[2023 NBA Draft/1-4] Amen Thompson, G, Overtime Elite

No ego about his own shots or making the alleged “right” play. Self aware about his own flaws. He’s already giving his teammates confidence, telling them he’s dedicated to getting them better, more shots. You can’t develop this mindset.

Even with Sengun instead of complaining he’s not a lob threat, he’s understanding how they can play off each other. You can tell he’s been watching at least as much footage as a fan. Knows what everyone can and can’t do.

In Amen, Green, Sengun, Jabari we have the right mix of selfishness and selflessness. They’ll be happy to share and won’t feel like they’re owed something for doing it.

It will take time and the things Amen wants to do will take him time, but it’s nice to know he sees himself as a passer and defender first.

 

Lol 6’8 Cade.. what a fraud

Btw, hope that Amen will spend many times with Ben Sullivan and rebuild his shooting mechanics from the scratch..

year 1 target: 32% from 3 (yeah really low, but i hope there’s 2% improvement every year until he hits 37-38%)

 

Work got in the way of CF yesterday, so after hitting the Whitmore thread yesterday I finally got through Amen's last night and this morning.

First, thanks for everyone posting all of the great content!! Can't help but be SUPER excited about this young man--so polished and poised! Yes, he's an absolute athletic freak, but did you hear him speak? He's like already a 5-7 year vet mentally. His parents have done an OUTSTANDING job of shaping Amen and Ausar.

I remain skeptical of OTE as a developing/proving ground for young talent. However, it's hard not to see the dynamic moves, explosion, defensive prowess, and court vision Amen possesses in any format.

Right now he has one limitation, his jump shot. If he can conquer that mountain he can be an absolute superstar. If I was a gambler, I think I'd take that bet because of his work ethic.

The question most of us old hoopers have is with all of the development he and Ausar have undergone, how did they come up with such atrocious shooting mechanics and just get a Mike Miller type shooting coach a year ago? Someone mentioned earlier about a fast twitch athlete like these guys can have a tough time slowing down their mechanics and another mentioned DRose's unicorn bball (heavier) that helps. Perhaps there is something to both of those points, I was never a real fast twitch guy, but I could shoot pretty well.

Here's a few looks at his shot since 8th grade. In the most recent clip, it almost looks like he's shot-putting the ball. He definitely starts with the ball too low and the whole motion coming up is so much wasted movement. His lower body is a mess as well. Legs spread wide apart of kicking out for no reason.

In his training with Miller we see him focusing on starting their shots higher and removing a lot of that extra motion--keeping it simple. Love this video and know its been posted before, but probably good to see it again for encouragement...

Amen is certainly a swing for the fences and while it's always frustrating to see kids with this kind of talent and missing the most critical skill in the game we all love, I'm hopeful that Ben can keep building on Miller's work and get his shot squared away.

 

Pro Day interview. I can see why the Spurs were trying to figure our how to nab him. He definitely has that Kawhi/Duncan "Popovich guy" personality. Almost robotic and straight to business type.

 

I know the twins worked out with Miller, but do we know how involved he was? Like I'm guessing he wasn't hired by OTE to be there every day for every workout. He's got a lot of other things on his plate that I assume he focuses on. I know OTE has their own shooting coach. His name escapes me...but he didn't seem like a Mike Miller (or some other former NBA/coach quality).

Maybe a good coach nevertheless, but because I want to believe Amen *can* shoot, I think I might claim he's a trash coach. (Sorry coach who's name I can't remember)

Anyway, if people want to see more of Amen talking, here's this video of Sam Vecenie interviewing the twins from a while back:

I just assumed most have already seen it, but probably not. No idea if it got shared earlier in this thread, but I know it has been shared (mostly by me?) in other threads prior to the draft.

 

Buddy I even used the largest text size! Lol ok I’ll bold, underline AND italics the important part

 

Amen is smart. amen.

 

Yeesh I thought I was a hoop head and he did better than me.

 

Sorry, but I can't take it anymore. It sounds like almond.
Amen.

 

Scoot vs Thompson Twins!

 

People throw out stuff like "love of the game" and 90% its PR fluff, but that right here was legit impressive.

 

I consider myself a stathead, especially back when the Rockets were good, but even I would have gotten only 11 or 12 of those, ol' girl took it back all the way to CP3.

 

Just read the first 4 pages and man, the people who are disappointed with the pick are going to look really bad in the future.

 

Yeah, he's above Scoot in my book now.

 

This. Amen Thompson is nasty. He could be this generation’s Penny Hardaway (without the injuries).

 

Yeah thats what i thought too he looks very strong