Yeah Amen is definitely 2-3 years away from superstar status. It's not just the 3PT shot, his handles need work too.
He could be like Mobley in the sense he make a all defensive team and still not be a considered a star yet. I could see that next season. He should make it a goal next season to make a all defensive team. Under Ime there is a good chance that happens.
Oh yeah I think he can be a Mobley. I just meant superstar status. I don't believe he can be a future superstar until he's hitting 33% of 2 x 3PA. That's my guesstimate at least. I don't believe in the midrange jumper plan, doomed to fail imo. Amen, Tari and Udoka is going to be crazy defensively. I think Jabari is going to be visibly better at understanding fundamentals of interior defense after that crash course he went through when Sengun went down. They're going to spend quite a lot of minutes with Adams protecting the rim also. Last summer people were surprised when I said no one is anticipating how good our defense is going to be. I think we're going to ascend one more tier next season.
Call me crazy, but I think a young Dwyane Wade would still be a superstar in today's league (even if his shooting was just as bad). Do I think Amen is going to be as good as Dwyane Wade? Probably not, that would be an extremely high-end outcome for him. But it's not impossible, and if Wade could be a superstar in today's league with a sub-30% three point shot, Amen could too, in kinda of a low % best-case outcome.
While I don't disagree that Wade would be a star in today's NBA, Amen has a long way to go to even reach Wade's shooting level. Wade basically averaged 30% from 3, which is a long way from Amen's 14%. Wade also averaged a much better FT% than Amen last season. Ja is another example -- he's far from a good 3 pt shooter, but he's just good enough that defenders can't completely sag off. He's also good from the free throw line, so hacking won't work. Amen's shot, at the moment, is so busted it's on a completely different level than Wade and Ja. Amen isn't a poor 3 pt shooter -- he's a historically bad 3 pt shooter. And his low FT% doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence that his shot will dramatically improve. If, however, he can get his 3 pt shot up to 30% or so, the sky's the limit.
Wade was effectively a total non-factor from 3 the first four years of his career (24.9% on 1 attempt per game), the period which included his first ring by the way. He got a bit better later but still finished his career under 30%. Of course you can say "different era" and all that, which is true, but I maintain that even the early career version of Wade would be a star if time traveled into today's game. Not really provable either way I suppose.
wade had a underrated mid range game Wade was basically a bigger version of AI, though I feel AI was natural better shooter pre-nba based on eye test (not 3pt%), plus those two years at Marquette and that MM run showcased what was to come......... But I see where you going with the Amen thang and all for it Amen gives me Rodman/Green vibes/impact...... Being what he has showcased in small sample size is just being a superstar(ish) at what he does with rebound/defense/passing/energy ....... So Rodman would give you 2 to 5 points along with 17-20 boards with defense Amen gives you the more triple double flirt each game, just making stuff happen Similar to how I view Eason In his role, he shines bright(star-ish), I forgive him for missed bunnies because he is relentless on def. and is young Spurs 14' version of def. focused Claw To me the media has done a disservice to the Role player tag as being or meaning less.... The Dream role as a player (All NBA / superstar) was more of a heavy load as no.1 option and he was killer at what he did across the board ......... Thorpe role was lesser scoring, but his defense/rebound/toughness made him a star for his part he was doing for rockets We all have roles, in all facets of life.....even on here (civil/rant etc)
You might be right but I think Wades rookie season handles are much better than Amen's and that's extremely important. Wade was ready to run a team almost right out of the gate. Another key thing is: in Wades career there were MAYBE 2 times than the Heat lost a game because their opponents dared Wade to shoot. When they'd leave him open like a Ben Simmons, he would show up. He wasn't afraid to take the shot, and he didn't overly force the drives. If Amen can do that, we're set. Love the comp anyway. Amen's a clearly better defender but otherwise solid comp. I think they end up very similar players but in different eras.
Yeah, the handles are a big thing Amen still needs to work on. Almost think it's more important than the shooting? (Both are important.)
Wade also was top tier at attacking the basket, in Amen's own words (paraphrased)"I don't have a dunk package, 2 handed simple dunks is all I have." Wade also had a mid-range and a phenomenal handle. Amen's got a lesser bag than Clint Capela, it's not just his 3pt shot, outside of easy gimme buckets and transition layups he's really not bringing that much to the table on the offensive end. He looks more like a defensive specialist than any kind of superstar at this point, especially when if you're going to be a 1-way player it's much easier to be a superstar on offense (in fact, unless you go back to the Russell era where there were like 3 teams and all the best players were on the Celtics, there aren't really any defense-only superstars.)
Amen did shoot 71.4% around the rim as a rookie, which are pretty insane numbers. Sure, some of that was big man-style open dunks set up by others, but a lot of it was self-created using his quickness and athleticism or in transition. He flashed some layup skills. He'll probably never have the Wade's layup package, but he's also several inches taller than Wade, so maybe he doesn't need to. He does need a much better handle to have any chance at reaching star status.
Yeah he had the shot profile of a center, of course he shot a high percentage. You'll have to forgive me if I don't really rate that particularly highly as a "strength" when almost anybody asked to do not much but dunk or shoot from 2 feet away would have pretty similar numbers...
Since apparently it's so easy, and since he's been terrible for 3 years trying to do his own thing, maybe we have Jalen not do much but dunk or shot from 2 feet away and see if it generates respectable numbers.
If you watch that reel somebody posted the other day of all his dunks from the season you'll see that a ton of them were self-created off the dribble.
Dobizzle only has eyes for Jalen. Any guard that may take the eyes off his hero, must and will be attacked. There should have been more options in the who is ruining the GARM. One should be Jalen Haters and Jalen Lovers. It is both that highjack virtually every thread. We have 7 possible stars on this team. Why can’t we rationally discuss strengths and weaknesses of any of them without it degenerating into a Jalen argument? The answer is BTG and Dobbizle, primarily.
Lumping me in with that moron is quite disrespectful, am I critical of bad players on the Rockets? Of course, I always have been. If not for the Jalen only fans, normal conversations about the Rockets just stay normal
When not commenting about Jalen, I think you have pretty good arguments and are much more knowledgeable than the Dobbizle’s of the world, but the fact that remains that 95% of your posts are about Jalen. Almost every thread seems to become a Jalen argument and you are definitely a part of that. This thread was supposed to be about Lauri. I can see Jarbari and Sengun being brought into the discussion, because they are are front court players. Why Jalen made his way into this thread and virtually every thread is perplexing to me.
This whole thread is a non-sequitur given the Rockets were not ever seriously interested in Lauri in the first place.
