All of Amen Thompson’s makes and misses at the rim

I bet KJ Martin at 20 would have looked better against 16 year old kids than either of the Thompson twins.

 

For item 1 (progress without jump shots), if it's only for those contribution, you can get those from proven role players around the league.

The concern if wasting a 4th pick, is after spending it, have to give playing time. And if he's supposed to be an engine; impact to other player's growth. There's a cascading effect if org goes down a wrong path.


For the record, a 4th pick for 2022-23 rookie salary is $6 mil ($6,673,700). It's not exactly chump change. Top drafted rookies these days are paid a decent amount. Celtics had Grant Williams on $2-$4 mil deal in his first four years.

 

Can we do the same for Ausar now?

 

Something went horribly wrong with Simmons in the NBA but at least he played in the NBA and was more than serviceable once upon a time.

 

More of a sure thing - Whitmore

Higher Ceiling/ upside more of a gamble- Amen

 

This pick would’ve made sense a few years ago. We’re trying to be competitive next season and this kid is just not gonna be good for a long time. If he can’t shoot, his ceiling is gonna be limited. Not feeling this at all

 

Their respective floors in my view are something like:

Whitmore:
10 points/5 rebounds/1 assist, 43/31/70 shooting

Amen:
8 points/5 rebounds/5 assists, 42/26/69 shooting

Both of those would be on around 24 minutes a game. So honestly, not that different in overall production. Whitmore would hurt our spacing less but would be a significantly worse passer.

 

You can't compare their stat like this. They are playing at different league. If we are going for highest ceiling then it's Amen. If we are going more for fit. I think best to go for Gradey Dick. But it look like they are going to get Jett Howard at 20th.

 

I wasn't basing it on their current production in their respective leagues, if I was Amen would be much higher. I was just guesstimating about their rookie stats based on watching their tape.

 

Man I’m a couple minutes in and this makes the G League defense look like the 2004 Pistons.

 

KJ Martin at age 20 was putting up 9 ppg in the NBA in 23 minutes. Thompson twins are at 16 ppg against high school kids.

The twins are pure media created busts every every level.

 

Just finished that video and it’s not pretty to me.

One of the scouting reports mentioned how he takes unnecessarily difficult layups and that comment is spot on. Another thing is he bring the ball down to his waist when going for a layup for no reason. That will be a disaster in the NBA.

He also looks like he’s the biggest player on the court in a good number of the clips. I’d like to see how he does when he’s playing against bigger guys. My guess is it won’t look good because he’s able to get away with these drives due to very poor defense and there is no one down low to clog the paint or block his shot.

He had a couple clips of him in the post and that was just puke. Like projectile vomit bad.

Honestly as I’m writing he kind of reminded me of Corey Brewer with how wild he is at times. He’s quick and has a nice first step but he also plays the game way too fast. It looks like he only has one speed.

I was really trying to see something positive but for the oldest and most athletic player in that league it didn’t look promising.

 

Should post a video with all his assists. To me that is the most exciting part of his game. I liked Giddey a lot as a prospect and passing wise i think hes comparable to Giddey and Lamelo. His playmaking is top tier.

But his shooting just scares me. Thats just such a huge hurdle to overcome in the nba today.

And with the Rockets going into "phase 2" and tillman expecting marked improvement, im not sure Stone wants to add a guy like this. I think he'll be looking for safer picks or guys with a game that transfers more quickly so that the team will be better positioned to reach their goals. If they dont, his job could be in jeopardy.

I think with Amen being a guy who will need the offense to run through him in order to be effective it would be hard to try to win AND go through those growing pains with him.

Of course I could be wrong and if i am id be excited about having that kind of playmaker and athlete on the team and just hope his shot improved quickly.

 

I don't think there's a compilation of all his assists on YT right now, I looked and couldn't find one. But here is a highlight reel with the playmaking section time-stamped for you:



The ones that really mesmerize me aren't even the flashiest passes, I love those quick, decisive, laser cross-court passes to an open shooter when initiating the offense. Having a guy who can do that starting things off would have generated so many more easy buckets for us this past season, instead of KPJ's incessant dribbling.

 

Amen’s box score would be a little different:
10 points/5 rebounds/6 assists/1.2 blocks/3 steals
Whitmore is not a playmaker at all, he is a black hole

 

Amen is a point guard not a forward, he has to have the ball in his hands. Someone told me he is a taller John Wall in his prime…interesting

 

Soft touch. Take this man.

 

Bottom line is Amen can’t shoot, and you can’t draft a guy that can’t shoot.

 

I think his brother is better finishing at the rim with more touch on layups and shots. Amen is more of a dunker. I don't know why the creator of this video got so many videos on Amen, but none on Ausar. It seems really interesting that Amen is pushed so hard as a better prospect, when Ausar won every MVP available in the OTE and he was on the same team as Amen last season. You can see Ausar passing to Amen if you check out the Amen cutting video. I also don't know if you can give as much credit for court vision and Bball IQ based on being able to predict your twin bro's reads.

I haven't seen many cases with 2 guys with identical measurables and physical attributes and the same team, but I would say the one with the best stats and the regular season and finals MVP awards may be the best player. Even if Ausar is the better prospect, it seems strange that it is treated as a consensus when both players are still far from finished projects.