I agree here but I think undoing the damage of the Silas era is going to take longer - but otherwise I’m on the same level here….but teaching an entire team how to play team defense is going to take a while.
I'm petrified by the idea of us picking #4 in the draft and he's the best available player! These type of articles make you feel that you'd be an idiot to pass up on this kid! Yea, he's really athletic and was a true standout in OTE, but the fact remains that he played against high school aged kids!! Saying he's a mixture of Brown,Ivey,Iguodala,Anunoby playing against 16-20yr olds is far from him being that type of player in the NBA!! If the Rockets are forced to make the call on this young man I hope they don't blow it!! GO ROCKETS!!! ....... ....... .......
I would take Amen Thompson in a heartbeat. He has elite athleticism guy in the stands just under 6'7". He's basically a talker version of a young Russell Westbrook. Yes, his shot from the three-point line needs the lot of work, but he scores in other ways... great at driving lanes and in transition. Mainly, Thompson has a great first step with really good court vision to find open players, which is what you want in a pg. As for Scoot, he's only 6'2" and more of a combo guard. Only shot 27% from beyond the arc in the G-league this year.
Game logs were from https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Amen-Thompson/GameLogs/176051 Here are some from the games: Girona: Mega: 36ers:
Personally, I'd much rather have Whitmore. I don't think his lack of passing or vision is nearly as broken as Amen's shot, plus he is younger and hasn't had as much time to develop. I think Whitmore is a much safer pick.
I am not a prospect / college expert, but are the 17 and 18 year olds in OTE really that much worse than the slow white kids playing at West Alaska State, in some of these weak ass colleges?
https://hoopshype.com/lists/2023-nb...ck-lively-bilal-coulibaly-brandin-podziemski/ Amen Thompson recently worked out for the Blazers, who hold the No. 3 pick. Among those on hand to watch was Damian Lillard. “You definitely feel like you have to impress (Lillard),” Thompson said following the workout. “He’s basically a part of the front office.” While it’s unlikely Thompson lands with the Blazers, the Rockets will take a serious look at him with the fourth pick if they keep it. Thompson is considered one of the top defenders in this class, which Houston would welcome after having the second-worst defensive rating in the league last season (118.6). Houston has a mandate to improve the team going into next season after several rebuilding seasons and significant cap space to spend this summer, including an aggressive pursuit of James Harden. The value of this pick will be gauged in various Rockets trade scenarios. Orlando also met with Thompson at the combine, and there have been whispers about the Magic trying to move up in the draft, which will be explained further below. (Further below…) “There’s a belief around the league that Orlando is open to moving the No. 6 and No. 11 picks if the Magic can move into the 3-5 range.”
The Rockets don’t need “safe.” They will lose their picks after this year. They need to swing for the fences with this pick. Amen has one of the highest ceilings in this draft.
Hendricks/Black/Walker at 6? Then Lively at 11 is tempting. But the Rockets better be sure that either Amen or Cam don't project to be high end all NBA types in a few years. I'm in the camp of taking one final swing on superstar potential. If Tillman doesn't have the patience for that then you have to at least consider a trade like this.
Lol the move at 0:19 in the first video is what people think KPj looks like. Watching a real playmaker after not having one for 3 years is going to be a treat. No one on this team outside of Sengun can hit any of these passes and he isn't a dribble drive threat either. Amen would be the only player on the team that can fluidly get the ball to him in the post.
You forget the Eskimos. They aren't half bad; they set a mean screen. And it's called Aleutian State now. School mascot is a king crab.
I could be persuaded that something like Ausar + Cason Wallace would be worth it, if you think Ausar has equal upside to his brother (I don't, but I can see the argument). The first problem I see is, would Orlando even be interested? The second problem is, we'd have to make some other trades to consolidate assets because we already have too many young guys who need minutes.
This is why I don't think the "he's only played against high schoolers and weak competition" argument holds any water. He's played really well against solid European competition. We rarely hold it against European players in the draft anymore that they didn't play against American college players, but we're holding it against Amen, when he's performed really well against that same level of European competition. The thing that's most promising about his most recent performance linked above isn't that he filled up the stat sheet or that he could make crazy passes—we know that already. It's that he was 8/8 from the free throw line. Even if he's never a very good 3-point shooter, if he can get to the foul line and shoot a decent percent there, he'll be fine. That was something Simmons could never do.
https://theathletic.com/4595658/2023/06/09/james-harden-rockets-nba-draft/ “Should they hold onto their lottery pick, names like Amen and Ausar Thompson and Cam Whitmore have been most frequently linked to the team, with the Thompson twins scheduled to visit next week.”
nah, you see prospects like Ja Morant were battle tested against powerhouses with real talent like Middle Tennessee, Bellarmine, Austin Peay, and Bradley
