He's doing exactly what he needs to do, getting better and better by working hard on his shot, only taking them when really open, and not being afraid to take the shot when he is. The broader NBA fanbase hasn't caught on yet, but I think most of us here now believe he will at least be a passable jump shooter who keeps his defenders honest.
That Block and SGA. Wow. Just like that one Block on Ja. I mean that is so impressive. He really is unbelievable. I am loving our future.
Kind of a weird question, but how often has a "franchise player" NOT been the team's leading scorer? Because I think that's totally in the cards for Amen.
On some of those Spurs teams, including the championship 2014 team, Timmy wasn't the leading scorer, and even when he was it was very close between their top players. 2004 Pistons--insomuch as they had a "franchise player" at all, it probably wasn't their leading scorer Rip Hamilton. Late 00s Celtics, KG was always outscored by Pierce and sometimes Allen. All three definitely teams I think about a lot in comparison to this iteration of the Rockets--depth, balance, three or more top 20(ish) players.
Bill Russell If Amen aims for it and the Rockets org agrees to go this route, he has a chance to reach Russell's level of dominance on defense. Doubt any team in this day and age would have the willingness to develop its franchise player this way though. Perhaps the Rockets should at least consider it. Think about it: it's perfect that Amen is a wing instead of a big. Bill Russell was the era-defining defensive player during a time when bigs shouldered much bigger load on offense than bigs nowadays do. Nowadays it's big guards and wings that dominate (Jokic is a total anomaly). People will always remember that Gobert, prolly the most dominant defender in the past decade, sometimes gets played off the floor even though he's already good at guarding the perimeter for sucha big dude. Amen is on his second nba season. God knows what his ceiling is.
They won't because Draymond out there begging and the media loves Golden State. One less position that's available.
FWIW, the nba has given an abnormal amount of coverage/attention to the rockets (e.g. the official nba youtube channel recently uploaded a rockets highlight reel that is ONE HOUR long - never seen that before). Steph is the guy that everyone adores. I would question and reevaluate my nba fandom if Draymond wins any accolades this season at the expense of Amen.
It's a quick blurb during the interview, but they're discussing who the fastest players at every position in the NBA may be and got to the wings :
How he isn't leading the DPOY vote is a travesty. I've never in my life seen a better on ball defender than Amen. I don't think anyone can score on him. Just last 3 games he absolutely shut down Luka, Shai and Steph.
