I’m saying he is progressing as a point guard and playing it 40-50% of the time. Right now you might say he still plays better as a forward, but I expect he gets more and more opportunities as a point guard as the year goes by. People are being too impatient with a guy that has really played only 9 games this year as an initiator. He’s also is averaging 5.6 assists this year and his potential assists are through the roof like last game. He’s also had games of 27 and 29 points in the first 9 games of the season and is averaging 17 points vs 14 points while being too unselfish and averaging 5.6 to 3.8 assists. He is playing the same great defense. Jabari is also playing better. It makes no sense to move him back to 80% in the dunker spot and benching Jabari while he learns his new role and doing it while impacting the game more positively even while somewhat out of sorts. My prediction he average 7+ assists this year and 20+ points (if not more) once he settles in. His assists to TO’s is not horrible, but I expect that to improve as well with more time in his new role.
Yeah, once Amen moves away, relinquishing some of the ball handling to Reed (when it's time), you'll see that guy come back...and our Rockets become unstoppable.
Yeah he’s a freak. He’s already the best defensive player in the league. If he stays healthy his career is going to be insane. **** the Spurs.
I just get Ben Simmons vibes when he's running the point. And what I mean by that is that the primary defender gets to take a break by sagging way off Amen and force us into slower entries. When he's starting in the dunker spot it really gives us space in perimeter especially when you have Sengun at the elbow.
Conceptually, I don’t disagree with you. In reality, however, I just don’t see teams sagging as much as I thought they would. Most tend to play Amen close, which makes sense - sagging gives him a ton of room to operate, both with the ball and without it. Frankly, the team that I personally saw “sag” the most off of Amen was Memphis, and he tore them up.
they don't sag quite as much because Amen still looks to drive to the basket. Simmons wouldn't even think about trying to score in any capacity. it was quite bizarre.
Tonight totally negates this. He is incredible at getting to the rim and making the correct pass. A lot of times it turns into a hockey assist. It’s not all about stats and even in the stats he is going to blow away our pure pg assists stats from last year. He is also going to score probably 6 or more points per game than last year. Getting to the lane is what allows for space in the perimeter.
Was a sight for sore eyes seeing the Rockets play man for the vast majority of the game tonight, allowing Amen his beautiful trailing block on his man. The zone stifles literally the best defense the Rockets have with Amen.
Never heard of that before, how new is this metric? I'm assuming it's considered legit in NBA circles?
I love Amen and think he's doing great... BUT I noticed he has been a step slow in staying in front of his defender this season, he feels a little slower in his reaction time when defending the drive, he used to be able to slide in front but opponents are driving past him more often this season. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this as well? Or is it because he is guarding opposing guards who are quicker? His 3 point shooting mechanic is still very inconsistent, sometimes the form look great, other times it looks pretty bad. He's probably still lacking the confidence in his 3 and i feel like he might be thinking too much when he's taking the open shots.
You would have to think taking over a much bigger role on the offense would impact his defense at some level, right? I have faith he'll figure out the balance at some point this year.
Amen is drinking from a fire hose. Learning to play pg is difficult and is effecting not only his defense which is still elite, but also his shooting especially on the inside. He is thinking too much, but you can see that he is getting more comfortable and aggressive. Our fans are very immature and impatient. If he is still playing like he is now at the all-star break, we will still probably be a 2 seed, but I will be getting a little bit concerned. I think he is going to explode the second half of the season.
