Even if Scoot is as good as advertised, he will have a tough time in the playoffs. The only traditional small pg left is Jamal Murray, and he is getting hunted on postups by Lebron constantly. Every other team lets their star wing run the offense and fills the other spots with 3 and D players, who tend to be big enough to switch. Amen wouldn’t have that problem, but he looks more like a complementary player to me. Even if he learns to hit spot up 3s, it is much harder to shoot 3s as the primary dribbler.
In the big picture I think a draft haul of Amen and Lively would be great, the negativity here is based on expectations that were always statistically unlikely.
Givony for NBA rumors, not some high school coach. Dean (Deanondraft) who has been the most accurate analyst within recenty years in big calls without group thinking like most of media. Realistically, most people are putting out content for views ($) as opposed to using their knowledge for work. Trust sport betters, analytics folks over those without basketball or analytics background/education/training.
Check this out. NBA is cracking down. Amen would be getting called nearly every time the ball is in his hand.
Yeah but I'm referring more vs competition. OTE has players ranging from 16-18....the twins are 20. They are also the only players on any mock boards I've seen from OTE. Plus OTE itself is a joke league they don't need to win, they need to create viral tiktoks so they can generate revenue and get sponsors. If you go to that kind of comp to suddenly the NBA I'm pretty sure the twins shooting % gonna dip to low levels.
Spurs staff would be bored between now and the draft otherwise. Besides, Wemby may break his ankle going to get a hot dog or something, so just to be safe and to make it look like it wasn't pre-ordained ... you know ... *puts on tinfoil hat*
Does OTE cause their ft shooting to be inflated? At this point the repetitive "they're playing against random high school 16 year olds!" complaints are getting boring. We know what OTE is. Every scout knows what OTE is. It's not news to people that it's a weakly coached league with lower stakes than high level college. No need to exaggerate it or repeat it. We know. If they were doing this is (putting up 21/8/8/3/1 on 61% TS per 36, going 19-1, and hitting game winners to win their league's championship, generally looking like aliens on the court vs their opponents) in the SEC or Euroleague they'd be the #2 pick no question and #1 most years. But it's OTE and it's hard to calibrate, so they're #4 on most big boards (including mine). And to be clear, the other competitive OTE teams (YNG Dreamerz and Cold Hearts) each have a bunch of 18-19 year old legit prospects. For example, the team they beat in the final series started 2 18 year old European bigs projected to go in the 2024 first round (Sarr and Almansa), a 20yo 5 star recruit who was #8 in his class before joining OTE and will probably be a 2nd rounder this year (Gortman), and a couple other 18yo 4 stars (Warren and Carlyle). OTE has poor structure and much worse team basketball, but there are a lot of talented players that the twins are going against. It's not just 16-17 year old nobodies. It's something you try to take into account in the scout, but you don't disqualify them as if it's local high school ball.
I think Wemby could blowout his knee in his next game and the Spurs would still take him #1. They might even be happy so they can tank the next year too.
We've gone back and forth over Amen .... and I don't want to beat a dead horse but .... You seem to be of the belief that Amen will figure out how to shoot. I think it's possible that he does but not probable. You point to the small sample size of minor improvement over the playoff run as confirmation that he will fix his shot. What I see is the same broken mechanics .... that went in the hole. It's pretty clear to see in recent video of Amen shooting that he hasn't "fixed" the mechanics. And then there's his handles - they are really sloppy for a lead guard. This guy is 20 and has had professional coaching for at least the past two seasons yet they haven't fix their shooting or addressed the fundamentals until relatively recently? We heard the same crap about Jalen Green being a gym rat who had the drive to be great, comparisons to Kobe and all that ..... and he's been one of the least efficient players in the NBA, closer to being a bust than being a All NBA. He can take off real fast & jump real high .... Don't take this as me writing Green off just yet - just pointing out that he has a long long way to go to reach that pre draft hype potential and Amen might be further away from the finished product. I'm out on Amen, I'd much prefer the lower ceiling of Miller or Walker. They have fundamental skills that impact winning .... even if they don't jump as high.
It really wouldn't shock me if Amen snuck into the top 3 if his workouts and interviews go well. Always remember teams top 5 are drafting on who they think can be SUPERSTARS, rarely its just to fix a weakness, teams are looking for homeruns here and if Amen can convince someone ahead of us that he has superstar potential they'll take him. Like I think by the time the draft comes it'll be a real discussion between Scoot and Amen, like people going on about his shooting but Scoot's isn't that much better. Scoot's form is better but no one cares about form if the shots are not falling (See Jabari) and I think its going to be a real discussion for #3 pick if the Hornets are indeed set on Miller.
Amen Thompson has a VERY sturdy frame. He's like a cross between Jalen Green and James Harden. He's like Ja Morant with 5 more inches and 30 more pounds. He could very well end up being the steal of the draft.
