there were moments. Every player has moments...
on the season Jesse was 64 turnovers, 49 assists. Maybe I am misinterpreting that stat but doesn't scream high bball IQ to me. (for comparison sake nikola jokic has 678 assists and 247 turnovers this year - that is high bball IQ)
Call me crazy but maybe that's why opponents started double-teaming him second-half of the season and not simply because he is a good scorer. just a thought. he did improve but he started from the bottom. and didn't get far...
As far as rebounds a game...he was under strict orders to stay within 4 feet of the basket basically all game (aside from corner 3s...lol)...JB kept him in the paint.
since the forwards couldnt rebound and werent exactly going to take many rebounds away from jesse - it was jesse's job...he did it well...but how exactly is being the tallest player on the court evidence of IQ? did he smart himself into having long arms?
if i can lift my hands up as high as i can does that mean i have a high IQ?
if I catch something that falls into my lap does that make me an elite athlete??
Speaking of being in the paint - does anyone have a stat on how many uncontested layups and dunks SU gave up with Jesse at center the last couple of seasons? I don't but I'm willing to bet the numbers on that would be putrid. For every block jesse got there had to 5 uncontested lobs or layups ...he was often a seive in the paint
why?
well because for the vast majority of his college career he couldnt stay on the floor without picking up a ton of silly fouls - again, not a high IQ indicator - now, you might say well he stopped fouling out - evidence of improvement! - not so fast. The reason he stopped fouling out is because JB basically had to tell him to just let people score and dont play defense basically. which brings me back to all of the uncontested dunks and layups teams had when jesse was in the game last couple of years.
when he first started out - he would actually play defense and he made a difference before always fouling out in a short amount of time...once he was a starter that stopped (by design)...he was a huge orange traffic cone, mostly.
yeah he got "his"...unsurprisingly...thats all these players care about it seems nowadays. for me, a lot of jesse's stats are empty stats...watching him play...it was s obvious to me that he didnt grow up around the game...didnt play much pickup with actual ballers and likely came to the game very late in his life...and didnt really understand how to have agency on the court to efect wins and losses...like at all.
(if you look at him and jg3's stats...you'd be like danngggg these guys are ballers! wow amazing. nope. they couldnt barely get over 500 the last two seasons combined as junior and senior starters...for a reason: empty stats.)
im sure he is "smart" ...as a person. but high basketball IQ??? no chance.
he has low bball IQ.
by the way, i didnt even mention his glacial footwork on defense...it was 3 stooges bad often times
my suggestion: get a basketball player in the Center spot...one who can shoot pass and dribble and watch what it does for the team.