Our defense and rebounding have regressed, not because of Amen. Jabari will come off the bench unless Brooks falls off like he did last year. Next year's starting five without a trade is Amen, Jalen, Brooks, Jabari, Sengun. They almost have to get rid of FVV either via trade or not picking up the option. He will be too expensive as a backup guard. Reed (or replacement), Cam, Tari, Adams or replacement is a fine bench. A trade for Durant using FVV would have been ideal, but Phoenix is not going to play ball. Amen, Jalen, and Sengun are all max players within 4 years. We will have to start planning right away. Jabari and Cam are wild cards. Hopefully Jabari will sign an extension of 25-30m next year. Jabari's length and rebounding is the main reason our defense has regressed. He just needs to become more aggressive in taking wide open 3's to replace Dillon, who wil be really good coming off the bench.
Agree with you on next year's roster and starters, without a trade. I've said many times this season I wished FVV would miss a chunk of games so we could see that starting lineup this year, even if it would cost some wins (at first). We'll see if Jabari is extended. Rockets are 9-3 and have looked their best without him. He was certainly on an uptick. I still feel he can be a PF version of Klay but probably not this year. I'm glad it wasn't his shooting hand. These are great discussions to have!
agree! Again it would be nice to have Jabari around but Amen and others have picked up the slack so well that his absence is hardly noticed and the team keeps on winning unexpectedly against the top teams even on the road. If Jabari isn’t traded, hopefully he comes back strong and contributes but I feel like the organization will make a trade to position this team for a deep playoff run this year.
Amen has not made Jabari expendable, he has made FVV expendable. FVV was a great signing at the time and the contract was structured perfectly. FVV is also playing real well in his new role as an off-ball spot up shooter that can step in when the youngsters get a little turnover happy. The offense has taken leaps and bounds with Amen being inserted into the starting line-up and the transition from an FVV/Sengun centric offense to an Amen, Jalen, Sengun centric offense. Defense has taken a step back, because they are missing Jabari's length both inside and outside the lane and his defensive rebounding. Unfortunately, I don't see an optimum trade of FVV this deadline and we will play with largely the same line-up the rest of the year. Boston also exposed FVV on the defensive side of the ball last night. He can't coach height and FVV is being exploited by taller guards. Jabari's weak side defense will help in that regard and he should replace Dillon at some point in the starting line-up.
100%. I would only add that Jabari may not have a big impact to finish THIS season. However, if he hits the ground running after returning, that would be great. Next year, FVV will be made irrelevant because of Amen.
I think Jabari will play a lot better with Amen on the floor and not Brooks. Also, Jabari runs the break better than Brooks does and is a more willing passer than Brooks and Brooks will be just fine playing the 6 man role and neither Jabari or Brooks is losing minutes. I think Cam and Tate will lose some minutes when Jabari comes back and Adams since Bari was playing center sometimes too but all in all I think Bari will get a lot more easier shots thanks to Amen having more usage on the team.
That's the true beauty of Amen. His positionless versatility allows for just about anyone to become expendable. At the same time, I don't understand why he has to make anyone expendable. He's a Swiss army knife. Use the proper tool at the proper moment/ game/ time. If we had 2 Swiss army knives I'd say the 2nd were expendable, but that isn't the case. As such, keep the toolkit the same and utilize as needed situationally. Amen Thompson is a coaches dream.
Our defensive statistics have regressed due to the level of competition we have played since Jabari was hurt. We have played six of our last 12 games against the other four top teams in the league. We also played against the Lakers and Nuggets who are also among the top 8 teams in the league. Also, at the Kings who are pretty good and playing really well right now. Our defensive statistics would have also regressed with Jabari playing due to this brutal stretch of schedule. Also, Fred VanVleet is one of the primary reasons we are having this successful season. He remains one of our 3 best players. There is no way that he won't be on the team next season. He'll take a discount for next year and sign a very reasonable extension this off-season. Amen is amazing but isn't a point guard. He's a good secondary ball handler. VanVleet is an enormous part of our success which is why Ime is playing him 36 minutes per game.
Bari is gonna be the starter when he comes back. Gonna be funny to see everyone freak out when Amen comes off the bench.
He sucked at this last year - Thompson as a secondary ball handler that opposing bigs have to worry about and who can float around the basket has been a much better formula than "hey stand still and dribble up top & worry about organizing the other 4 guys most of the time" Seems like a waste, especially if it's just done to bring in Jabari Smith who also does a lot of standing around
I'll give some credence to the schedule being part of it, but Ime himself has said we are sorely missing Jabari's interior defense and rebounding. I think since FVV has had a reduced role in running the offense, we have become a significantly better offense and that's against the same tough schedule. We do need his steadying hand at times and wouldn't trade him just to get rid of him, but he will be too expensive next year and do not want to extend him. I also don't think he would be willing to take a bench role. It's too bad Phoenix has decided to ride this out, because a trade for Durant using FVV or Dillion and picks would have made us strong contenders this year and next. We may still be contenders next year, but I don't think we have the 4th quarter mojo this year.
