All of Amen Thompson’s makes and misses from 3 at OTE

Passing is valuable at every position. Taking turns scoring in ISO is just bad, ugly basketball that rarely wins championships.

 

I'm not super worried about that. I see him as a SF in the mold of Mikal Bridges (or younger Jalen Brown), with defense, a 3PT shot, and an ability to be a secondary scorer when the 3PT is cut off. I don't need too much passing from him, and I expect that to improve over time. That's where coaching should hopefully come in.

 

sure but not all players must have it. You can still be a good player who doesn't have generating assists as a strength. Cam doesn't which is fine because he isn't a pg nor is he a playmaker. he has other strengths as a wing with good size. that just won't be part of his role and it's on the stupidity of a team to put him in that position if they do. there's no rule that says every single position must be some high usage playmaker.

 

If i'm Stone, now is the time I am putting together a strong package to move up to #2 to grab Scoot Henderson or Lamelo Ball.

 

And there's no concerns with the level of competition he played? Just in common memory I can think of two busts where everyone ignored their competition, Thon Maker, who played a 5th (or 9th) year of High School basketball and Dragan Bender, where everyone ignored that he wasn't even starting on a mediocre euroleage team, Macabbi Tel Aviv. The Thompson twins are the oldest players in OTE by nearly half a year, and they still didn't dominate the league. The median age over there is 18. It looks more like a glorified AAU tourney than anything else.

Now I can see why GMs back in the day wanted drafting kids out of high school to end.

 

So who do these Harden fans want since they see Amen as a threat?

 

OTE is a trash league. no question about that. It won't be around much longer with NIL becoming a huge staple now for college sports

 

Trade the pick is what they want

 

lol @ threat. it's more like folks don't want the leftovers of a westbrick/simmons clone after the top 3 elite of wemby/miller/scoot are gone

 

Damn.

 

Most of the players he played against were 18-19 years old, and there are a number of 4 and 5 star players on OTE. Having said that I am aware he is playing in a different league, and have wondered how to evaluate him as a prospect. At the end of the day, Amen Thompson has the type of skill set that translates. Why? his strength is his passing, his finishing, his athleticism, defense, size and explosiveness.

Also, you numbers are wrong - Amen Thompson did not shoot 40% at the rim. He shot an extremely high rate at the rim, and that is in half and full court - off cuts and drives: all of his shooting percentages in that range are around 70-85%.

That is where scouting comes in.

Certain things translate regardless of level of competition - and somethings don't.

His quickness and speed and size and passing aptitude will translate - his 44 inch vertical will as well.

There are genuine things to not like about Thompson.... he only shot 28% on catch and shoot opportunities outside of 12 feet.... he shot overall poorly from 3 this season. His jump shot form was so bad that they took him and his brother to spend a month with Mike Miller, who literally taught him how to shoot like he would a 10 year old. His brother had some early success until his mechanics reverted on his shot - Amen didn't show any progress until really late in the season. Amen is shooting better right now than he ever has - he is shooting well in the gym, but it is fair to question if that translates or not to games - shooting in an empty gym isn't the same as shooting in a filled arena with top notch defenders.

He doesn't need to get 31% of his shots for dunks to be really good - he shot overall a high percentage from the floor. Getting 31% of his shots being at or near the rim is certainly attainable for someone as athletic as Amen is. Westbrook got close to 40% of his attempts at or near the rim the first few years in the league - Derrick Rose was pretty close to that number as well.

Also - every player in this draft have some very scary numbers. Even Wemby has issues that are just glossed over - he only shot 28% on catch and shoot attempts - he overall only shot like 31% from outside of 10 feet - which matters because Wemby said he will play on the perimeter on offense.

Cam Whitmore is a black hole as a passer or scorer within an offense - Brandon Miller has real issues scoring within 5 feet of the basket - Scoot for as athletic as he is, doesn't really score well close to the basket.

 

Drafting this guy at 4 would be a colossal mistake.

 

Well, it is because he is good at literally everything else except shooting.

He is a very good passer, he can be a very good defender - he is a monster in transition and he finishes very well.

He is a bad shooter so far - that is just a fact.

What do you do with that? Some guys like Dwayne Wade and Ja Morant never learn to shoot and are stars.

So it is a weird situation

 

I consider outside shooting to be anything outside of like 8 feet for a guard. Thompson shoots fine inside of that range.

I freely admit he is a really bad shooter. His form and mechanics are a lot better than they were last year or even this season - but there are no guarantees on how much he will improve as a shooter.

 

His inability to pass or process the game is certainly pertinent. He isn't ever going to be someone that makes quick reads or decisions. He is an isolation scorer (a very good one last year), but that has an impact on the players around him and how they play. He also did very poorly posting up, so he is limited to an isolation scorer.

I have him 5th on my board and I expect him to be a Caron Butler type player - but he isn't likely going to be much more than that. IT comes down to how risk adverse a team is and what they want.

 

You and I both know that Thompson is a far inferior shooter to either Wade or Morant, neither of those guys had problems hitting free throws or lacked a game from outside 8 feet.

If Amen put up 28% from 3 and shot 75% from the line he'd go #2 over Henderson in a heartbeat.

 

I don't think after tanking an entire season you can settle for that as your reward. It's just too damn risky. I'd much sooner trade the pick. You can't afford to miss on this pick after the season they just went through, and for all his talent, Amen Thompson looks like a dude who has some serious bust potential. That outside shot is absolutely painful to watch, even against vastly inferior talent.

 

Bridges and Brown were vastly superior passers in college and did not isolate as often as Whitmore did -

I like Whitmore, I have him as a top 5 player in this draft, but his game processing and passing issues do limit his upside. Bridges and Brown at the same age were a lot better at passing and moving the ball and playing within the system.

 

Walker's skill set along with his agility testing is enough to take him at 4. Easy to envision him in many lineups with the current squad. He's a solid, low fat 240 at 19 yrs old. Can move like a guard. Will be a good 4 or small ball 5. Has crazy lateral movement and defensive awareness. Him, Bari and Tari would project as an upcoming defensive nightmare for the league.