{"id":99466,"date":"2025-06-15T02:03:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T02:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/99466\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T02:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T02:03:13","slug":"in-offseason-work-jabari-smith-jr-says-hes-developing-as-shot-creator-ball-handler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/99466\/","title":{"rendered":"In offseason work, Jabari Smith Jr. says he\u2019s developing as shot creator, ball handler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of his fourth NBA season, Houston Rockets<\/a> forward Jabari Smith Jr. is citing ball-handling and shot creation as points of emphasis during the 2025 offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to have a big summer and come back next year looking like a whole different player,\u201d Smith told Ari Alexander of KPRC, Houston\u2019s NBC affiliate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cConfidence in my ball-handling, confidence in being able to create my own shot, and just having a better, stronger motor,\u201d Smith says of what he\u2019d like to gain from his offseason work. \u201cI just want to change, and come back different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith has worked out this offseason with Aaron Miller, a skills trainer who has extensive experience<\/a> working with NBA players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s real technical, with a lot of attention to detail,\u201d Smith said of Miller\u2019s workouts. \u201cI just like how detailed it is, and how down to the science it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith averaged 12.2 points (43.8% FG, 35.4% on 3-pointers) and 7.0 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per game last season. As the No. 3 overall draft pick from the NBA\u2019s 2022 first round, the 22-year-old Auburn product is eligible for a contract extension during a window from July 1, 2025, until the start of the 2025-26 regular season in late October.<\/p>\n

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Should he not receive one, Smith will become a restricted free agent in the 2026 offseason, and his likely contract will depend in large part on his play during the upcoming season. To say the least, a production uptick after a positive offseason would help him establish more long-term value.<\/p>\n

During Houston\u2019s first-round series loss to Golden State a few weeks ago, Smith\u2019s average minutes total tumbled to just 20.4 (and only 12 in a decisive Game 7 loss to the Warriors). Among frontcourt players, minutes for Smith and Tari Eason were scaled down in the playoffs while Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, and Steven Adams all played more.<\/p>\n

It appears that subpar finish to the 2024-25 season has provided fuel for Smith as he begins the 2025 offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t finish the season how we wanted to, so I was ready to get back in the gym and work on what I need to work on,\u201d Smith told Alexander.<\/p>\n

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More: Rockets reportedly open to contract talks with Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: In offseason work, Jabari Smith develops as shot creator, ball handler<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of his fourth NBA season, Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. is citing ball-handling and shot creation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,883,21321,21322,7,479,292,194,4066,1346,6,3160,211,962,873],"class_list":{"0":"post-99466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-amen-thompson","10":"tag-ari-alexander","11":"tag-ball-handling","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-golden-state","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-rockets","16":"tag-houstonrockets","17":"tag-jabari-smith","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-offseason","20":"tag-rockets","21":"tag-steven-adams","22":"tag-tari-eason"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114684926621980344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}