I see him as a point forward. I'd like tovsee him develop a Carmelo Anthony style post up game. His basketball IQ is off the charts
ohhh have you thought about Amen - Whitmore - Tari - Bari - Adams/Brooks? 2 non shooters if you play Adams, but the defense and the rebounding is worth at least testing for a few minutes.
With Detroit's future looking bleak, how about the '24 BKN first swapped for Ausar. He would be much better utilized and developed under Udoka. Lots of brothers play on the same team. The Lopez's the Antetoukounmpo's, etc. Just don't play them at the same time unless it's for a defensive stop since neither are plus shooters yet.
Would you trade Sengun for Ausar and Duren, plus their #1? To me, the only reason I would do it is because Duren is avg a double double, he's a rim runner, he plays good defense AND you would be adding Ausar to bolster the defense further. This would give the Rockets a definite IDENTITY. C - Duren, Adams PF - Jabari, Tari SF - Brooks, Ausar SG - Green, Cam PG - FVV, Amen
I look at Tari as Rodman type player. If Amen can become a Pippen type (Scottie couldn't shoot coming out of Central Arkansas) we're in business
Lol Nola saying Zion is fat Jordan, Ingram is offensive Pippen, Herb Jones is lanky Rodman, Valanciunas is better Longley. Tre Murphy is kukoc, Hawkins is Kerr, Alvarado is Hispanic Armstrong.
Tough to call because I really like Duren a lot BUT Sengun is in rare company in terms of offensive skill set between scoring and playmaking. He's getting more reliable on the defensive end and the concern with that lineup would be where do the points come from because Green is playing at his end of the year average not his normal scoring numbers. I love hard-nosed defense first teams but you have to have a high efficiency go-to scorer or 3 and with that team you have none. Sengun is that one guy the Rockets can really depend on for points, so to answer your question I would probably say no.
If he stays healthy, I think he is on the way to become a bigger force than Barkley. He is basically a miniature Shaq and some Giannis. He has seriously got to work on his body and further skillset. Also within the media.
Since the all star break, Amen Thompson has stepped his game up. He is shooting 56% from the field, 73% from the line and has a TS of 60. His O rtg is 121 and his D rtg is 106 His +/- is a robust +7.5 His raw numbers are 11 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 steals and a block in a little over 20 minutes a game. The three point shooting remains a problem, he has slightly improved on some mid range shots. Still - he is showing how strong and well rounded his game is.... and he isn't doing it because of increases shots, his usage is still a low 18%. He is getting to the point where he may be able to parlay himself into a lesser Larry Nance type of career even if he doesn't improve his shooting - which I expect he will, but I don't know how much better.
Nook, the real question to me is Amen improving his handles this offseason where he can be a full time PG. Where he can dribble into the paint confidently and keep his dribble. He can be a swiss army knife wing and be successful, but being a full time PG with good handles is what will make him elite. Obviously the shooting element is important, but more important for me right now are handles that allow him to BE the PG.
Why would Detroit trade the fifth pick in last year’s draft for probably the 8-10 pick in a weak draft.
You're right, I wasn't really thinking that one through. There would need to be additional assets. In addition, we're already starting to get a glut of Wings between Jabari, Tari, Amen and Cam. It's going to be hard to feed them all what they deserve.
This is a good point. I am fairly confident his handles will become tighter. He played for years against players younger than him - and then was thrown into the deep end against grown men that are the best in the world, and all of a sudden, his handle wasn't good enough. He has adjusted some, I see some tightening - but I agree that it will have to improve. I am fairly confident it will improve because he has an aptitude for it, he just didn't need it until 6 months ago when he faced adult professionals for the first time.... had he played major D-1 or had he gone to Australia, he would have had an extra year or two of adjustment. I have put up for OTE in the past, you can see skills like quickness and size and stop and go - that translate. However, the age difference really plays out on other skills like ball handling.
Not going to flame you, I made the same comparison months ago. Magic was a matchup nightmare, he could literally play 1-5 and Amen is similarly versatile, creating favorable matchups.
