Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

Improve is not the same as developing. It’s improving something you already possess. Why would I argue a player can’t improve? That’s ludicrous. A player DEVELOPING a basic skill you assume they’d come into the league with and only need to IMPROVE. Which is why I put “develop” in quotes.

 

im·prove
[imˈpro͞ov]
VERB
improve (verb) · improves (third person present) · improved (past tense) · improved (past participle) · improving (present participle)

1. make or become better:
   "we’ve used technology to improve relations with customers" · "his condition improved after glass was removed from his arm"
   • develop or increase in mental capacity by education or experience:
     "I subscribed to two magazines to improve my mind"
   • (IMPROVE ON/UPON)
     achieve or produce something better than:
     "they are trying to improve on the tired old style"

de·vel·op
[dəˈveləp]
VERB
develop (verb) · develops (third person present) · developed (past tense) · developed (past participle) · developing (present participle)

1. grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate:
   "motion pictures developed into mass entertainment" · "entrepreneurs develop their skills through trial and error"
   • (of a poor agricultural country) become more economically and socially advanced:
     "the country is developing at a rapid rate and the economy is booming"
   • convert (land) to a new purpose by constructing buildings or making other use of its resources:
     "plans to develop the area"
   • construct or convert (a building) so as to improve existing resources:
     "the company developed a chain of hotels"

 

Cool dictionary, bro. This is a basketball forum using lingo casually used in professional sports. If you can’t argue the points made then I’m not bothering with you.

 

we really need to get amen minutes. Like 20. I’m not even opposed to sliding him in and letting him start and just seeing what happens,

 

People forget that Ben Simmons (pre injury) is the best case of athletic big with a great passing skill can do without having a jumper. Even before the injury Ben Simmons was not playable in the playoff 4th quarter. I’m not saying Amen will not develop a jumper but that’s the realistic expectation we should have with Amen. By looking at it Ben had ten times better handling than Amen did as rookie but Amen seems like fixable middy that he could use later on. Right now Amen is not what NBA ball handler should be

 

Okay so every 8-9 yr old (especially in your gym ) in the country is trying to master a handle, duly noted

 

Jesus dude. Nobody said that. But you’re suggesting that it’s not common. That only kids of athletes are gifted basketballs and encourage to dribble. You’re either being deliberately obtuse, or you’re ****ing r****ded. Either way. Good night.

 

Give him a break. He was touting most of Kyrie’s off the wall theories a few years ago. The guy is doing his best to traverse this thing we call life.

 

It is pretty clear Amen suffered from the same issue as Jalen, both joined crap developmental routes and thus lack fundamentals coming into the league. OTE is even more of a joke than the GLeague so not surprised Amen is raw af.

But Amen was supposed to be a long term project to begin with, that's why he slipped to 4. Rox now have the right coaching staff to develop him so he should be ready by next year.

 

Uh, first of all pal it's not my fault you have as tenuous of a grasp on the English language as Amen has on the ball.

Secondly, I did make the point that you don't even have to look beyond the roster to find someone who improved their handle. You responded with that F in a 2nd grade English lesson.

Thirdly, if YOU can't argue the points YOU are making that's a real big sign to backspace that **** out before you enter it into a public forum.

 

Amen already has a good jumper and floater from the free throw line in. Rondo, Jason Kidd, and others led their team to the finals with that skill set and Amen is faster and longer. Magic didn’t have a three pointer until later in his career. Amen, given health, will be one of the best pg’s in the league at worst and has superstar potential.

 

Amen with Jalen's rookie usage would be averaging 15/7/8 on 45% shooting, 20% from 3, 60% from the line and we'd be 5-22 and we'd be saying he has no help around him.

His brother is averaging a lot more but is feeling way more heat for being a bad shooter contributing to the worst losing streak in history. Amen has twice as many wins as his brother playing only 8 games.

 

I’m not getting your point. I wasn’t really arguing anything except that he “doesn’t have a jump shot”. He does have a jump shot just not a long one and other point guards have excelled with the same skill sets, but with less height and speed. He is a rookie and won’t be a superstar this year, but I predict by the second half he will be an important part of the rotation.

 

It's more for the doomers than anything. Rookies are overrated in the NBA. The only ones that average decent percentages are on bad teams. Amen would be averaging more if we sucked. Like the Cam Contingent right now thinking he's going to come in and contribute instead if getting his insides turned out by NBA offenses and defenses.

I much prefer this way of bringing Amen along than what the Spurs are doing with Wemby which is essentially mirroring what the Rockets/Pistons did with Jalen/Cade who now have potentially irreparable damage done to their games.

 

Agree. Although, I’m not giving up on Jalen just yet.

 

Yehoshua Issa Christ dude, you said that a group of 8-9 year olds in your gym area practice handles like they want to make it to the league or with the globetrotters (I Am assuming), which I don't know why you mentioned it because we were talking about Amen dribbling ability

It's like me taking some NBA players who didn't start playing ball until High School and using them as the epitome to pick up a ball/sport in mid-teens and make it pro

Now if you have your child with a football/baseball/basketball at 8-9 yrs old and they are showing a desire to want to dribble/throw/swing bat and play that game, then i guess you can brag when/if they make it pro and say I had my child practicing his handle at 8-9 yrs old, cool story to showcase on BSPN

all in the name of ''refining''

 

So, is it crazy that I’d like to see how’d it look with Amen starting at the 1 with FVV at the 2?

Amen / FVV / Brooks / Smith / Sengun

FVV, Brooks, and Smith all shoot .38+ from 3, so that helps compensate for Amen’s shot. FVV is shooting .425 on catch and shoot 3s. I don’t know if it would work, but I’m interested.

 

He’s coming.