Do you understand that Amen hasn't lost anything, he's just having to play out of position?

I mean, he wants to be a point guard. He's been very vocal about that.

You can believe it's not the right position for him and that it won't work. That's fine. But shouldn't he at least have the chance to try, given that he's been one of our best players so far and is only just starting his third season in the league? At least half a season or so, bare minimum?

He might figure it out, or he might have to move to the wing like D-Wade did. But certainly I think he's earned his shot.

For what it's worth, I think if he were on a more uptempo team that played in transition more often nobody would doubt that he could play point guard. (The Rockets are currently #27 in pace.) Our reliance on KD and Sengun, and prior to that FVV and Sengun, puts him in half-court situations much more often than average. For a guy who thrives in transition, that's not going to be good for his numbers, or for the "eye test" either.

 

Respectfuly, he's nothing at all like Magic Johnson. Physically they are totally different. Magic couldn't jump all that well and was only marginally athletic relative to other NBA guys. Ran fast in a straight line but had none of the explosive quickness that defines Amen. He was huge and used his size and body mass to bully smaller guards. He had unique ball handling skills and a great eye. Skill stuff. He wasn't a superfreak athlete.

 

Lately, I think he's said he doesn't care where he plays.

 

Amen is still best at the pg spot. He is 6'7 when he is at the pg he makes it hell for other pgs. He is a top 1% athlete and thats what allows him to keep up with lightning quick pgs like the Maxey's and Fox's. Thats what makes him special.

If you put him at the wing whats the diff between him and a guy like NAW or even our own Tari Eason? He isnt special anymore he is just a good defending wing who can't shoot.

 

It's kind of obvious his good games just so happen to be when he plays in the dunker spot for at least some of it.

For all the praise Ime gets, he sure does love to play his most important players out of position and to their weaknesses.

 

What does putting Amen in position to capitalise on his strength and avoid his glaring weakness, have to do with the defensive end?

 

Yikes.

You have bad takes.

But yikes.

 

I guess Amen not being able to match even the least efficient scoring season of Jalen's career is starting to open some eyes.

Amen will improve but ultimately the offense has to treat him like a star so that the defenders do too.

 

Nobody is comparing Amen Thompson to Jalen Green. Literally nobody. Except you, I guess.

 

Yes that's a good observation. I compared our last lead guard to our new one. Outrageous.

Why does it bother you? Do you think I hate Amen? Cause you can go see my posts about how we should max him.

 

Voted no just for fun

regarding Amen being a top 3 player:
I don't really see it. Top 3 player is averaging around 30 ppg on elite efficiency while being the main focus of opposing defenses. I can't imagine a world where Amen can generate this much offense for himself.

I like Amen a lot. I've loved his demeanor since the day we drafted him and I'd obviously be happy to be wrong about this, but nothing I've seen offensively tells me he can be a consistent 30ppg guy

 

Hmm, I don't know if Amen can become a top 3 player, but I do want to say that there are other routes to get there besides scoring 30 points per game. Jokic has never averaged 30 in a season, although he's gotten damned close this season and last season. Hakeem never did it either (granted, it was a lower scoring era). If Amen were ever to do it, the path for him would probably be to score around 25 or a little over while averaging a triple-double or very close to one and playing elite defense. That sounds like a tall order, but maybe not impossible, especially if the jump.shot ever comes around?

 

He's shooting a career low .484 FG percentage and averaging a career high in turnovers (2.6) Vs the career averages of 1.75 and .547 while taking 5.5 more shots per game.

That's a pretty steep statistical drop.

No, I don't think a simple position change is suddenly going to make him a 25ppg type of guy .... the only thing that does that is Amen shooting ~35% from deep instead of the current .191.

But I think he's a much more efficient player when he isn't forcing the issue offensively, he's just not an offensive engine without being able to shoot from outside that keeps defenders from backing off and packing the paint when he is the ball handler.

We've seen this play out before with Westbrook who was not near as bad a shooter as Amen, he's a career .306 shooter, not .214. Teams just pack the paint and dare him to shoot.

He's also not very good as the pick and roll ball handler only generating .79 points per possession which is in the 36th percentile. That's why we see so much of Sengun and Durant as the half court ball handlers.

It's pretty clear at least for now that Amen is a much more efficient player when he's off the ball, outside of in transition / fast break.

I think the best version of Amen is the one who attacks in the fast break but gives it up in the half court and goes about doing the things he does best - slashing, cutting, catching lobs and rebounding on that end of the floor.

At least until he has a consistent outside shot that can keep defenders honest.

 

A lot of the discussion about Amen out of position, especially on X, seem to just ignore that Sengun and Durant initiate a lot of the offense, too, wrt non PG handling the ball out front as part of the offense

I see little problem with giving the ball to Amen out of a made basket to push tempo and make defenses guard his threat to attack the rim in early offense. We do that a lot. It’s like am early probe. This has proven to even leave enough time on the clock to convert to half court where he ends up in the dunker spot.

imo, there is no better way to utilize both of Amen’s major threats (downhill drive, and dunker spot) within the same half-court offense possession …

And yeah, he also dribbles a lot on the wing, but his head is up, looking for teammates

Certainly, he needs work, as he has admitted, but the calls to essentially shut him down from handling the ball … I don’t really get it … primarily bc KD and Senhub handle the ball out front a lot

 

Yes, 100%. Once we go back to him doing what he does best he looks amazing as usual. That’s not the type of thing a player regresses on.

Time to be realistic about his outcome though - he has weak handles, has no offensive bag, can’t shoot. That’s not the recipe for a #1 option or a top 10 player. Unless he takes a miracle leap (and even passable on those fronts is probably two years away at least) he’s projecting to be a great #3 option on a contender. Again, that outcome is not impossible, but improbable, and that’s just facts statistically.

 

Amen is the truth and I have seen some good ones starting with a kid from UMass named Julius Erving and later Larry Legend and Magic. Amen just has that swagger. These type athletes come along from time to time. And Amen is also my favorite player!

 

He got that Ben Simmons career arc

 

I think the real argument is about letting Amen be Amen. Amen's game has been almost completely instinctual and that is when it works best. NOW almost everything he is doing is something new where he has to create something and it takes a massive amount of energy from him and puts him in a different position. Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim

Our players are still GROWING. Sengun, Bari, Amen, and especially Reed. We are winning and competing when these are far from finished products. These are the speedbumps and hiccups you have with them. To me, Amen is a Swiss Army Knife whose comp is Kawhi. He needs to develop his 3 and his handle (like now) but he is more athletic, and I think he can get there. When you are learning or things are new you are going to be slower and more error prone.