I expect we see Amen increasing his scoring with more opportunities for the offense to run through him this year, but he needs to consistently be averaging 22-24pts a game to be that dude and that's a fairly large jump for a guy who currently get more than half his buckets just being a opportunistic ball hawk. He's unlikely to add 8-10pts to his per game average through his own creation abilities against a set defense. ...and Fred has been declining in this skill for years - that's why Toronto sent him on his way in the first place. I think Fred is only going to get worse at that and the use case I called out was the 20-25 games Durant is likely to miss this year so that doesn't help Fred if there is not another high level scorer to set him up - that means we rely solely on Alpi or Amen for those games.
baby steps.. from 70% to 75% FT% his midrange and 3pointer should slight develop as well if he can't even improve his freethrows little by little, how can we expect him to improve his jumpshot much less 3 pt shot
I could definitely see Amen ramping up to 20 ppg as the season progresses. The Raptors did not send Fred anywhere. They badly wanted him back and rumors up to the last minute were that he was returning. But the Rockets bought him away by offering too much money.
I think this logic is not good. His ft are already in an improved state through years of work. His outside shooting though is raw. If his 3pt was in line with his ft he would be shooting 30% on 4 attempts a game. Developing the raw skill is easier than making marginal improvements on something you are already good at.
1st & 2nd year around 71% 3st & 4nd year around 69% 69% ain't good its below average and in the playoffs it plumettted down to 62% I remember Rockets losing games especially in the playoffs because of Alpis missed FTs and he got blamed for them and not because of his lack of 3pt shot
I remember some people desperately trying to push that narrative to deflect from other players being flat out terrible, but Sengun was by far the best player on the team during the playoffs... the Rockets didn't lose a single game due to anything he did.
That’s interesting - I had read at the time that Fred had lost this influence on the young guys in Toronto and coupled with his decline in play made him less of a priority to retain…I’m sure Houston throwing him a bag didn’t hurt. Regardless, after watching Fred for the last two years I don’t believe he is a player you want trying to create shots for himself or others at this point. He just lacks the ability to break down anyone anymore outside of the occasional pump fake to get by a guy with a hard close out at the 3pt line.
you're right the primary reason is our 30M 35 minute SG was MIA Alpi and Amen showsd up bigtime in the playoffs but if I;m gong to point out one thing that Alpi should fix during the offseason is first getting his touch around the rim back and FTs but not having a 3pt sh shot
Alpi certainly blew the chance to win the game. But he also put us in a position to compete in basically every single game. There was another key player on the team that didn't. That's the only reason we lost. If Jalen Green averages just 15 points in 6 of those games, we win. That's not asking a lot. Alpi needs to improve in several areas. But knocking him for a statistical reduction in a tiny sample size in his first playoff series doesn't prove or account for anything. First playoff series. Tried legs. Carrying the team on his back practically (along with Amen and others -- but not that other guy). The FT can lose us games. He absolutely has to improve there. But great players have shot worse at the line. And what matters most is the ones at the end of the game -- the clutch ones. FTR, I do think that other guy will eventually figure it out. He may even become an exceptional player. But he isn't yet, and the timing to pull the dice on KD + salary flexibility was too tempting to risk it after he laid such an egg in the playoffs.
I didn’t say it was good. It is well established and he is doing it at a large volume. And it is relatively the best area of his shooting. 3 pt is horrible and unexplored. That’s my point. If he can get to below average at 3 pt, it will have a huge impact. There is more low hanging fruit there. Generally I think going from horrible to below average at low volume is easier than going from below average to average at high volume.
Yeah but Alpi carrying 20 game is still better than last season when he had to be Batman to Jalen's Robin. FVV isnt as washed as you think if you saw him after Gm 3 in the playoffs he was playing well. I think he just took his offseason last year for granted cuz he thought Rox were not gonna be much improved from 0.500 so he entered the season limp and out of shape. Its different now they have that urgency and have a goal to win a ring this year
okay I just feel like his 3 pt shot will benefit with him perfecting his stroke, shot mechanics, focus, & concentration by prioritizing practicing/perfecting his FTs first
FVV is here because there is not much expectations for him other than his first year where he was clearly the 2nd or 3rd Option. Now he can be the 4th Option and nobody really cares. And the poster's concern that Fred might not be good enough is still real, he is too inconsistent in the Playoffs and he has no ability to finish around the rim like Jalen Brunson.
This is exactly right. FVV should be used on occasion to bring the ball up the court, but should be primarily used as a spot up shooter and good defensive PG (hopefully he doesn’t regress further in this regard). Amen, Durant, and Sengun should be your primary creators and we should see an uptick in 3p% as Durant’s presence and Amen’s continued offensive improvement should open up the floor. Hopefully Amen and Sengun can really gel in PnR. The last thing we need is Fred dribbling out the shot clock and dishing it to Durant for a well guarded shot or flinging up some foolish shot himself.
Good to see Turkey guards attacking the basket. Sengun can concentrate on defending and save his energy for closing the game in the 4th
