He’ll be unstoppable once he gets comfortable driving to the rim and the game slows down a little for him
Maybe he will be so good at defense that his goal to improve his 3 point shooting should just be to have a better % than he holds other players to.
Sure. That's kinda how I play softball. If I drive in more runs than I allow to score by error, it's a good night.
I need to go watch some film of Scottie Pippen, because my sense is Amen can bring his kind of defensive intensity and presence. Hoping he makes one of the defensive teams this next year, but that will require more playing time.
Right now he is, and I think that's basically his floor, and it will keep him getting significant rotation minutes in the NBA. Sky's the limit in terms of what he could become given his IQ and length/athleticism.
In this era of positionless bball I’ll tell you what his role is, just reach into the bag and pull out his wallet, that’s his position.
He is one of the best wing defenders I have seen in a long time, as a rookie. One thing that people forget though is his offensive rebounding, which has nothing to do with defense. I feel like he is already a smaller, more athletic Rodman on defense and offensive rebounds. He just seemed to come away with a Chuck Hayes-esque amount of 50/50 balls. Also, not bad when your defensive specialist shoots 54% from the field, despite a historically bad 3 point %. I think his floor is already way past a defensive specialist, and is sort of unknown.
I think that people are really under selling and sleeping on his ability to be a point guard and pass/create. I get it, there were some spots in the year where his handle was pretty loose. However, we are talking about a player that has played point guard at any level he has ever been on and been successful doing so. Since he didn’t play that role this year, we are forgetting. He made plenty of amazing passes this year where it was clear that he sees the game multiple steps ahead. I think about Jalen, Who for all of his faults has cleaned up his handle quite a bit. I think that this is one of the easier achieved things as a young player. Let them sag off. When we put 3 to 4 good shooters around him, he will simply eat up the space from the sag and still manage to Get a decent look at the rim or draw a double team. Smith Eason Sheppard FVV Thompson Very interesting lineup to me as soon as next year.
Yes, exactly. He's a kid and he's already the best passer on the team. I think you're almost right about his handle; it's pretty loose in general. It just isn't yet NBA PG level. Once he gets there, wow. I think it's actually even more important than his jumper. He can be a successful offensive initiator with a good handle or with acceptable level shooting. He can't do so without having either. I think having a tight handle will unlock more than him having a not-awful J. The good thing is that his week-to-week improvement is amazing. Yao, Lowry, and Harden were fast learners, but Amen is special. He'd have to be a genius to have a halfway decent jumper by this time next year. But the way he picks things up, I wouldn't be surprised if he's league avg within a few years. I'm not saying he can do a Michael Redd (check out his college shooting) but if any horrific shooting player can, it would be Amen.
I should say, this is the most satisfying mea culpa I've experienced. I was so skeptical of Amen. Worthless stats from a totally bs league, not young for a rookie, busted jumper, crap FT shooter. How many draft picks have been wasted on players who are just super athletic and (seem to) have nothing else going for them? He's my favorite Rocket since Lowry.
