I think the roles FVV and Adams played was/is important to Udoka. Udoka likes winning games. He plays Adams and played FVV because they helped winning. I'd guess Adams is the least likely to be traded among the names I listed as hard to fill his role at that cost. On FVV, it will depend on how the PG spot works out this year. I really like FVV, and thought he would be hugely important for the Rockets this season. Next season or the season after is when I expected him to be phased out. Maybe the Rockets want to keep him as a backup, but I could see that $25M being an impediment if he's a backup.
not sure if its the extra spacing or extra permimeter defense or combination of both but Amen was able to focus on his PG role - 8 assists 0 TOs those are FVV numbers
Wondering if he will draw the slenderman assignment when slenderman is on the perimeter. He is 12lbs lighter than villain but has a 7'0 wingspan.
Not saying Amen won't be a good PG. He's not there yet, but I'm sure he will get better and better. But is playing PG his optimal position? Let's look at an extreme hypothetical example. If Wemby could shoot 3s at above average level and could handle and distribute the ball without turning over, would you play him as a PG or as a center? Would he be a good PG? Sure. But to do that, you'd take away his biggest advantage, which is his size near the basket. Amen is not as extreme as Wemby. But Amen's biggest advantage is his athleticism and speed. He is optimally used as a cutter and connective passer, and grabbing offensive rebounds, rather than a floor general. Of course, if nobody is good enough to play full-time PG for us, then I won't complain about playing him there.
He does not have to play the traditional pg role to be an effective initiator on this offense. Playing Amen at the dunker spot discombobulates the offense. Amen’s ability to drive into the lane with the ball in his hands is exactly the role this team needs him to play. Who else is going to do it? Lack of a penetrating guard was the issue with our offense last year. Right now he is adjusting to this new role and is hesitating between shot and pass. That will smooth out over time as will his shooting. Amen, Okogie, Jabari, Durant, Sengun is a really good defensive team and with Sengun’s and Okogie’s new found 3 pt shooting a well balanced offensive team. Jettisoning Dillon and Jalen hurt our defense, but dramatically improved our offense (in theory so far). The goal should be top 10 offense and defense. We would be taking a step back from our optimum progression to a championship team by moving Amen back to an off-ball wing.
I agree all I'm saying is while FVV is away or we have not gotten a replacement yet, Alpi and Amen are our best bet as facilitators / distributors But what if Amen somehow eventually turns into SGA?
I typically think of SGA as a star. I am all for Amen turning into SGA offensively. The thing is, OKC has guards that handle some of the ballhandling on the team. OKC focuses a lot on players who can dribble, pass, shoot, have length, process, and defend. The way the pro-Amen is a PG crowd comes off, it seems they want to get rid of every guard that can dribble, process, and pass because they may be mistaken for a PG. I personally want Amen to be a threat on ball and off-ball. It adds diversity and allows the offense to become more creative and less 1-dimensional.
I'm more of a Alpi/Amen are the core future 2-way engines Alpi more offense Amen more defense. But the more help they can get the better Jabari needs to be the reliable stretch big they can kickout to. I always feel like Reed will be limited by his size/height. But never know he learns/develops to be a poor mans Edgecombe. One can dream. That's why its not a bad idea to give chances to Josh, JD, DFS, and the guy with the goggles
I'm fine if Amen and Sengun are the engines. To me, that shouldn't limit having other guys that can do some secondary ballhandling. Defenses are getting better such that it is harder for stand and shoot guys to be enough. Off ball players need to be able to also be able to put the ball on the court if an opponent does an overly aggressive closeout. I want skilled players around Amen and Sengun. If the player happens to be a PG, so be it.
So far Josh is giving us the best of what Dillon gave us, minus the possibility of going off the rails and bringing the entire team down with him.
Okogie playing well is a pleasant surprise. I don't mind him staying in the starting lineup. I do wonder if DFS recovers, if Ime will bump Josh for DFS.
It would be ideal that Amen handle the Shooting guard duties while Reed handles point guard duties. but it’s possible that Reed does not have the grittiness that shorter guards need to be successful as a full time starter. Though it’s still early in the overall process. Positive is that Reed is looking way more comfortable on the NBA court this season.
Why you have to think in binary terms? Why can't he be both, on ball and off ball? I don't care what you call him. Should he initiate the offense... some of the times? Sure. Should he be the MAIN offense initiator? This is where I think I disagree with you. You seem to advocate a lot for that. I don't think that's a good idea. I can foresee if we do that, our offense will stagnate. Actually, we did have a penetrating guard last season. His name is Jalen Green. Jalen is not the passer and decision maker Amen is, but he can get hot shooting sometimes. Amen doesn't have hot shooting, not yet. If he develops a very good mid range game, then maybe he can play the SGA role. But then what do you want Sengun to do? Amen-Sengun PnR would likely be good. But again, Amen has to be able to shoot or defenses would just sag going under the screen. Maybe they can try a reverse PnR with Sengun the ball handler and Amen the roller. Actually, Reed-Sengun or Reed-Amen PnR might work even better. I don't know why they haven't tried it yet. I wish Ime or one of his assistants could be more creative on offense. Good offensive teams have more than one way to beat you.
If he shoots over 36% this season after solid shooting last season he's gonna make a lot of money in the offseason. Watching him, he does a lot of things really well.
I don’t think we are in violent disagreement here. I’m more responding to this idea that so many have that Amen should be put back into the dunker spot and we bring in a true pg. I think Sengun/Amen should be our main initiators. There was a post about yearly stats and I pretty much said Sengun would average the most assists and Amen would have a higher ppg average this year. I do think Amen has the potential to be a 20+ game scorer if he has the ball in his hands more, but Sengun’s new found 3 pointer puts him in another stratosphere offensively. I also think that this team is getting to the point that they have 4 or 5 different ways to attack and you can add Jabari to Amen, Sengun, and Durant as someone that will take over a game from time to time. Offensively we have a lot of ways to beat you now. I think Ime can enable different attacks by not being so robotic with his rotations like in previous years. As far as the offense goes, I think Ime just rolls the ball outmand let’s the players figure out how to attack.
You can thank the Apron levels for this. Once all the cap space, bird rights and exception money is gone, what's left is minimum contracts, and teams just don't want to or can't go above the 1a / 2a and guys like Okogie end up going to teams on bargain basement contracts. The Rockets are likely to be able to keep him next season in a similar way - unless a team uses cap space or an exception to sign him, otherwise the Rockets can offer him 120% of his current deal (non-bird rights) while other teams are limited to the minimum (without the use of cap space or an exception). If you look around the league, you'll find several guys in similar situations - it's all because of the apron related CBA restrictions.
