I'm okay with Amen coming off the bench as long as JG is playing well

And this is not a Jalen-boosting thread, I honestly think it's a great role for Amen the way our team is built right now. If it was good enough for HoFer Manu Ginobili, it's good enough for Amen, at least for now.

Considering he can back up at least three positions, and to some degree can cover for all five, I don't think he'll have any problem getting starter-level minutes off the bench. And Ime is willing to close games with whatever group of players he thinks is best at the time. Just being the starter does not automatically earn you 4th quarter minutes. So that's no roadblock to Amen being out there at the end of most games. Worst-performing starter that game sits, Amen takes his place to close the game, unless he's been the one having a bad game.

The only two changes I want to see consistently moving forward, and I think these are both already happening to some degree:

1. Play him at least 30 minutes every night, barring foul trouble. This is obviously happening right now with Bari and Tari both out, but it should continue to happen even when they return. He's too good to play anything less. Hell, give him most of the minutes backing up 1-3, if Tari is ever able to stay on the floor, he can mostly back up the 4 and a little bit of the 3. He's clearly not a guy you can trust to play heavy minutes anyway since he appears pretty injury-prone.

2. Give him more on-ball reps and chances to bring up the ball, and tell the team to play at a higher pace and run with him in transition. He really needs to be functioning in that Manu role a lot more so that he can get reps toward reaching his top-end potential. And also because our offense just looks better when Amen is pushing the pace and guys are running with him. It's his greatest strength right now on offense, we need to utilize it and develop it.

TL;DR: Coming off the bench is no obstacle to Amen playing 30+ minutes, closing 4th quarters, or getting to show his stuff on the ball. Just use him like the Spurs used Manu back when Ime was coaching/playing there, except with even more minutes since Amen can play more positions on the court.

 

Don't see any reason they can't play together quite a bit even if Amen is coming off the bench.

 

I feel like shooting is the problem with that group being on the floor together right now, unless/until they improve from 3P range. Only Jalen is really a three point threat, and he's not exactly a good one.

 

To be clear, my point with this is not that I don't want to see Amen play a lot of minutes (I do) or that I think he's not good enough to start or better than other players in the starting lineup (he is). My point is that given his versatility and the way our team is built currently, we can easily stagger minutes for the starters and have him out there as much as they are, it's just a matter of Ime actually doing it.

 

That wasn't my point at all. I think there are at least 36 minutes for the taking off the bench for Amen. Not trying to hold him back--in fact, you may remember that I've been one of his biggest fans from the beginning, even before we drafted him. Again, I'm making the comparison with Manu's, well, most of his career. Being a "bench player" doesn't necessarily mean you're worse than other guys on the team, or even that you play fewer minutes than they do or close out fewer games than they do.

 

Any reason Amen couldn't be a similar kind of exception? He's a really unique, ultra-versatile player who can back up basically any position on the court.