I think you have if figured out. You take a bunch of 18-22 year olds, and they are not going to beat a team with some 25-30 year olds... because winning isn't something that 19 year olds know. I am sure the hope is for Amen to start earning minutes when FVV and Sengun are on the floor. Thompson will need to eventually shoot decent, but he can get a lot of milage out of his size, passing and athleticism. When Amen is ready, he will get the minutes.... it has been clear that Udoka believes in him.
I feel like playing Amen consistently with Holiday and Landale is just mean. One is a pretty good shooter who insists on doing too much on offense (and completely killing the pace of the offense while doing so) and the other is possibly the worst player I've seen play in Rockets red since Danuel House's cry for help half-season in 2020-21
I think both have routes to being long term, and good players. Jabari is the better player at this point and I think likely going forward. There is a chance that Ivey takes a huge leap like Fox or Maxey and will be better than Jabari - but if I had to put money on it, I would rather have Jabari going forward.
Again, small Sample size, and biased beause I saw his best game, but Anthony Black seems far & away a much better player than Amen because he can actually shoot at an NBA level. I don't get where/how you get away in this day & age with using a high lottery pick on a non-shooting non-big - the guy better be Jason Kidd on the ball if you're going to do that.
THIS THIS A MILLION TIMES THIS....it is such a risk to take a flyer on someone that can't shoot.......hell right now Cam is better than Amen and it isn't close. DD
Right now there’s not much to by to evaluate him in terms of numbers considering the number of games he’s played at only 15 min per game. He is shooting 70% inside restricted area at 17 attempts and 63% within 5 ft at 19 attempts. Also shoots 62% 15-19 ft but that’s at only 8 attempts. Marcus Smart who is a tough defensive and serviceable player shot 33% from 15-19 and less than 5 ft. Also 53% in restricted area. His numbers didn’t improve until year 4 when he shot better 15–19 ft but stagnant within 5 ft and restricted area. Smart is an erratic player and if he can remain in the NBA so can Amen. Again it’s about growth snd development and what service you can provide teams.
Maybe - Black has solid shooting numbers for a rookie that is starting. It comes down to your risk tolerance and how strongly you believe that Amen can improve as a shooter.
Anthony Black was not a good shooter as a college player either though. Only shot 30% from the college three point line (Amen was shooting from the NBA line in OTE) and 70% from the FT line. Seems like operating from the benefit of hindsight--and also reading too much into early returns.
Your obsession with shooting is borderline clinical. Passing, rebounding, defense, positional awareness all matter to winning. Jalen and Amen both do those things better than Cam. This is why a coach who is a) far better at basketball evaluation than any of us, and b) incredibly motivated to win, continues to play them ahead of Cam. You are insanely arrogant to assert that Cam is better “and it isn’t close” when the coach who sees them every day clearly disagrees. It isn’t personal or politics - it is that Cam needs to learn these things to impact winning. Why do you think rookie teams don’t win? The correlation between your love of certain players and their FG% is nearly 100%. When those players can do other things well, you are ultimately correct. When they can’t, you miss badly, accounting for your evaluation rep here. Bring some balance to your view of the game.
Not sure what you are responding to - I’m not advocating for starting Amen any time soon. I was advocating for drafting him when we did given the remaining options because of his upside as a potential NBA starter - one day. Clearly he is nowhere close to that now.
To draw any conclusions at this point in any player's rookie season is laughable. At this point in Sengun's season, did anyone predict he would be an all-star caliber player in his 3rd season?
People act all surprised but his archetype has been discussed since he played for OTE, is no real surprise what his strengths and weaknesses are...... He is getting better but his weaknesses are still going to show.....
Here are Sengun's weaknesses coming in the NBA. Not big enough to play the center position, not athletic enough to play defense and no 3 point shooting. Has any of that held him back?
Okay, there is whole lot of grey areas between Sengün, RJ Barrett and Lonzo Ball...... Sengün would not be Sengün if every other guy is another Sengün.....he is pretty unique. Chet Holmgren like Unique-corn.
It is much easier to teach all of those things than it is to teach shooting, it is harder to teach shooting to players who are just role players.... Shooting is the number 1 most important thing. 1. Shooting 2. BBall IQ 3. Belief 4. Athleticism You need at least 2 to be decent - three or four to be elite. DD
Those are solid points but Smart’s shot mechanics at least look good. Amen’s shot straight up looks like azz. I’m hoping he can pull a Lonzo and fix his form. Hek if he turned into a healthy Zo, I’d take that in a heartbeat.
You said Amen was “bad”. I just asked you to define what bad means. I challenge popular perception and most often used terms such as “bad”. What does bad look like. What does bad mean? Is it measurable? What makes a player bad? Simply define what a bad player means to you and why you think Amen is a bad player.
