While I don't think we know for certain what Amen's ceiling is, I do think it would be foolish to go ahead, and definitely say "he's THE guy" and go do a bunch of moves that puts a bunch of Buddy Hield type role players around him that help Amen soley. Only thing I know for sure is that Amen is really good, and they should keep him for basically everyone minus maybe like Jason Tatum or SGA or Jokic. Other than that yeah he could be just a really good #3, or #2 on a contender.... or even a Shawn Marion #4 super intangibles guy. So yeah the Rockets should still assume they have to keep either trying to groom more homegrown talent that could also have star potential, or keep flexibility to go be aggressive when a younger star shakes loose.
Westbrook has all the physical tools to be a good defender but he's just way too dumb when the guy he's guarding doesn't have the ball. It's the same kind of thing Josh Christopher used to do that would drive me crazy. It doesn't matter if they're guarding prime Klay Thompson in the corner, if the ball comes anywhere in their vicinity, they're leaving their man and chasing the ball like a dog chases a squirrel. So far, Amen has showed no signs of that so I think we're safe. And maybe part of the reason Russ is so easily distractable on defense is because he spends the whole game running around like a lunatic and carrying the offense so he's just gassed and running off instinct on the other side. I'd like to spare Amen from that fate.
Me too, but Kawhi shot over 37% from the 3 his first two years and has averaged over 39% his career and over 86% FT. I don't know if Amen will ever be above average at either. One can hope I guess.
I agree with you but everything that Stone and Ime has said in the press conference suggest they are still 100% sticking with Jalen Green as our 1st option. They refuse to give up on him, especially Stone, maybe because he drafted him. It's well known that in this league GMs usually would rather get fired than trade the guy they drafted since that would be admitting they made a mistake. We're all just going to have to stomach another 3 years of Jalen Green.
That wasn't the reason. WB did the same thing when KD/Harden/Ibaka/etc were there when he was NOT the center of the universe on offense. Your words "easily distractable on defense" describe him well. It's simply his programming for always wanting a home run. On offense when OKC would go on a roll, it was inevitable that WB would pull up for a very long 3 that would clang off the rim. He wasn't satisfied with destroying teams repeatedly with what was working. On defense, he wanted a "pick-6" so he could go the other way on a breakaway dunk. Amen is a more disciplined, focused, unselfish player than WB and exerts himself on both ends of the floor. He also doesn't smoke layups and dunks.
If the Knicks knock them out early, who knows? Boston's financials are ugly - they have a $500 million payroll after taxes lined up. With all of that, the Celtics may need to do a retooling. Here's a crazy idea. What if they packaged Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown for Green, FVV, and some of our draft capital? Holiday is about to turn 35 and has 3 years and ~105 million left on his contract while showing signs of slowing down. FVV is probably a near term upgrade over Holiday, and the short nature of his and Green's contracts give Boston the flexiblity to reset their cap situation while still competing. Holiday/Reed Brown Amen/Dillon/(Whitmore) Bari/Tari Sengun/Adams
I somewhat agree with OP... i mean we def need a closer... Personally I prefer a Pistons championship type balanced roster... idk that we need better than Sengun and Amen... but we at least need 4 or 5 guys on that level... Most of our roster can perform at that level - but not really with consistency... and really i'd rather not declare one person as 'the guy' and live n die by his performance every night... play to the hot hand.
LOL I saw that earlier today. Apparently World Wide Wob proposed sending Amen AND Jabari AND Reed for Ja.
Well, one thing I will point out is that adding more shooting probably helps the whole team in general, not just Amen. The thing that might be more Amen-specific would be if we started reshaping the roster around more of a run-and-gun, fast break style of play.
Jaylen Brown for Jalen Green, Cam, FVV, Bari and and 3 first round picks. Amen, Sengun and Tari, Brown, RS can be the core.
He's not going to develop a jumper. He's trained Ed his entire life and it still isn't there. He's an athlete and while he'll get better NY confidence is waning
I 1000% agree with this. I don't think even Giannis or KD get us to a championship, we need a playmaker that can also get buckets. And probably better offensive coaching to boot. As somebody pointed out to me in another thread though, you never know when somebody like Luka becomes available in a lopsided deal, lol! I have no idea if Amen can become a #1 option, but it's at least possible and as likely as getting Flagg or someone similar. I also think Sengun has potential to improve. Even just increasing his stamina would have a lot of benefits, which is probably easier than learning to shoot better. Maybe not to the point of becoming a true #1 though. My concern with Sengun is I see his game as better suited to being a #1 option, so we lose part of what makes him good if we're not running the offense through him. I love this squad and that the rebuild is ahead of schedule, but I think we're in a really tough spot for taking the next step-unless we get some luck via player improvement, the draft, or a freak lopsided trade. I would argue we're due for some ****ing luck though!
