Another injury signals our destiny: is it realistic to bench Amen ever again?

Yes, because as great as Amen looks, he still is severely limited in his scoring and creating ability at this stage of his career and Sengun's offensive talents are needed more. So with that, you need Jabari more than you need Amen. Both because of how he defends next to Sengun, but, probably more importantly, because Sengun needs more than 1 actual "shooter" to kick out to. Games Jabari is our or is sitting, they collapse on Sengun with more confidence knowing our shooters are limited.

 

Extremely small sample size. And the opponents that those lineups perform well against matters. To clarify, there may be a team at the bottom of the standings that matches up better with us when it's Amen>Jabari. That doesn't mean we should tailor our lineups because they perform better against opponents we won't face in serious, meaningful games.

Against top tier teams, being a good defender and a good shooter might be more valuable than just being a good defender.

It's almost impossible to seriously answer this question when Jabari has been out so few games --AND Amen was suspended.

Also, you can't definitively attribute improvement solely to Amen's insertion into the starting lineup. Correlation is not causation. While he may be a significant factor in our hypothetical long term improvement, it could also just be that as we hit mid season, the team and every other player is simultaneously improving.

I'm not trying to avoid your hypothetical. I just can't agree with the general -- and simple -- hypothetical of "Amen plays well, we have to sit Jabari" without knowing all of the mitigating circumstances.

Now if you want to say "Amen starts hitting threes at 30+ percent and more than 3 attempts a game, the team wins at a better rate than first third of the season, and everyone else is playing well within the starting lineup," well that's more detailed and okay, sit Jabari because Amen is now doing what Jabari can do and better (play high level defense AND hit threes).

Side note, Amen is already a better cutter than Jabari but SOME of that is because he's SUCH a bad shooter that guys often turn their heads and help off him and he uses that to his advantage. Jabari is a known shooter and his man doesn't sag off as much, prohibiting him the chance to cut as easy -- he's also in different positions than Amen who is often left in the corner more often than Jabari.

 

You are watching these games and coming away from them thinking that Amen is offensively challenged?

This guy can generate his own shot almost whenever he wants near the rim And seems to finish just as effectively as Sengun.

 

I don't disagree with you that Amen is different. And very likely could be that guy. But I don't think that replaces TODAY what Jabari does. And when I said small sample size, I wasn't referring to the ultimate sample size of total games Jabari is out -- just the games we've had so far is too small to even consider the question. 10 games you'd at least be able to entertain the thought.

And the sample size of the games we've seen them both play tell us that Jabari is an important part of the offense with Sengun, in particular. So, this season, do we want to focus on maximizing Amen? Or maximizing Sengun? I think the latter.

 

I t think his offense is significantly limited. He can go down hill and he can cut well (particularly because his man often ignores him).

But he doesn't have the best handles or ability to create unique shots. He just drives hard and is so athletic and agile that he can get decent looks from 4-5 feet.

Outside of fast breaks, Amen scores mostly from action.

Edit: his offensive skillset is limited. He does 2 things on offense really well.

 

Amen in the starting lineup shows how much Jabari's hesitant mentality actually does hurt this team.

Jabari off the bench for the rest of this year or trade him.

 

I agree with your first statement but disagree with the second.

Ideally, Amen will be able to replace FVV in the starting lineup next year.

 

I'd rather ride into the playoffs with Amen, Cam, Adams coming off the bench while we can. It will help us more in the post season

Brooks, Cam, Adams doesn't have the same punch to it

Let Amen be a starter from the jump next season

 

This conversation is not needed. The argument is not who will sit between Amen and Jabari, it is who will sit between Jabari and Brooks. Amen will be starting the rest of the year. Hell, even statistically he is beating both in every category other than 3 pt%. The fact that we are exploding on offense and Amen is averaging more points than Jabari makes the whole "Sengun can't play with Amen" stuff moot. We also have added another spot up shooter in FVV and unleashed Jalen. Even Ime isn't so stubborn that he will bench Amen again. FVV being off ball at least 2/3 of the time is the secret sauce to making this offense work.

 

I'd rather bench Jabari than sit Brooks. People underestimate what Brooks brings to our starting lineup.

I'm more in favor of letting FVV come off the bench and let Jabari start with Amen.

I want to see what they can do in the 2nd half of the season just as a preview if we decline FVV's contract this summer.

The only problem is if Ime will allow that since he loves FVV so much. I get it tho, FVV brings a lot of stability to the starters. Say what you will about his terrible shooting this year but he still hits timely shots every now and then and his defense is nothing to scoff at. He is very pesky and smart defender. You see his hands are very active, alot more so than Reed's (obviously he's a rookie). This skillset keeps FVV in the league because he can poke away balls all the time.

It's very likely we will get a lotto pick this year with the Suns pick.. if it lands outside top 4, we will likely pick a big. If it lands in top 4, it's either Flagg or it will be a point guard. There are multiple 6'6~ point guards this year in the draft. I'm sure many fans are already salivating at the idea of drafting Dylan Harper, who looks like an absolute stud at 6'6, 215lbs look NBA ready.

 

Page 2 Jating was finger licking good!

Jalen has raised his 3pt shot by 3% points in 10 days since the high fiving -- LOL

To the committed Jater I implore you please keep jating. You've gone this far why turn back? Resist fully and keep the intergalactic time/space continuum working as expected.

 

He’s just too good to not start. Tough decisions to be made by Ime once everyone is healthy.

 

Yeah, I'm noticing this too. I think Sengun's recent struggles have to do with Smith being out. But he's still pretty damn good, despite the dip in production.

Then again, adding Thompson to the starting lineup seems to have fueled and opened up Green's game.

So what if replacing Smith with Thompson in the starting lineup means Sengun playing at 80% but having Green playing consistently at a star level? That's a pretty good argument for making the change permanent.