I don't think this team has a one true primary ball handler. The Celtics don't. Amen doesn't have the on ball skills to be that as he doesn't do well with maintaining a live dribble in traffic. Green is too scoring centric and isn't as capable of a passer as true superstar primary ball handlers like your Lukas, Hardens, Currys, even Cade etc. Sengun is a big. So ya the team will take turns. Amen is at the moment more of a play connector. Someone who can make great passes when going down hill when opposing defenses aren't set in transition or playing the short roll in a half court set. He has the passing talent that Jalen doesn't have. If only those two could fuse into one player. Ya I think this team is going to be more like the Celtics where there isn't some true primary plball handler.
I agree. Ime has said it from the beginning. He wants us to have multiple facilitators. Beginning next year the primary facilitators should be Amen, Jalen, and Sengun. Off the bench either FVV and/or Reed.
Amen will not be the PG unless there is another playmaker for others on the court whether through internal (either Amen gets even better or Green starts playmaking more for others) or external means. Right now, we've seen Amen and Green lineups be decent to good. We've see FVV and Amen lineups be better. Last few games FVV, Amen, and Green lineups have been good after being downright horrible from January through most of March. FVV and Green lineups are typically decent to good. FVV is still most likely the PG next year as the Rockets have a team option and early Bird rights. Maybe the Rockets, use him in a trade. I don't understand the let's throw away a player now narratives because he won't be needed two years from now and he plays the position I want my favorite player to play. I'm fine if Amen beats FVV for the PG job. He hasn't yet, though he has earned starting.
We have yet to see an amen+4 shooters lineup . Let him play like Giannis. Amen/jalen/brooks/tari/jabari
I don't think we will ever be a heliocentric team like we were in the Harden days, and that's a good thing. That said, I think Amen as he polishes up his ballhandling and gets better and better at making the right reads will eventually be the highest-usage guy who initiates plays most often. Jalen plays so much better off the ball when he doesn't have to create with the entire defense watching him dribble, and Alpi can create in the half-court, but does it much better when he gets the ball closer to the hoop rather than having to get everything started from the perimeter.
You tell Ime about your finding about Green being better off ball? Because that literally is the opposite trajectory the team is taking when it comes to Green's on ball reps. They literally have been ramping up to the highest on ball reps he's ever had in his career and the offense is doing well over a month long stretch. What do you insist on making Green who is near effortless in breaking down perimeter defenders and creating advantages for teammates to be a off ball role player? Amen is doing things now within his means. He isn't asked to attack set defenses when all defenders are watching him at a regular basis. Green is asked to do that. If Amen was asked to do that things like his Tov% would sky rocket. It's something he will slowly progress at. I don't know why people want to rush things. I love how we are in a Rockets Renaissance season and are on a 12-2 stretch where Jalen has been dominating on ball possessions especially in the fourth quarter the most we've ever seen since Silas days and some people are like "ya Green needs to play like Kevin Hurter"
Off-ball doesn't necessarily mean roleplayer, or that you're not involved in shot creation. It just means you're not the one initiating plays. I've noticed that Jalen is absolutely killing it when he gets the ball and is able to make a quick move in space or take an easier 3Per. It's these dribble, dribble, dribble halfcourt sets where he's inefficient--too often results in a semi-contested, off-balance jump shot.
Clearly thats what Ime is thinking. Fred is tarting to play way more off ball when they are both on the court. Ime wants the first option to always be Amen probing to see what he can create and if that doesn't work, start with the traditional half court offense.
So what happens when defenses press in the fourth trying to do things like disrupt the handle of the primary ball handler? Ask yourself why in the fourth quarter over the past month Jalen is basically dominating the ball in terms of play initiation at the end of games? At the beginning of games Ime likes Amen to get a feel for the ball and probing defenses and let's him do things like bringing the ball up and initiate but notice how Ime goes away from that as the game progresses and usually by the fourth it's usually only Jalen or Fred doing the ball handling duties. Ime doesn't trust Amen yet with ball security in high leverage situations where defenses start constantly hounding the primary ball handler and trying to constantly stop their dribble with hard presses.
I’d rather have Amen remain at forward but still be the primary ball handler and creator. It’s worked for LeBron all these years. Sheppard can be at PG to spread the floor. With both Amen and Sengun out there, everyone else needs to be shooters.
Right, Amen is still a WIP much moreso than Jalen is as a ballhandler. I think Jalen's year 2 ballhandling skills were fairly similar to Amen's now. You're correct that currently Jalen is better at handling the ball under pressure in halfcourt situations (though there is still work to be done). I'm just talking down the road, in 2, 3 years when everyone is basically a finished product.
this is how I see it too. We need our point guard to be a really good shooter and take care of the ball. Right now Amen is poor at both. He’s not ready. But the great thing about Amen is he’s good on and off the ball. He’s our best cutter. I’d rather he continue play on the wing. I also disagree that Amen is the inevitable point guard of the future for Houston. I believe drafting Reed last year was an indication that the front office does not see Amen exclusively as a point guard. On Fred I hope he is not our starting point guard next season, or at least has his minutes scaled back. If he wants to play for Dillon money and help Reed and Amen continue to develop thats great, but Fred isn’t the answer. Ideally he’s part of a trade for KD or another legit difference maker. Fred is shooting 38% from the field. Yikes!
Anybody looking at Amen's incredible progress in virtually every aspect of basketball in less than a full season of starting, and counting him out as the main ball handler next year is selling him very short. Ime is giving him the lead more and more. This is quickly becoming Amen's team and he and Jalen will be the best backcourt in the league as soon as next year.
I've come around to Amen starting at "PG" next season, even though Amen-initiated halfcourt offense isn't good yet. The strengths it gives you are just that strong. We win right now by destroying other teams on the boards, playing in transition, and having no weak links on the floor defensively + multiple wing stoppers on the court at all times. Amen at PG supercharges this. You get to play Amen + Sengun/Adams + at least 2 of Jabari/Tari/Dillon. Teams don't have an answer for that, at least in the regular season. Amen at PG lineups have killed teams this way thus far. Then you have Fred/Reed as the alternative options to juice the halfcourt offense, and otherwise you keep filling up the roster with wings.
Do you really believe Fred will be a starter next year? Amen/Jalen/DB/(Jabari or Tari)/Alpi will be the starting lineup next year unless the Rockets make a big trade. Fred is breaking down and running out of gas. He ain't gonna be anyone's full-time starting PG next year.
