Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. salvaged his rookie year with strong play towards the end of the 2022-23 regular season.
Still, it's still a curious choice for him to take to Twitter and second controversial ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins' opinion that the Milwaukee Bucks season was āa complete failure.ā
āAre we serious right now,ā Perkins begins on popular ESPN segment NBA Today.
āIs Giannis [Antetokounmpo] serious right now? This was a complete failure by the Milwaukee Bucks. You were the number one seed. The best team in the league. The favorites to win it all and you lost to the eighth-seed ā who got in through the Play-In Tournament ā who's missing their third-best player in Tyler Herro.ā
ā Jabari Smith Jr (@jabarismithjr) April 27, 2023
Though Perkins is right to point out that the Heat were undermanned without Herro, he does seem to ignore that Giannis sustained a back injury in Game 1. For a player that dominates with a constant attack at the rim, that obviously had an impact on the star and could be a reason that Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer didn't put him on Jimmy Butler more.
Furthermore, Khris Middleton still hasn't look quite himself after missing more than four dozen games since the 2022 NBA Playoffs while dealing with knee and wrist injuries.
That aside, Smith agreeing with Perkins can be seen one of two ways.
On the one hand, he could simply be saying that any season where a championship isn't won is a failure, something that could endear Rockets fans.
He could also just be saying that the Bucks failed to meet expectations.
Nonetheless, many will roll their eyes at his comments, as the Rockets still need to get their own situation in order. Furthermore, Smith may have put himself even further under the microscope moving forward.
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