Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

Amen will be the better player, longer career and hall of famer out of the top 4.... I really wanted The Rockets to trade up to 1 or 2 to get Amen.... We got lucky...

 

Wemby and Scoot were consensus 1 and 2. If you wanted Amen, no need to trade up to the top 2. I was so relieved when Charlotte took Miller because I was worried that the Rockets would.

 

Agreed and we lucked out. I'm going to be curious in 5-7 years to see what an overall redraft of the last 3 drafts would look like. Wouldn't be a shock to see the Vic, Scoot and Amen be the top 3 overall.

 

Not saying that you shouldn't take advice from your competitors but you have to take it with a grain of salt.....like when the late Bob McNair said he asked other owners what he should do about keeping Gary Kubiac at the time. Kubiac was failing! Are they trying to keep you down or see you succeed?

I like Sengun but because of his lack of scoring prowess, he can never be a #1 option. You have to build around someone who can score and score at all three levels. I.e, the Joker! And before you all say it, Sengun is not the Joker. He patterns his game after him but he is not him. Joker lacks athleticism but makes it up with his length. Sengun lacks both.

I see Sengun as a consistent 12 - 15pt a game score/ 8 rbds/ 7 assist type player. That is good in the NBA but not franchise type numbers.

 

On Miller, I think he will be fine. Hard for me to compare G League and OTE players to him, but I think he'll be one of the best players drafted from college this year (i.e., there will be someone better than expected, but I think he was the best college prospect). I'm really happy with Amen as I think he'll fit well with Bari and Tari in the long defenders that also contribute on offense.

 

I feel like if Thompson was able to even shoot at a average level he would have been hyped to be No. 2 pick with Scoot.

I am a firm believer that playmaking skills are really hard to find, especially at his height and with his athleticism. I am optimistic about his shooting, it doesn't nearly as bad people make it out to be. He's closer to rookie Tate level bad at shooting rather than the dumb Ben Simmons comparison. Actually no other player in the NBA has the same type of mental block that Simmons have, so I don't know why that was mentioned so much.

 

Agree 100%

 

A bit of a reality check though that we haven’t yet heard interviews of players, coaches, media, etc. saying that Amen has stood out in camp. Usually when you introduce those game changer top 5 pick players into the mix early on their freakish abilities get called out early because they surprise everyone right out the gate. I don’t really have high expectations this year and won’t even be surprised if he gets some G League run early on.

I think you’ll see Jalen Green really step up this year and be more of the lead ball handler so there might be less demand than you might think to have an Amen run backup PG.

 

To be fair we really haven't heard anything about Green from reporters there on how he looks which is kinda worrying me a tad. Just a smidge.

 

UMen on 3

 

Yeah I think what we are hearing about Jalen is more about stating the obvious that his emergence would be the lynch pin to this franchise really taking that leap. They signed a guy for 130 million mostly because of his fit next to Jalen.

Honestly in camp so far there really isn't that much to see. It's probably pretty boring basketball, and everyone probably looks a a bit rough.

If Amen is on par with talents like Jalen, or Jabari, or Tari... I'll still be happy. That type of talent at 4 is still a positive addition, and there's still a chance he's really good to all-star. It's just those otherworldly talents where the second you see them on the court people are like WOAH. This guy is different. Not hearing that about Amen isn't a bad thing, but it's also a reminder that its more likely than not that Amen has a rookie season that looks more like a normal Rocket rookie season for their best prospect.

This just isn't a team that has a great track record of drafting guys that jump right out of the gate. They DID have a good track record of finding guys that could come in and be solid role players right away, but haven't seen too much of that in the Stone era.

 

Miller is a talented scoring wing, which the NBA has plenty. He is kind of in the same boat with Jalen Green (not saying their games are similar). In order to separate himself from the other scoring wings in the league, he has to be at the elite level. If he just has a solid but not elite career, he will forever be remembered as the guy they picked ahead of Scoot (assuming Scoot turns out to be the star as expected).

And there is that character issue hanging over his head. He'd better stay away from trouble or his career could be in jeopardy.

 

Amen's step back 3 looks more fluid than his shot during G League. If he keeps improving like this he will become a serviceable shooter in the NBA.

 

If he makes threes he's the best prospect on this team. Nobody on this team has high bbiq, elite vision, elite athleticism and shoots well at the same time but if he can't shoot in today's game he'll not be the main guy ever.

 

Would you like to have a tip jar bet that Sengun will average more than 15ppg this season?

 

Sengun's pretty much that already, I think it's very short sighted to think he's at his peak right now at age 21. Will he be the Joker? Nah, probably not. But I'd put money on him being better than Sabonis.

 

...and if Scoot has a solid but not elite career, he will forever be remembered as the guy picked ahead of Amen and behind Miller.

I was more a fan before the character stuff. I think it will take Miller some time to adjust to the NBA, but he will probably be a very good NBA player (i.e., lower 95% outcome than Scoot and Amen, but a higher 25% outcome). I see Miller being one of those guys either on annoying defensive teams that win a couple of rounds in the playoffs or a great team with a title chance depending on if he can get on the team with the right player.

 

There’s your reality check.

 

Training camp is just a first taste of real training but okay......I would not put any stock into that....

I would not even overrate Pre-season games because the starters are all playing 18-20 minutes.....the real test comes in a few weeks.

G-League would not do much for Amen IMHO because he is too smart for a league of chuckers......but whatever minutes he can get.