How do we know Ausar isn’t playing these games for us? They could have pulled a switch on us. NBA should investigate.
Ausar is athletic but when I watch the two. Amen looks faster. Ironically Ausar looks a little bigger and perhaps stronger. Idk if it's because of Ausars injury that put him back, but Amen just looks like a superior athlete
I don't watch the Pistons much, but Amen appears more catlike than Ausar. I don't notice a difference in speed, strength. Just reaction time.
amen’s 1st step, 2nd jump, passing, and alphadawg confidence all superior to ausar ausar has smoother shot mechanics and stronger upper body
Im telling you package Tari + Cam and picks for Ausar. This team will get better significantly. Hopefully the Pistons aren't too high on him yet because he is untouchable imo.
...the scary thing is his brother could want to team up with him at some point in their careers(also scary that in theory Amen could leave to go play somewhere with his brother). They are both good enough that virtually any team would want them - we have never seen twins good enough that they could elect to wreck shop from the same team once they get off their rookie scale deals. That's the long game possibility for Amen - keep a great relationship with him because the thought of having two Thompson's makes you an instantly elite defense...and a problem on offense once they learn to combine their athleticism with their size to create space for themselves getting downhill.
It’s fun to think about but there are better players out there that would include a package for these two. The insane upside of the shorthand chemistry with the Thompson Twins may make up for it, but you also worry about Ausur’s health.
Yeah I study medicine and giving him blood thinners should help deal with blood clotting. He will have to take medication most likely for the rest of his life but I don't see it being a major concern primarily because of how young he is. Having Ausar here would give us two legitimate lock down defenders who can develop a three point shot over the next 2-3 years. My dream is to unite the twins but detroit might already be high on pairing Ausar with Cade for the long run.
I just saw that Draymond is actually the favorite to win defensive player of the year because the media loves going down on Golden State. What a complete joke, Amen has put up a defensive clinic this entire season. Amen is higher than Draymond in literally every defense metric including defensive win shares. (Amen #11, Draymond #47)
Let's all get on the 2027 - 2028 Amen DPOY / All-NBA bandwagon please; if he wins either award in 2026 - 2027, the final year of his rookie deal, he'd cost roughly $9M more against the cap on a max deal. The Cavs are going to be dealing with this on Evan Mobley this year; if he makes the All-NBA third team, his base salary increases by around $3.8M each year; if he makes All-NBA second team or wins DPOY, his contract will increase by $7.7M per year. On a second Apron team like the Cavs (and ideally, the 2027 Rockets), that translates to around $35M per year extra paid out by the team when you factor in luxury taxes. We already know that the Fertitta family has been extremely reluctant to pay the tax in the past, let's not give them more excuses to cut payroll right as this team should be hitting its contending prime.
