Amen is crazy. I just can't with him. Just an absolute nutty specimen of a basketball player. It's like he was made in a lab.
I don’t think he needs to start, but he needs greater than 30 mins. If he can get that coming off then bench so be it. Jabari isn’t blocking Amen, Brooks is. Anybody that thinks Brooks is a better player that Amen or Jabari is nuts.
During one of the games in Phoenix last season, you could see Devin Booker quit trying offense because Amen was totally owning him.
He can just dunk straight from the perimeter. No need for handle and shooting. Superstar in my eyes already.
There isn't any reason that Amen can't be super effective, especially since Jalen Green will draw the first primary defensive wing. That will put the 2nd best guy on Amen, and there is no way for that guy to stay in front of him. Amen doesn't have to have a "jumper" but should shoot effectively--when uncontested--from 10 or 15 feet away. That's a skill most 8th graders can master. If he is a marginal threat from that distance, his moves and athleticism will lead to easy baskets for himself and others. And in the open court, he's the second coming of the human highlight film. Is he quicker than Nique, was? Maybe so.
it's not going to happen any time soon but he needs to be starting over Brooks. He's way too talented to be coming off the bench.
Jfc this. Dillon and Jabari are redundant non factors on offense. Pick one of Jabari or Dillon but Amen needs to start over one of them.
Amen knows when and where to cut to on offense to get easy looks. Dillion and Jabari just stand around.
and it's not like I trust those two to make any shots to space the floor. Might as well have one of the best offensive rebounders in the game crashing the boards.
Right now Amen seems to be outplaying everyone but Alpe and it isn’t exactly like he’s setting the world on fire. Frankly I wouldn’t care who you sit down 1-4, I’m selling all explanations about team chemistry and anything else too. Amen is a basketball alien. Fred barely looked like he wanted to be there last night. Jalen struggled. Dillon can’t get out of his own way and Jabari is set on redefining timid. I don’t even feel the need to pour over stats, which for me is basically a go-to move as a fan. Amen is literally outclassing 4/5th of the starting line and it looks like he’s giving a regular ass effort on a team that doesn’t exactly seek him out. Guard? Forward? Hell I don’t care now. Just play the guy as much as possible.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/58...-and-9-other-nba-players-ready-for-big-years/ My 11-man All-Breakout Team for 2024-25: … Amen Thompson, positionless, Houston Between Wembymania and Thompson’s early-season injury, the hype machine for the fourth pick in the 2023 draft never really got rolling. I think that might change this year, when Thompson has a greater chance to establish himself as a hybrid center-guard-not-sure-what-to-call-it dynamo who can blow up opposing offenses with his switchy, twitchy athleticism and wreak havoc in transition at the other end. There are some barriers, as we saw on opening night. Thompson is coming off the bench, and his lack of shooting is exacerbated by a roster that already doesn’t have much reliable spacing. He still has to become a more refined decision-maker to take advantage of his ballhandling and athleticism too. That said, Thompson’s fine rookie season (18.2 PER, 57.6 percent true shooting, mammoth rebound and steal + block rates) largely went under the radar a season ago, and that doesn’t figure to be the case this year on a Houston squad that should be a League Pass favorite.
