This team has Amen Thompson, and he is establishing himself as the present and future at SF. Which also happens to be the same position Brooks plays. Brooks is a defensive player first and has limited offensive production, seems to be a good team mate. I originally thought he was going to be more in the mold of a Mario Elie, but he not the scrapper that Mario Elie was. I honestly wasn’t that impressed with Brooks. However, Amen was playing elite defense and efficient offensive production most of the second half of the season. Though Amen’s 3 point shooting is abysmal, he is money around the rim and he has such a high basketball IQ. Plus as Clint Eastwood said in the movie Dirty Harry, “a man has to know his limitations”, and Amen knows he sucks at shooting 3’s and he doesn’t shoot too many.
By the end of the season I think it will look something like this: C- Sengun (33) Adams (15) PF - Smith Jr (28) Eason (20) SF - Amen (32) Eason (10) Whitmore (6) SG - Green (28) Whitmore (20) PG - FVV (25) Sheppard (23)
Be prepared to be disappointed - Amens shooting - even if he's unwilling to take, makes him a bad fit with many lineups especially with Sengun. Brooks generally fits in any lineup and is still an elite defender. Brooks is not moving out of the rotation.
I am not a huge fan of only playing Amen as a SF. I still think his biggest asset is his size and speed, which opposing teams cant defend, at least not with a PG. But I guess it's fine the further we go away from offensive positions. FVV is our PG, but he is a SG tweener, as is Sheppard. And Sengun is the main facilitator on offense. So I guess it is a moot point of if he is playing as a PG or SF. And I don't think Brooks will be gone this season. He is here to bring defensive intensity and teach the young guys and hold them accountable. For large parts of last seasons he was really good. I could see us trading him next off season, but I do believe he will average at least 25 minutes a game this year.
Going to be extremely difficult to start Amen and Sengun together unless one of them learns how to shoot threes
It all depends on what type of offense we end up with. We will not be playing 5 out. It could work with Senhub orchestrating the offense with 3 out and Amen cutting to the basket. Also, Sengun shot 30%. His form is good. He will only get better at it. Amen may be a lost cause but does so much other stuff he negates his lack of shooting.
The Rockets are pretty set, but I will note the Rockets may prioritize one of their younger guys over Jalen sooner than you think. Retaining Jalen is a $31mil cap hold for 2025 FA. If the Rockets actually want to sign someone next year (say, Ingram) they may need to renounce his rights depending on what they do with FVV. I don't think he gets the same leash this year compared to last if he starts just as slow. The Rockets may just start Cam or Sheppard in his place if that happened.
Amen will lead the bench as point guard as they push him to to see if he's capable of taking over after FVV. Sheppard will play spot up shooter at the 2
I think people are underestimating how far the gap is between Thompson and respectability shooting wise. Sengun at 30% is not great, but you can live with it, and you can arguably have another guy about the same as long as he can hit decently from thecl corners. Thompson at 13% is just...not tenable in a half court offense in the long term unless he plays as the lone big. He's got a long way to go just to make it to mediocrity level.
The rotation for the start of the season is pretty predictable. Whats much more interesting to me is what it looks like the second half of the season.
x If Jalen were to flame out I think it would look something like this: C- Sengun (25) Adams (23) PF - Smith Jr (32) Eason (8) Sengun (8) SF - Eason (24) Amen (16) Whitmore (8) SG - Amen (16) Whitmore (18) Sheppard (14) PG - FVV (32) Sheppard (16) It could easily be Whitmore starting at SG with Amen starting at SF with Eason being the super-sub for SF and PF.
I'd love if Sheppard earned the backup PG spot out of camp. I just don't think Green is going to be benched to start the season. I think getting Amen and Cam NBA playing time with Sheppard in the G League is more likely than those three dividing up minutes.
Yeah, I don't see Dillon playing less than 25 mpg, and he's definitely not going anywhere before the trade deadline. Ime isn't going to trust those big defensive moments to one of the unseasoned youngsters. I imagine he'll start working Amen into those situations, knowing that Stone will be looking to send Dillon elsewhere sooner rather than later.
FVV (for now) /Reed Booker/Cam/Reed Thompson/Tari/Cam Jabari/Sengun Sengun/Adams Green & all the PHX picks back for Booker
Move DB & Landale to Detroit for Fournier & and future first. Move Tate to Clippers for Bones. Sign Wiseman & Kyle Lowry or Josh Richardson FVV/Reed/Bones Green/Lowry or Richardson/AJ Amen/Cam/Fournier Bari/Eason/Jeff Sengun/Adams/Wiseman
