That’s a crazy mix of length athleticism effort and a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of. All things considered it would be a blast to watch.
Its weird his shot is broken because his shooting form/release isn't Cartwight/K Anderson like, its actually decent from what little I watched on him, but his physical ability seems off the charts, and his cable seems legit as well
Main thing I see is he kind of moves laterally a little when he jumps which is throwing off his alignment. He's also line-driving it a bit, I'd like to see a little more arc. A good shooting coach could fix these things, I'll bet. He doesn't have a weird hitch or anything like that, from what I can tell, and he seems to be able to hit those little middies when he's closer in to the basket.
Amen Thompson Hallelujah Henderson Pray for Victor 'Good day sir', Ausur Namaste Nick Smith Shalom Miller
This is already the worst shooting team in the NBA .... Amen makes that even worse. I pass, rather have Miller at 3 or 4 after that, Jarace. Beyond that I start thinking about trading the pick.
I like Walker a lot, but I've moved off him a bit at #3 (although I wouldn't be upset at all if we took him there) simply because Amen's game has grown on me as I've watched more and more tape. If Wemby, Scoot, and Amen are off the board I'd definitely go Walker though. Miller is a big nope for me. We can get a guy who is already as good as Miller's ceiling for just cap space. That dude is not a star in the NBA, he's a catch-and-shoot guy who plays decent but not all-NBA defense. I agree our outside shooting needs to get better, but I think we can address that in free agency and/or trade. I also think Jalen & Jabari will improve as perimeter shooters next season. A real playmaker at point guard is also a huge need for this team, so I think Amen helps with that.
High risk but high reward guy. His issue is simple - Will he learn to shoot. I would take him at #4… because if he learns to shoot he will make All NBA teams. He is also a perfect match for Green defensively in the backcourt. I hear a lot of complaints about him being a poor perimeter shooter and the Rockets are a poor perimeter shooting team - this is true, but Green and Smith both are expected to be good to very good three point shooters going forward… and if they don’t improve as shooters from 3? Then we aren’t ever winning anything anyway. Also, whomever the Rockets get in free agent will likely be a good three point shooter.
What Amen has you can’t teach. Not just the positional size and unreal athleticism — seriously, he moves in ways on the court that I’ve never seen before — Amen’s feel, playmaking, and passing are not abilities that guys learn in the league. You have it or you don’t, and he has it. Like how Sengun walked in day 1 with the same intuitive passing feel and vision he has today. Amen can’t shoot. True. Maybe he develops it, some guys do. Maybe a 25% chance? But I think people aren’t realizing that his lack of a shot is exactly why he’s the #4 prospect. It’s not like he’s got #4 prospect traits and oh yeah he can’t shoot also so let’s not draft him. He’s got #1 pick traits and then he can’t shoot so that knocks him to #4. If he had even Scoot’s jumper Amen would be the #1 pick in most drafts (not this one obviously). I like the gamble, personally. We need stars, not more potential high-end role players.
I wonder how much the shooting is bad because they are young and don’t have anyone to create shots besides Sengun?
We shot poorly this year but our main guys *project* to be shooters. Jalen, Jabari, Tari are all expected to be 3 pt shooting threats. It’s not like we’re Orlando with multiple non-shooters at the guard and wing position future rotation. And if Jalen and Jabari don’t end up being above average 3pt shooters, sorry to say it but they won’t be a big piece of any team’s future. It’s part of their core proposition as players.
Great points. I'd also like to add, if he were a couple inches taller people would be calling him a power forward and we'd be hearing how he's the next Blake Griffin and nobody would give a flying f*** that he can't shoot. There's a lot more pressure on him to shoot because he's seen as a guard, and also because that's just today's game for you, but it's not true that it's strictly necessary for a guard to be a good outside shooter, especially guards who are this kind of special athlete. Here are some guards who were never real 3P threats for at least half of their careers: *(edit: note, these are not player comps, I'm not saying Amen will be as good as these guys or necessarily has a similar type of game) Dwyane Wade Magic Johnson Clyde Drexler Isiah Thomas (not to be confused with Isaiah Thomas) Andre Miller Rod Strickland Rajon Rondo DeMar DeRozan I don't view the lack of a jump shot as a dealbreaker. Even if he never shoots well from distance he could still become an all-star. My only real question with him is how tough of an adjustment is it going to be going from OTE to NBA basketball, and does he have the mental toughness and the right coaching staff to push through that.
I think Jabari will prove to be lethal. I also think with a better everything around Green he will end up being better at 3 but never great. I don't know if Amen would fit in well or not. Better basketball minds could project it better than I could.
If the the Thompson brothers are are only choice then trade the pick. To much of a project for our rebound. We don’t need more of the same from this pick. Trade back into this draft and pick up a two way or even a defense first player. Function & Fit that actually happens sooner vs maybe never after years of development. HARD PASS
People aren't seeing the red flags with him yet because I am. It has to do with the league he's played in. Overtime elite is the league Jalen Green grew out of at 18 years of age in his senior year of high school. At his level of talent he needed to test himself against adult pros at 18. Amen Thompson is 20. Green was in the NBA at this stage and Thompson is playing in a league elite NBA talent grows out of at high school age. What he's doing and the numbers he are putting up are against the weakest competition in the draft class.
There's no wondering about it - The shooting is bad because they are just bad shooters who missed wide open shots at a very high rate. Just take a look at the shot profile statistics for each player Players Shooting Dashboard Closest Defender | Stats | NBA.com Nix had no defender within 6 feet on 41.8% of his attempts from distance and made 31.3% Tyty had no defender within 6 feet on 37.5% of his attempts from distance and made 25.0% Eric Gordon had no defender within 6 feet on 32.6% of his attempts from distance and made 35.9% KMJ had no defender within 6 feet on 22.8% of his attempts from distance and made 31.7% Players Shooting Dashboard Closest Defender | Stats | NBA.com Jabari had no defender within 4 feet on 25% of his attempts from distance and made 28.3%. Jalen Green had no defender within 4 feet on 19.7% of his attempts from distance and made 30.3%. Nix had no defender within 4 feet on 16.5 % of his attempts from distance and made 20.5% Tyty had no defender within 4 feet on 12.5% of his attempts from distance and made 20% .... but Silas..
