I’m old enough to remember all the enthusiasm around here in 2021 about our ‘backcourt of the future" in KPJ/Green. Now we draft two more guards with significant upside, (to me Whitmore is a SG) and the waters are as muddy as ever. We have 7 guards even before adding FAs. I wonder what your thoughts are, who will be the starting duo "of the future". personally, I think it will take at least a year, maybe more to figure it out, so I see next season as continued instability. Things to consider. 1. If Udoka goes by merit, KPJ is a lock, he’s our best guard, can shoot, can create, can defend, can pass, can clutch… My issue is: you’ve been in the league for 4 years and you are just about average and haven’t elevated the team to winning. Do we stick with you or do we roll the dice again with a less developed player in Amen? What about trying to structure the team around a more trad PG like TyTy? 2. Who’s our "2" of the future between Cam/JG/Jaygup? Cam and Josh have similarities, both are more physical than Green, but both are selfish. Josh showed a lot of promise as a rookie, but regressed significantly in Year 2. There are rumors (Iko) that he’s turning it around and getting serious about basketball. Green looked like a bust early on, but has improved steadily, is a better passer than Cam and Josh (low bar) and reportedly is gaining muscle mass. I still have questions about his competitiveness and whether he will ever have inclination to play D. Whitmore is high variance. Has star talent, but may turn out to be a T-Will reincarnate…
That is a lot of non shooting there, I suspect they would sign someone older who can come right in and produce. It would be lob city every day though as Amen's best passing would be a pass to a dunk shot.
this is assuming amen isn’t continuing to throw up the ugliest bricks we’ve ever seen… but i do expect the other 4 to show improvement shooting. alpi in particular would be devastating if he could drain open 3’s
I mean if he shoots 33%, it is still not ideal, and he would shoot a tiny number due to not being his strength. You could still eke out wins, merely tougher. People overrate Jalen's shooting as well, he has good nights and off nights, he has had hardly average shooting.
2nd half the season he was hesitant to shoot them though, kept avoiding wide open shots. not sure if that was lack of confidence or maybe idiot silas telling him not to shoot them
if he can make the defense stick to him on the perimeter it will open up the paint for green/amen/eason and with alpi's passing he'll be racking up dimes galore. but this past season teams were packing the paint just leaving him open at the arc daring him to shoot
he looks like a tweener to me... doesn't have the court vision of a guard and doesn't have the length of a forward hopefully he still turns into anthony edwards lite
Personally I do not care if he gets assists galore because that is not his job with better passers around and possibly a veteran PG on the horizon as well. I care about him developing as a defender and efficient shot maker under Ime. (advertised a defensive coach)
yeah his D is certainly his biggest need for improvement but being a hub and playmaker is already a strength that we shouldn't waste. kid is a Fing maestro out there
Lol, you have never watched Magic Johnson, that was a maestro....or even Sengün mini Joker. But I take it, back court of the future, sign me up.
magic started his nba career a year older than alpi and didn't have a jackass coach dragging him down. let's see what he can do this autumn with the ball in his hands more
Cam plays more like an undersized PF than an oversized SG. I don't see him in the backcourt, I see him as an athletic bruiser of a 3. Obviously the hope is that in the near future Amen works his way into being a good starting point guard. He may start his career off the bench, but if so, hopefully he won't be there for long. He has the natural playmaking skills to play the point. Ballhandling needs work, but that's mostly consistency, he shows strong flashes of all the skills he needs in that area, just needs to make fewer mistakes. Wingspan should allow him to keep his dribble low, and his overall fluidity and twitchiness is more than enough to play at the 1 despite being much larger than most point guards. "Tall point guard" is the way the whole league is going anyway... SGA, Luka, LaMelo, Haliburton, Cade.
Dude, I am just glad this whole Draft ordeal is over with, robs me of my last nerves not getting enough trade news for days. Me being over at the Dish all the time.
Bear in mind the possibility that the starting PG in game 1 may be none of the names in the poll. The draft was only one part of the off-season. Bring on July 1. Personally I'm looking forward to summer league, hoping for TyTy Amen Cam Tari Jabari to get some run as a summer league lineup
