Jabari Smith Jr's aggression can't wax and wane with each passing game

Through the first few games of the season, Jabari Smith Jr looked like a new man for the Rockets with newfound aggression as a scorer and shooter. He was able to fill whatever role Houston needed from him, and the most important one has been another consistent scorer in the lineup. However, that changed on Wednesday night, when the Rockets picked up their second loss of the season and Smith only took 4 shots.

Smith needs to maintain his scoring mindset in every game

As we've seen recently, field goal attempts aren't the only barometer for deciding a player's aggression in a game. But they're certainly a useful measure for a young player like Smith just coming into his own as a big-time scorer.

In the first 8 games of the season, Smith was only averaging a slight career-high in shot attempts per game at 12.8. But his scoring aggression looked completely different from prior seasons, as he was doing more to attack as a creator rather than just capitalizing on opportunities created by his teammates. He looked much more comfortable while averaging a new career high in points at 18.4 per game.

That scoring intensity disappeared over large stretches of his last game. Smith didn't look for his shot enough and that hurt the Rockets offense as a whole. When he's willing to attack mismatches or cause defensive breakdowns himself, the Rockets as a whole are at their best. In those moments, it seems like they don't even have any need to bring in another star alongside Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun.

There's still a lot of time for Smith to nail his aggression

Regardless, it's still early in the season and Smith might as well have a hiccup in his mindset now than in the playoffs. Over the next several months, the Rockets should push him to become consistent in his scoring and evolve into a true weapon for their offense. If he can get there by the playoffs, Smith has the potential to swing an entire series for Houston.

Although he's in year 5 of his NBA career now, Smith is still young at 23 years old. And he's never fully been given a green light to hunt his shot on a winning team before. In the last two seasons, he played a much more complementary role to help the Rockets' stars manufacture enough offense to keep the team afloat.

Now, Smith is capable of creating that offense himself. He needs to embrace his potential, even if it comes with some mistakes at first. Surely Durant and Sengun would appreciate having another deadly scorer to take some load off of them.

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