You can't really make good volume stat comparisons until they are both starting and getting similar minutes. There are some advanced defensive stats that have Amen as the best post defender and best perimeter defensive player in the league. Wemby wasn't in the top ten in either catergory. Of course, that's not fair either, because Amen has been playing more minutes against 2nd teams than Wemby. If Ime starts Amen the rest of the year, you will be able to make a better comparison for the rest of this season.
Wemby has 30 ppg potential while Amen only has limited ppg ....and that was coming in. He has the advantage that he is the Number 1 from Day 1.
When trying to project Amen's career, I am thinking about Tmac. Do you know or remember that before Mcgrady left the Raptors and blossomed in Orlando, he shot 20-ish % on 3s at about ONE attempt per 36? Try putting on some mental blindfolds about how much of a scorer he became, search for a random Raptors Tmac highlight reel, and begin to see the parallels. The eye test confirms the similarities between the stat profiles of Amen and early Tmac. The only glaring differences? Amen's vastly higher TS% and Tmac's crazy block rates. In 2000, the then 20-year-old Mcgrady had just finished 3rd in 6MOTY and helped Vince Carter's Raptors advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. He left in the offseason. Other than the leaving part, Amen could have a similar result this season on the Rockets. Amen, from what I can gather, is okay with playing second fiddle and being the best teammate a teammate can ask for: observe his reaction whenever he sees his teammates make highlight plays. When he himself does crazy sh*t? Never screams, pounds his chests, flexes etc... The Rockets must beware though, because Amen has expressed that he wants to be a top player in the NBA. Four factors drove Tmac to sign in Orlando: 1.) Internal conflict within the Raptors (bad front office/mgmt? Not sure here, but Mcgrady said in 2021 that he "for sure" would have stayed had the Raptors had a front office like the one led by Masai Ujiri in Toronto recently) -- '24-25 Rockets is apparently a better run team, fortunately. 2.) Tmac's affinity with the city of Orlando -- Beware of GSW and LAL later 3.) There was no restricted free agency to help the Raptors retain him. 4.) He wanted his own spotlight. Thank God it appears that Udoka and Stone both see Amen as a franchise cornerstone. Better yet, Amen has been getting more on-ball reps recently. One play in the recently Grizzlies game has been stuck on my mind: Amen-FVV pick and pop for a wide open Fred three.
Amen's handles are still a bit shaky, we would benefit greatly if we kept FVV to a team friendly contract or replace him with a proper star PG.
Amen Thompson in the WIN against the Memphis Grizzlies: 19 PTS 13 REB 4 AST 5 BLK 2 STL 7-15 FG First sophomore with those numbers since Josh Smith in 2006.
I get excited when an opposing player starts to light it up, it usually means Amen is going to guard him and god I love watching amen on defender. He is a stalwarts and immediately shuts them down. Ja morant was shocked he also cooled down Desmond bayne in the third after that ridicules run he’s had.
Amen’s processing speed is just wild. He reacts to things before they even happen, which is obvious on defense but even on offense it’s noticeable. There was a play where he got an offensive board by reading the path of the ball and then tossed it to an open shooter before anyone else could react. If that’s how he and Ausar’s brains work, we need to find a way to get Ausar on our team too…you can’t teach feel, and Amen has ELITE feel
Amen just casually drops these 20/15/4 and 23/16/3 stat lines when he starts. And he locks up the opposing team's best player. And he's starting to bring up the ball and run the break now. Crazy how good he already is.
Sooooo... I'm typically not in favor of a player losing their starting spot after an injury but damn I don't envy Coach Udoka. I mean I love Jabari's game but this team looks and performs so much different with Amen starting. How many games this season would the Rockets have those offensive lulls where it felt like our players were running the sets in mud. It feels like that happens less frequently since Amen has been starting and I'm guessing that it's due largely to how much faster we are moving the ball up the court. At least that's how it feels and looks to me.
