Come on now. Wade was a proficient mid-range scorer, and so is Giannis. Amen can't score outside the paint.
In 2021, Giannis averaged 32.4% from 16 ft to 3pt line = "proficient" This year, Amen averages 32.5% from 16 ft to 3pt line = "can't score"
Wade won his first ring in the early 2000's. Might as well talk about Magic Johnson at that point(who was also a better shooter than Amen). Wade's next championship runs still came before the style of play we see today, but even then he had to make an unprecedented move and team up with a guy in the GOAT convo and another hall of fame player. All that said, even during those Bron lead runs he was about a 30% three point shooter, career 34% in the playoffs. Neither Wade nore Giannis ever had a season shooting 13% from three. Both of them combined in their entire careers only had 3 seasons shooting in the teens. Amen, in only his 3rd year is working on his 2nd season doing that. I think shooting wise Amen is more comparable to Wade because Giannis is a sniper compared to them. But I dont disagree that a championship team can include Amen. Possibly even built around him. But we do have to acknowledge how tough that will be if his shot doesnt improve. Even with Giannis for as great as he is, we see how fragile that eco-system was and how much that team needs to be built specifically to cater to him... And thats for a guy we hope Amen can eventually shoot as bad as.
D-Wade was under 40% for the midrange over the course of his career. He took those shots but he wasn't good at making them efficiently. Same goes for Giannis, under 40%. Amen is actually a better shooter from 10-16ft specifically than either of them right now (40.5% career number). I do believe Amen can be a 30% three point shooter @xtruroyaltyx. He just about got there last season. Not sure what's going on this season but I think it will turn out to be an aberration in the long run. My personal theory is he has the yips right now. Whether he can be better than that, I don't know.
This is why we won’t make it past the 2nd round without a legit pg We counter this by playing Amen off the ball
Amen has less gravity off ball than on ball except when he's camping the dunker's spot. The counters are playing more shooters with Amen or putting ball in Amen's hands more to pull defender to him. Other option (not a counter), is just ignore it and just try to win by bullying other team knowing that sometimes offense will collapse.
You don’t know if he’s putting in work or not. He did train last summer to improve his shot and worked on dribble pull-ups. The change isn’t overnight. You can’t expect to learn a move over the summer and be proficient with it especially in competitive professional games. It’s usually a 3 step process of learning/training, performing them in runs and scrimmages then real games. It can take years even to have enough confidence to attempt in real games. He’s shooting more from 10-15 ft out this year which is a good first step
Amen is great on the break (obviously), Dunker’s spot, cutting, and he is also decent from the corner 3. However I stand by the statement that we need a legit starting pg and currently our ceiling is 2nd round with Amen in that role.
Some of his shots are so bad it has to be mental, how you can airball a 3 being that big and strong defies physics. He think too much of his motion and proceeds to airball, sometimes his shot looks very fluid other times he is heaving it from his waist and bricking other times the motion looks good but he doesnt put enough force into his shot and it misses everything.
just takes a lot of practice. Most players play the way they’ve played all their lives. He likely dominated every league he’s been a part of with quickness, strength, and defense. As I said look up Jerami Grant who had no jumpshot or dribble pullup coming into the NBA very similar to Amen. He worked hard then was able to do it year 5 and proficient in it year 6.
Believe it or not but he’s actually regressed from 3 this season. You’re right I don’t know 100% what he worked on but I can see that if he did work on his 3pt shot it didn’t work. He's going to be an offensive liability in the playoffs at PG until he fixes this.
He already is a liability not being able to shoot more than 8-10 ft. That’s the frustrating part about his game. This is why I’ve advocated trading him.
There are not very many examples (none I can think of) of someone improving their FT % that much and NOT becoming a reasonable shooter. If he has the touch and discipline to shoot from one spot, he’ll eventually get there on others. It will just take a few off seasons of countless reps, then the confidence of seeing them go in during games. I have faith.
