8:00 PM EST
Jalen Green ended last season on a tear. He averaged 20.8 points per game in March, and 28.6 in April. He showed us glimpses of the star potential that led the Rockets to take him 2nd overall in the 2021 draft. Jalen hit the ground running this season rattling off 16, 33, 22, and 25 points. Then came the road trip…
The Rockets began a 4 game road trip on 10/26. They went 0-4 while Jalen Green averaged 14 points and shot 25.6% from the field. This has been a consistent trend throughout his early career so far. His other 2 games on the road this season he shot 7-20 and 6-19. Dating back to last season, Jalen shot 40.5/33/75.3% and averaged 15.0 points on the road.
On the contrary, Jalen seems to really like sleeping in his own bed because he is terrific at home. Last season, he shot 4% better from the field, 2.4% better from 3, and 7.2% better from the free throw line. He also averaged 4.4 more points. I do not always buy into splits, but discrepancies like this are something I will dabble in (similar to Desmond Bane last season).
The early season has shown similar trends, although a small sample size. Jalen in 2 home games is averaging 29 points on 59.5/61.5/85.7%.
Jalen is a high volume guy that plays heavy minutes. He is erratic, but when we get him in his comfort zone and in a solid matchup (LAC allows 10th most points to SG so far this season), I see some ladder potential.