Amen is also the better shooter so far, which is interesting. Ausar was better in OTE. I did see some reports that Amen reportedly shot better than Ausar in practice even back then though. I wonder if Amen playing on the ball more often in OTE was responsible for his lower 3P%. More open looks for Ausar?
Ausar developed a blood clot issue on March 21st of last season, and by the time training camp rolled around, he still had not been cleared to do contact activities if he has a reoccurrence or develops a PE, it could be the end of his career…see Chris Bosh and Mirza Teletovic
Ausar basically stopped shooting in recent times.... things he does best instead of improving something that is practically hopeless.
Amen Thompson is a starter. Period. Averaging nearly 17/10/5 and 2 steals + 2 blocks. Putting him back on bench would be criminal. https://spacecityscoop.com/rockets-bench-dillon-brooks-jabari-smith-jr-returns
absolutely. Those are all-star numbers when you add in all-defense chops. At this current stage of his career, his comp is a more athletic Jimmy Butler. If Ime benches him for Dillon Brooks, he should be fired.
In 2 years he is Butler, Butler wouldn't command that money if he couldn't average more than 23 ppg. But defensively Amen and Ausar are Rodman.
@Hemingway As someone who has been more skeptical of Amen being a full time guard, he has shown progressive improvement in his handle. Also his iso one on one game is definitely becoming more of a actual weapon to utilize in a half court set. He has become a lot more effective in half court offense against set defenses. His role right now is very similar to what Giddey as a connector with the Thunder next to SGA but obviously Giddey doesn't have that all world defensive ability.
It's good when posters here can change their mind without being lambasted. Jalen Green has changed my mind as I think it is best to keep him. We have a young team and I expect them all to surprise us from time to time. I'm surprised at Sengun's regression on offense and said he may need to be traded as our best trade chip. I reserve the right to change it back if he learns to shoot 3 pointers, haha. I'm convinced that FVV should be our backup PG. Of that, I'm not very flexible.
Amen is clearly a point guard. There will be turnovers, but he is making the passes that no one else on this team can make. And you can very, very easily see a path to him becoming effective and a half court offense.
As a starter: 16.7 points 9.6 boards (3.1 offensive) 4.7 assists 1.8 steals 1.8 blocks 2.5 turnovers 55/26/73% shooting 38 MPG
Amen and Jalen sharing PG duties while FVV is out is valuable for their experience at the position. One or both are going to have to seriously grow in that regard for our future potential. To me that is Amen as I only see Green ever being a secondary ballhandler and facilitator. And while I see Amen as the same, he seems to have the better pathway and vision to become a main facilitator. There is also Reed in the background, but he is got a lotttt of work to do for me to believe he becomes more than a solid role player.
I’m worried if we try to start FVV next year Amen will start to get annoyed very quick not having the ball in his hands and playing dunker spot. I know he wants to be a PG and will probably go to a team that will let him
Even if we continue to start FVV, I feel like we can play Fred off the ball much of the time and let Amen have plenty of touches. Just a matter of Udoka getting guys to buy into their roles. I don't think Amen is quite ready to be the primary ballhandler full-time yet anyway
I mean that’s what it’s gonna have to be but I’d rather have someone else playoff ball than a 6’ FVV. Like trade for a KD to put at SF off ball I just hope one of these bottom teams dont come promising him a starting PG role and chance to sign his brother also. I’d think he’d leave real quick if we bury him behind other ball handkers
Amen has improved on offense quite a bit. The two 3s last night might just be luck. But he's been shooting that 10-ft jumper with a lot of confidence. If he can extend his range a little more, it'll help open up the lane for him to go to the hoop.
This is mostly where I'm at. I think he can handle the secondary ball handler role now as I think he's shown a lot in the past couple of months. I do go one step further that causes me to bang heads with a lot of the board. I think Amen is better at many other aspects of the game than other secondary ballhandlers on the team.
I don't know what position he will play, but the more I watch Amen the more I am simply sure of his future stardom. His range of skills is showing and his shot is at a point where you can expect enough future development to be good enough. Maybe the shooting is only Ja/Westbrook level of "good enough" but that's still enough to be a top-10 player in the NBA. I know the Rockets front office gave up on this season of making noise in the playoffs, but I would really hope they try and find that 3rd guy alongside Amen and Sengun in the offseason. And make Jalen a 6th man and I think it's enough to make real noise in the playoffs.
I swear, the "Jalen as a sixth man" is one of the dumbest things I've heard so far on this board, and it keeps popping up. For some time now, he's basically been averaging 24 - 25 ppg on really good shooting. Name one other "sixth man" who does that.
