We agree to disagree. I just don't think he has higher ceiling than Alpi, Jalen, Cam or Reed. Other than Giannis, none of the superstars in the league have crazy athletic gifts. I don't think athleticism means a lot if we're talking about superstardom.
How is his floor Jrue? Wouldn't his floor be if he never develops a jumpshot from anywhere? Jrue is a great three point shooter. Amen is definitely a high ceiling but low floor player to me.
The thing is Amen is very skilled, nothing like giannis. Giannis couldn't dribble, couldn't pass, couldn't shoot. he wasn't particularly good at anything. Amen is almost good at everything except for shooting. I made the comparison to giannis above to show that you can be an mvp even without shooting, and lacking many other things. I think a good comparison is Kwahi. I am not saying this to claim that he has higher ceiling than Sengun to be clear. That's another discussion.
If you told me that Amen Thompson would become a good enough shooter to be at least a net neutral on spacing, then yes, he'd be the best prospect on the team.
I’ve changed my thinking on a lot of this. Jalen Green has the highest upside on this team. It’s all about consistency with him. If that happens and he reaches his full potential, watch out! 3 level scorer, can break defenses down, secondary playmaker, good POA defender. Nobody has flashed the potential to be a complete player like him.
Amen's floor is what he is now, a defensive and rebounding monster who can also handle the ball and has good court vision. He is excellent at getting to the rim and finishing. I'd say that's a pretty high floor already. If he never develops an outside shot, he probably won't be a franchise level player, but an elite role player like Jrue (in different ways).
Let's face it, Jalen and Jabari, our two highest picks, have been net negatives on the court so far. Flashes of brilliance in Jalen's case, but they haven't figured it out yet. I'm not out on Jalen yet and certainly not on Jabari, but as of now, I see Alpi, Amen, Tari, Cam and Reed more as winning players than Jalen and Jabari.
What does LEBRON mean to you? How does it express "basketball IQ"? How is Cam or even Tari who played limited minutes against mostly bench units shows "more winning"? Tari if you swapped Green with him would make the Rockets a worse team. Can having Green's role would make the team worse. Amen also.
Tari is a replica of Boban nowadays in todays' NBA. benchwarmer with some nice stats at victory cigar moments.
The players you mentioned have game feel. That's the thing with Jabari and Jalen. They kinda dont. In spanish we have a term that goes "agarra la onda guey" which kinda means "read the room f*cker". So many times I mutter that to myself when I watch Jabari and Jalen. At least Jabari has a role if he doesn't become anything more than he is.
Honestly I don't know what you mean by "game feel" especially when you compare Cam to Jalen. What are you referring to exactly? Can you elaborate "game feel" and what attributes Amen has or Cam has with "game feel"? Cam the dude who averages more turnovers than assists? Amen, the guy we drafted as a guard who then coaching staff thought would be better suited playing as a 4/5 (a lack of ball skills is why that happens)? A dude who averages more turnovers than assists and a dude who was so bad at being a guard they changed him to a power forward post ASB Tari Eason has "game feel"? Dude is a high motor work horse with great length and agility for his size who gets to lose balls like a mad man and who will give it 100% on the defensive end all the time. His ultimate hustle is why people like him but in terms of game feel he is a headless chicken... A chaotic mess in half court set.
It is an impact stat. It does not measure (or even try to measure) "basketball IQ" or anything else. It only measures impact. If a team played Steph Curry in the dunker spot, this stat would say he has a negative impact. Tari Eason has a positive impact because his role is limited. The team does better when he is on the court, based on the way we ask him to play, and based on the way he is allowed to play. If we put him in Jalen's role, the team would do worse, because he can't do what Jalen does.
This is basic common sense that 80% of this board doesn't understand. And this is why advanced analytics 99% of the time deployed in internet debates are useless. For most people who deploy them like atw, it's just a random number that tells them all their narratives with zero intellectual curiosity on the limitations of these advanced analytics
I assume that by "victory cigar moments" you mean garbage time against benchwarmers. That is so far from reality I don't even know how anyone could get that idea.
