Ben DuBose

Well, I think tonight you saw how valuable Jabari is in terms of making threes.

The Rockets struggle to do that at volume and also the presence.

I'm sorry, Jabari is Tari is just not nearly the same archetype of player.

So say what you will about Reed Shepard.

Paolo, I'll bring you in on this because obviously we haven't talked to you since Reed Mania started on social media with all these calls to start him.

You can certainly make the argument, but I just think it's pretty clear to me if you're going to start Reed Shepard, it shouldn't be at the expense of a man Thompson or Jabari Smith Jr.

Paolo, what do you think about that?

A couple of comments from the chat.

Tari Eason, over his last nine games, shooting just 28% from three.

It might be like 25% or something.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

It's been a rough stretch.

I don't expect it to continue, but I also don't think you should expect the 47% he was at for his first 30 or so games of this season to continue.

I think he's going to slide back into hopefully upper 30s rather than mid 30s.

I think that'd be a very good outcome.

But at the end of the day, when you look at everything else, and specifically the fit with the starting lineup, you know, Jabari is much better, especially in recent games, at attacking off the dribble, at making things happen.

He's got a little more fluidity to him.

You know, Tari, I suspect it's the combination of the lower leg the last couple of years, and then he's been playing with the ankle strain the last couple of months, but

He just doesn't seem as springy as he has at times in the past.