I forgot about him. I don't watch a ton of Hawks but your post inspired me to study his game logs and watch tape. He is very impressive and has a strong case for best perimeter defender. He had 4 straight games of 6 steals or more. It's strange that ESPN list both Daniels and Thompson as the same height and weight. Thompson looks a little taller and more muscular. Daniels doesn't seem to have the athleticism that Thompson has, but his timing is every bit as good, possibly better. Dyson times a lot of his blocks with anticipation on when the offensive player will jump. Thomspon seems to just hang in the air or reactive quick jump. When you look at the numbers and the tape, Dyson seems to be the better defender, but he doesn't seem to prioritize keeping his defender in front of him the same way that Thompson does. Dyson tends to cheat a bit in the way Thybulle would where he would let the person get past him and this would present more opportunities for blocks and steals. Daniels wasn't totally cheating on the coverage like Thybulle, but seemed to cheat more than Thompson. I think by season's end Daniels' stocks should go down and Thompson's should go up. Daniels having 25 steals in 4 game stretch skewed his numbers really high for being only 20 games in, and he also plays 25% more minutes than Thompson. I'd love to know what sort of advanced metrics say about keeping an offensive player in front, and how the two would compare.
He's top 5 in his position for sure. Dyson Daniels is definitely up there, if you haven't seen him yet, go watch him play. Dude is a straight up menace (like Tari and Amen) on defense. Funny enough he also shoots poorly from the 3 but Dyson Daniels is averaging 3.1 steals per game this year.
He’s definitely in the running for best non-rim-protecting defender in the NBA. However in the unique cases where you have an excellent rim protector who’s fairly switchable, the impact they can generate on defense is just larger in volume within 36 minutes than what an elite wing defender can generate. Would be difficult to eclipse those guys as best defender. Could get there in the next couple of years though. I will say, he’s definitely better than Dyson Daniels who’s getting way too much hype. Imagine a 25 year old Amen in his athletic prime with a little more muscle and more experienced on defense - that’s going to be crazy to watch. Promising improvements on his jumper so far, gives me hope he can be decent by the time he’s 25. Handle should tighten up plenty by then too. Super exciting future based on what we’ve seen just off the bench.
If Amen can avoid injury bugs, he will be a recognized, elite defender when he is 25. By then, he'll be the face of the franchise (alongside Alpi) since Amen will have led the Rockets deep into the playoffs multiple times. He's still learning the league and the refs and still learning him. It was hard to watch that ref hold his hands last night and explain how his clean strip was supposedly a foul. It's talking to him like he's an 8th grader. If an official had held Kobe's or Lebron's hands at his age, the NBA front office would have had a meltdown. Amen is pretty humble and such a competitor. The league needs more guys like him, and they had better start calling more fouls when guys push him around. No one wants to see him injured in a scrum pile. Since it seems unlikely that Amen will earn respect fast enough in the all-defensive team lane, I vote we start a thread/poll for him as 6th man of the year. Payton Prichard is his best competition --27 minutes a game: 14.8 points, 47% from the field, 43.3 from 3, 2.6 boards, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals. Amen's current numbers --26.7 minutes a game (and rising), 11.9 points, 57% from the field, 30% from 3, 7 boards, 2.1 assists, 1.3 steals How can anyone think Prichard significantly impacts the game more than Amen?
Amen Thompson is definitely emerging as one of the best defenders in the league, but what is wild is one of the guys competing with him for that title is also coming off of our bench with him. Assuming we are talking about perimeter defenders, and not bigs, the guys in the mix are: Tari Eason OG Anunoby Mikal Bridges Dyson Daniels Jaden McDaniels Herb Jones Alex Caruso Lu Dort Jrue Holiday Derrick White Jalen Suggs Jonathan Isaac Toumani Camarra
There is a phenomena that some guards and wings start playing less defense as they increase usage and get older. This phenomena typically doesn't reverse itself. Bridges is definitely living on past reputation, IMO. Brooks is back in the group after a poor defensive year last season relative to his past performance. Also, I think FVV's ability to switch onto bigger guys is an underrated defense skill. It isn't flashy, but it shuts down offensive plays.
Amen is the best. Wemby is the best shot blocker and rim protector. Amen is the best perimeter defender and one of the best rim protectors as well. Wemby will get the award. Awards in the NBA are largely media driven popularity contests, but Wemby is a great defender.
Great take. I am also interested in seeing their head to head defensive metrics and I am almost 90% sure that Amen would come out on top sooner rather than later the more minutes he gets. I feel like Daniels have the upper hand right now given that he plays more minutes than Amen.
Amen is starting to play monster minutes. I just wish the first 8 were starter minutes. We wouldn't need the bench to come in and save the day practically every game. Start that monster defense right from the start. Starting five FVV, Amen, Dillon (for a while), Jabari, Sengun. Bring in Jalen, Tari, and Landale off the bench and mix and match Brooks, Amen, and Jabari with them. Amen should be around 32-35m a game and Tari 30. If Sheppard can start to play better maybe he gets a few minutes as well. Jalen gets the space and speed he needs to perform and Amen gets to shut down the Ant's, Brunson's, and SGA's of the world from the start not after they get comfortable.
The better question is there another player at his position you would trade him for--straight up now? With his improved shooting, that I'm hopeful will continue to get better, I wouldn't want anyone else. His athletic ability, BBIQ, humbleness, etc. make his a very attractive building block.
I wouldn't trade Amen for any player other than Jokic regardless of position. Never trade a 22 year old future superstar.
This is somewhat true and we still see some idiotic awards (smart dpoy probably the most absurd one), but rudy who everyone hates has gotten dpoy a bunch. Ya he deserved more but he still won a bunch. Wemby would EASILY deserve it over amen, it’s not even close.
