Five months later, we can look at the 2023-24 season as a clear season of growth for youth and improvement. Houston RocketsWith a 41-41 record, their 19-win increase from 2022-23 represents the largest annual improvement of any NBA team.

With a young and talented core consisting of seven picks (Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore and Reed Sheppard) from the first rounds of the last four NBA draft cycles, the hope now is to make another leap forward in 2024-25.

Additionally, three Houston veterans planned game rotationOne is a newcomer (Steven Adams) and two (Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks) are just entering their second seasons with the Rockets. So there could be some improvement in those roles as well, as the veterans continue to acclimate to a relatively new system under second-year head coach Ime Udoka.

With that in mind, what might the best possible outcome look like? To try to find out, we look at the top five performances from each rotation player from last season, as determined by Game scoreWe continue this series with a look at Smith Jr., who is seen by many around the league as a strong escape candidate begins his third professional season this fall.

Overall statistics 2023-24: 13.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 0.7 steals in 31.9 minutes; 45.4% shooting, 36.3% three-point shooting, 81.1% free throw shooting; 57.1% clean sheet shooting, 13.8 PER, .111 WS/48

More: CBS ranks Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr. among top 2024-25 NBA breakout prospects

This article was originally published on Rockets Wire: Best of 2023-24: Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr.

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