Missed summer league Missed essentially the entire season so far Looked below average when he did play hype only matters pre draft.
I can't wait for Amen to get back on the court. As expected, Aaron Holiday is coming back to earth and provides little or no spark.
I have no doubt he's ill, I'm sure he's not faking it, but the dude has only played 5 games all year. I think it's reasonable to wonder about his durability.
FVV is leading the league in mpg at 38. I suspect the Rockets would be happy to give him a little more rest. The real question is whether Amen will beat out Holiday for backup minutes. Seems likely, especially since Amen had the backup spot coming into the season—and he's turning 21 soon, they need him to get moving. They'll definitely give him a shot. The good thing is that JVV is comfortable playing next to a PG (Lowry), Holiday is really a tiny SG—17% career assist rate and shoots better off the catch—and Thompson has the size to defend PG, SG, and SF. Hell, if he's anywhere close to as good a defender as his brother, that means he has the talent as well. Thompson avg 15 mpg before his injury—and that includes the game in which he was injured. The above should enable him to get 20 mpg without difficulty. And considering that Brooks will almost always be in foul trouble, Thompson will pick up a few more minutes here and there. Maybe a few from Tate as well—I hope. Seems pretty easy to get him up to 20 mpg, and maybe more.
FVV is driving too much for his skill level and playing too much for his age. We can really use 15-20 solid minutes from Amen but I trust the coaching staff. He looked a little lost out there the last time he played. It's a real luxury not having to rush the young guys but we're going to need someone to step up and give us some points off the bench in the backcourt.
Before labeling somebody injury-prone/not durable, you need to see a sustained pattern of injuries keeping him off the court repeatedly. Two sprained ankles does not a pattern make. As for missing two or three games from a virus, sh*t happens, that has nothing to do with his durability.
Where is Amen? Sick? There are other guys in the league get the FLU BUG and maybe miss one game he has missed 4 games! Take some vitamin B and let’s go. Are they trying to trade him? It does not make sense. I wonder if we could trade Cam for Ausar Thompson. Cam is better than Jalen but Stone will ever let Jalen go so what about another young defender with blocking, rebounding and overall defense skills….. Ausar, Amen, Tari and a shot blocker would be a crazy bench
Different people react differently to viruses. Like how some people barely got sick with COVID while others were hospitalized or worse. I'm sure the Rockets have the medical team check players' VO2 max and such to determine whether they're capable of playing.
