Best players Hakeem played with: 20's: Sampson (that's a 'couldabeen') early 30's: Thorpe late 30's: Drexler The #3 best players were terrible (literally terrible) until the Horry/Cassell drafts and they actually built a team He didn't exactly have a lot of chances, given who the team was around him, to win many rings
It's funny to me how if literally any starter is out the replacement starter is immediately Amen Thompson.
I don't know why you're limiting his potential to Scottie Pippen (great player btw) when he may be a better athlete than Jordan and he has an elite basketball IQ. I think the sky is the limit if he can fix that jumper.
It's a shame our organization has been so badly run, historically. Hakeem would be thought of as the third-best player in NBA history if he had a couple more rings, which he absolutely was good enough to have won if the teams around him had been better. I doubt Tilman is any better of an owner than Charlie Thomas or Les Alexander. Why are so many of the ultra-wealthy such morons obsessed with running up their net worth like the high score on a video game?
My point wasn't that I think winning one ring with this core would be at all a bad outcome. I'd be happy with that given that "par for the course" in this league would be 1 ring every 30 years on average. My point was that most championships are won by a top 5 player (i.e. a guy roughly in the top 1% of NBA players), and that building around guys below that level has a lower success rate. But I was also thinking out loud a little bit about how hard it is to acquire/develop a player who is in the top 1% in the league, and wondering which is harder--building a balanced team and winning one of the rare rings without such a player, or finding such a player in the first place. Both are pretty low-odds propositions.
The year Jordan left, Horace Grant and BJ Armstrong made the All-Star team...the Bulls had a great team, but still it took a Jordan to win championships... Scottie Pippen is considered one of the top 50 greatest players of All-time! They're playing styles are so similar - being compared to Scottie is a great comparison! Sorry man, he's not comparable to the others GOATs of the game such as Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, Curry, etc...and it's okay, the 2004 Pistons had a collection of great players that brought down Goliath.
so what you're really saying Amen can never be the GOAT / Jordan that's fine but the question is can he be our star. if not then do we already have a star? or who do you think are the potential stars we can acquire?
Historically I agree. But I think right now is actually a decent time to try to win without a super duper star. Who are the best not-yet-old stars that are in contention window for the next 5 years? Luka, SGA, Tatum, maybe Mitchell if you think Cleveland's legit. I think that's really it. Jokic should be the Jordan/LeBron of his era, but thankfully his supporting cast is getting worse and more expensive. Wemby will likely be the next "best player in the league" but also thankfully the Spurs don't have that clear second star yet. If Amen can take that next step to be a consistent 20+ppg scorer and Sengun somehow regains his shooting touch, I feel the Rockets should push all their chips in to try and win one in the near future.
Both players are 1 time all-stars coming on the heels of Jordan retirement. BJ Armstrong in particular got voted in as a starter with 14/2/4 line against Mark Price 17/2/7 statline on better efficiency. The Bulls let both go in subsequent two years. I don't think you want to use these guys as examples if you wan to talk about Pippen's supporting cast for that team. Also, in a hypothetical world where Amen becomes Pippen, the Rockets would still have Sengun, and either a 3rd star via trade or a pretty deep bench. He won't have to shoulder the full offensive load.
That's a good question...I'll like to see another season from Amen to see how he continues to improve his shot selection and shooting percentage. Amen has the physical gifts, but the question is can he bring all his attributes together to dominate the game offensively. He can get to the basket, but when that's shut down, can you dominate the mid-range? I'm unsure if we have a Star on our team...Sengun and Green this season have been pull from the closing moments of the 4th because they were either a liability on offense or defense...Star players arise for those clutch moments and their inconsistency in those moments in my opinion is keeping them from taking that next step to Star status. Currently, we're still in that developmental phase of our team so acquiring any available Stars is basically acquiring a depreciating asset in which I think the front office is not willing to let go of our appreciating assets in our young talented core. For the right deal, I think our expendable players are FVV, Jabari, Tari, expiring contracts...I think Dillon Brooks is staying now for his style of play is the representation of our team, which is grit...Jalen Green is expendable contigent of the development of Cam
To me, it seems like Amen can generate a shot anytime he wants. If he went to shoot more, I am sure the efficiency would go down a little bit. I think the big point of the thread is that we need to be shifting more of the offensive responsibility to him.
I think Jabari is pretty untouchable, but not completely. Tari, FVV, Brooks and Jalen are our expendable players depending on return. FVv needs to be gone by the deadline or in the off-season. If he is not, we will be another year away from competing.
Interesting assessment. One thing though Dirk wasn’t a Center. He may have played C for a year or so but he was almost always flanked by a bigger or more physical player. He had Bradley for many years. Haywood in that championship year. Dampier etc etc. The challenge with Sengun is he plays a position where defending the paint is a requirement. His lack of length and size has been a constant issue his whole career as players driving into the paint simply do not respect him and challenge him constantly. While he has been better at challenging players it is still a weakness. He also makes a lot of mistakes on offense let us not forget this in terms of careless passing or TO’s in critical moments not understanding where the double team or weakside help is coming from etc. All this to say is the only thing to put him in that conversation is him being dominant on offense. It’s not just a 3 pt shot. He isn’t there yet. Will he? Dunno
It's a reason why we traded for those Suns picks...we want KD or Booker. If we try to make a run at either, Jabari most definitely will be included.
I would easily rank Amen as our second best asset behind Sengun and he has the potential to pass Sengun. Kid is the real deal. I think he could be scoring a lot more but a lot of his instincts are pass first, which I love, though I'll also be very excited to see him develop a killer instinct and take over more. I think he absolutely will. High BBIQ players like him know what parts of their game need to be improved. We got the second best player in that draft
I mean, we know FVV is capable of at least being a rotation player on a championship team, because he's already done it before. Unless you just don't think he would accept a lesser role and/or Udoka would not ask it of him?
Potential does not show the current situation. Sengun is this teams leader, he dictates our vision, without his basketball iq, fundamental, none of our players can do anything. Sengun is already allstar candidate and a high possible future hall of fame player when he retires
