Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

If Amen doesn’t become the PG on offense and take some of FVV’s shots Ime is a complete fool.

 

True. I also want him to learn how to pull up off the dribble like SGA since he's training with the same guy. Amen is already bigger, stronger and more vertical than SGA and needs to honing his techniques for creating space.

 

If Amen wants a lot of FGAs, he's going to have to fight Sengun and Durant for them as Ime has already cut a lot of FVV's FGAs out. Not counting the playoffs when FVV had a small bump in FGAs with Green falling apart, FVV was shooting less often (on a per-play basis) than every other rotation player except Steven Adams after mid-December.

 

I just don't think they play remotely the same way or have the same strengths to leverage. As great as a pull up would be, a floater would work better with his strengths. We're talking about a historically poor shooter coming in, whilst I full expect his to become more than solid there, his goal shouldn't be about building his game around jump shooting. He should be overpowering, outpacing and simply going right over most of everybody. The jump shot, pull up, corner 3, floaters. Those are the counters, not the Plan A. We're talking somebody who's a worse shooter and better athlete that Jalen Green, we saw what happened on the "learn to be an outside shooter" plan for a MASSIVELY better shooting prospect (and I say that as somebody who thinks Amen wipes the absolute floor with Jalen as an overall prospect at this point.)

 

Amen is training with Olin Simplis (the "Guard Whisperer") to improve his mid/short-range shooting and I expect results. This is what would make him a superstar. When defenses are forced to respect him out to 10-15 feet, he'll gash them by attacking and finishing or attacking and dishing.

I'm not asking Amen to become an outside sniper like KD.

 

Like I say, I expect him to become solid from there. Shai is a legitimate savant. I don't really expect anybody to add that part of Shai's game to theirs if I'm honest.

 

I'm not saying Amen will get there in one year. Also, many players in the NBA should strive to add that part of SGA's game to their own. They don't necessarily have to become MVP-level at it.

 

I agree with @Dobbizzle here -temper your expectations on Amen's growth potential there.

Amen could improve massively working with Olin for 2-3 years and still be just be a mediocre to slightly below average shooter because of where he is coming from as an offensive player....and please understand growth is NOT linear. He might get to be an above average open shooter working with Olin, but the time and effort required to find that form more consistently but far quicker when tall and fast NBA defenders are trying to run you off the line - that will be FAR more work than the 2-3 years of work it will take him to hit those same shots when open.

Go watch NBA players warm up - even the end of bench guys can hit wide open shots in warmup consistently - Amen can't even do that consistently so he is very behind as a shooter from a whole bunch of guys who will other wise be out of the league in a year or two. Amen is special but he's not a fairy tale - he would get far more mileage out of finding the best way to maximize the areas he already has an advantage at and working with Olin on the counters(start with pull ups and floaters for when defenders sink to the rim) that he can use when teams are locked in at preventing him from getting to the rim.

 

The one thing I worry about is there not being a legit #2 guard on the roster. Not so much for offense as we will score on anyone, but for defense. It puts a lot of pressure--and minutes--on Amen.

 

I think you're completely misunderstanding my point. I don't expect Amen to morph into a 30-point scorer in one or two seasons, if ever. Obviously it's a gradual process.

Whatever! I give up.

 

A lot of people jump to assumptions about Amen because of his low 3pt%. Just because Amen is a poor 3pt shooter doesn't mean he is a below average shooter. Amen isn't a bad shooter. He knows his shots and has excellent shot selection. He shot 55% with a 60% TS%. He gets a lot of layups and dunks, but that still is less than half of his shots.

Amen shoots well from under 16' and he shoots over 70% of his shots from inside that range. He shot 47% / 49% from from 3-10 ft & 10-16 ft . It's not Shai numbers 49% / 55%, but it is comparable to Shai's career averages of 46% / 50%, it's also better than Trae Young from those ranges. Amen is harder to contest on these shots and gets open easier than most in the short/midrange because of his quickness, change of pace, and rim threat. His handle looks better and his shot looks smoother, so I think there is a great chance to see huge improvements in this area in a short time period.

 

You welcome lol

 

It's got nothing to do with expecting him to be a 30 point shooter. You're advocating him taking maybe the most difficult jump shot in the game of basketball as somebody who came in to the league with no jump shot. It's a bad game plan when there are just so many better ways for him to leverage his actual advantages. No need to get emotional.

 

The biggest flaw with Amen is shooting. This is where he must put in the most work to improve (which his recent videos demonstrate in excruciating detail). I expect to see some improvement this coming season. It will be a work in progress.

He already "overpowers", "outpaces" and "goes right over most of everybody". His footwork in the paint is fantastic, his hands are nifty at the rim when he's contested, etc. These things are not holding him back. The Warriors series clearly demonstrated what's holding him back.

I did not say Amen should "build his game around jump shooting". Not sure where you pulled that from.

If you don't think hitting mid-range jumpers is his biggest need for improvement on offense, then fine. We disagree.

 

I never said that, I said doing pull up mid range jumpers in traffic like Shai is not at all a need, and should be something he avoids. There are PLENTY of other ways to score in the mid range for somebody of Amen's size and agility than trying to take the hardest shot in basketball. So yeah, we disagree, you don't even understand basic fundamentals. There's a reason 90% of the league would be benched if they attempted that shot in an NBA game.

 

This doesnt make any sense. On defense? Tari is there, as is DFS.

For small players - Amen, FVV, Reed
For medium to big guards - Amen, Tari, DFS
For big guards to SFs- Amen, DFS, Tari, KD

Tari is 6'6 with 7'2 wingspan. He can guard 1-4 just like Amen. DFS is more agile than DB he can guard quicker 2s that DB used to struggle with. On the flip side DFS cant be the Wemby stopper that DB was last year.

 

One player not discussed much who had poor shooting but elite ability to get to the rim similar to Amen was Dwayne Wade. Wade was a poor three point shooter and didn't initially have a mid-range game. Much of his game was dribble drive or assisted dunks but despite being a poor shooter he could still dribble stop pull up or gathered and pulled up. He didn't make most of these shots but it was part of his game. I compared Wade's rookie year to Amen's 2nd year since Amen didn't shoot much beyond 9 ft Rookie year.



Wade's numbers 03-04:
3pt% 16-53 30.2%
10-14 ft 21-66 31.8%
15-19 ft 33-115 28.7%
20-24 ft 22-66 33%
Mid Range: 60-195 30.8%
Jump Shot: 143-406 35.2%





Amen's numbers:
10-14 ft: 26-55 47.3%
15-19 ft: 15-39 38.5%
20-24 ft: 24-70 34.3%
Mid Range: 26-68 38.2%
Jump shot: 105-267 39.3%



Amen shot better than Wade in that 10-15 ft area as the chart shows. And better in jumpshots % although he shot over 100 less than Wade.

Wade shot around 40% from 15-19 and 20-24 ft. His 2nd year. Also shot 39% mid range. He also shot 58% less 5 ft and Restricted area. Amen was dominant in RA 2nd year at 72% and 69% less 5 ft. Going into his 3rd year if he can increase 15-19, 20-24 ft and mid range to 40% or better he would be better than Wade in his 3rd year.

 

Think back to last year's offseason. Amen was showing flashes against the US National team, but he lacked experience. With another year of NBA seasoning, it's hard not to be excited as he adds strength, conditioning, and skill

What's surprising (and will continue to shock those not paying attention) is Amen's work ethic. This is a guy who absorbs coaching like a sponge and is hungry to win and improve.

Teams may attempt to play him as they did Westbrook: give him tons of space, hoping he'll shoot and turn the ball over. It won't be long before that proves to be a losing game plan.

Amen's improved shooting and ball handling will allow him to have slightly higher usage numbers. How will he react when defenses respect his shot and show him more attention? Hopefully, he'll pass to a wide-open Durant and DFS.

 

One difference is Sengun and KD are more play finishers than initiators. IMO the vision for Amen needs to be that he's the guy who gets the offense started and creates for himself or others. KD in particular may end up taking a lot more shots than Amen, but he shouldn't have the ball in his hands to initiate the offense nearly as often.