Y'all are thinking too hard about this. They rib each other all the time and show up to cheer for the other whenever the opportunity presents itself. Going back to OTE and the pre-draft stuff, they'd always be ragging on one another. Somebody asked Ausar if he'd be letting Amen stay with him when the Rockets visit. He said something like no, Amen would have to sleep outside in the cold or something.
I want Ausar to be a Rocket and pair him with Amen. Imagine the destruction on defense we will do. What do ya’ll think? Should we trade FVV for Ausar? Or something else?
This will never happen because the Pistons love Ausar and he's on a rookie contact. I don't know why so many people keep bringing it up.
Amen should become one of the top two or three players in the League. I see Ausar in that 20-30 range, eventually. Both are likely to see the Finals multiple times. In fact, I'd bet on both being NBA Champions. With all due respect to OKC, I'm assuming we meet Detroit in the Finals a few times...should be a fierce rivalry.
On a relative basis, I think Ausar will make an even bigger leap than Amen this year because he finally had a full, healthy off-season to work out and improve.
Yeah, seeing as he was willing us to victory in Game 7 before he got hurt....his natural progression...along with the expanded role....ooolala! We're about to see an All Time Great breakout.
I doubt FVV's injury will make Amen better. So far, Amen has improved more than anyone else in the NBA while FVV was healthy.
Ime uses Fred as a crutch a bit - the team needs to pick up the slack here and bring the same focus Fred brings to the team. There is a silver lining in this (even if the team starts off rough) provided there is an acknowledgment that guys like Amen and Reed and others need to embrace some of Fred's floor general mentality if the team is going to become the dynasty we want them to be....otherwise we are only going as far as elder statesmen like KD and Fred are going to take us and that's a 2 year timeframe, tops and with Fred out this season, really only a one year timeframe.
Ime uses FVV because FVV helps the team. Over the last two years, it has been proven that players develop with FVV on the court such that Amen is great with FVV and likely without. Losing FVV just means the Rockets have one less good player on the team. There needs to be 5 players on the court for the Rockets at all times. I don't believe the narrative that it is FVV has to be hurt or FVV has to carry the team.
Fred's play both offensively and defensively has slipped by nearly any statistical measure - by the numbers he is a lower tiered starter or possibly even a 6th man for some teams at this stage in his career. What Fred DOES do for this roster that doesn't show up in the stat line that has been of real value that I think you are calling out is he coaches on the court and calls out where players should be both offensively and defensively. When you are surrounded by a young team that has much more value than if you are playing on a team of vets. My point is that guys like Sengun, Jabari, Tari, and Amen need to start embracing that team leadership role because: - they are no longer young players learning how to play - they need to start trusting in their reads and play like vets - the team is better served having a higher level player as a starter than what Fred offers at this stage in his career Fred and KD are likely playing their last 100 or so games as NBA level starters. At some point all our young guys we are building around need to take strides to break themselves from the training wheels of having older vets carrying the load on both scoring and leading on their team. That is the game we are playing right now. Yes, we need KD and Fred if we want to seriously compete for a title and Fred being out certainly hurts our chances but the reality is we have no plans for Fred or KD past 2026 today so those guys were going to have to step up this year regardless - Fred's being out is just going to amplify the things he did and create ownership by someone much younger which is ultimately what we need to be a yearly contender in the future long past Fred and KD's careers.
I think Ausar can thrive if he had more minutes, the problem is on the Pistons he doesn't get consistent minutes to prove himself. I wish he was on the Rockets so badly.. imagine him coming off the bench to replace Amen when he goes out. I think if we're serious about trading Tari, we should ask the Pistons for Ausar. They don't even start him anyways and he's more valuable in our system than theirs.
Ausar would have to take a team friendly deal here but I’d be down. I believe in all the things for Amen, including a forthcoming max deal.
