't that simple from the start: Green could fill it up, but it took extreme volume and a long leash to reach his 22 points per game as a sophomore. He wasn't defending at a high level, which was an issue when Ime Udoka took over last season.
Udoka repeatedly benched Green in crunch time, attempting to secure victories. Green's streaky scoring didn't outweigh the effort he was putting in on the other side. But after one year in this new Rockets defensive infrastructure, Green has improved a ton and has been able to stay on the court to add to his impressive totals.
Green's also grown offensively beyond the three-level scoring that made him name as a prospect. To be mentioned with these Hall of Famers, he needed to hit the 1000 assists threshold, and his growth as the pick-and-roll decision-maker has aided that tremendously. The game has slowed down; Green has more control when putting defenders in jail, more passes in his arsenal, and a better feel on when to attack all the way or dump it off to a teammate. Green is averaging .93 PPP as a pick-and-roll ball handler, the same number as Kawhi Leonard.
Green has always leveraged his athleticism in the rebounding column. His rebound totals aren't jaw-dropping, but he's prone to trampoline off the ground and occasionally snag boards from bigs. Green's defensive rebound percentage is in the 81st percentile this year and was 97th last year amongst wings/combo guards. He contributes on a team that ranks first in rebounds per game this season.
His scoring has been streaky since entering the league, but we've seen a more consistent touch this year. He's up to 23 points a night, shooting 37 percent on volume since the new year. The basket attacks are fun: He's shooting 65 percent at the rim, which will improve as he continues to fill out. He is already a ferocious dunker; defenders don't always have a good time defending those graceful tomahawks.
Green on a heater is a Steph Curry-esque show. He has 18 games this season in which he's made at least five triples. His ability to get hot in a hurry, combined with his athleticism, still cause one to believe he can reach that super-scorer level. His handle still needs fine-tuning, but it is a touch better than last year.
The playmaking growth (not quite a leap yet) makes scoring inherently simpler, and the will to compete on defense keeps him in the game. Who's to say if he can still reach the level of someone like Devin Booker or Anthony Edwards? They're the only players besides Green on the list above who wouldn't be a Hall of Fame lock if they hung up their kicks today (although both are on the right trajectory). But Green being mentioned with these guys shows his potential at only 23 years old.