Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

Man his shot looks a lot better but I’m not going to get sucked into the Ben Simmons off season shooting video hype.

 

Meh. Ben Simmons failed because he was mentally weak. That’s not an issue with Amen.

 

Amen will probably average over 20 PPG this upcoming season. If he does in fact make a leap, its going to make the Rockets incredibly difficult to defend. Especially since we finally have a starting lineup where 4 out of the 5 guys are basketball savants and intelligent passers.

The amazing thing is that there isnt anyone in the way of the offense now. KD isn't at a point in his career where he's going to need to be averaging 28 PPG to make the team function. Amen and Sengun should be around 20 PPG respectively each. People wonder if Amen will "make the leap" but realistically he made one this last year and the team won 52 games as a result. He was the single biggest catalyst for our ascension into the West elite and the #1 reason why Durant is here.

 

That, plus he did legitimately struggle with injuries. Despite his flaws, he was an All-Star caliber player his first three or four seasons before the back problems really became an issue for him.

Amen is a dawg so I'm not worried about the mental side at all, and his injuries so far have just been normal ankle sprains IIRC, so hopefully he'll avoid health problems too. (Knock on wood.)

 

LIkely will play some combo guard when FVV sits with holliday or Sheppard. We know Sheppard won't play with FVV in the rotation since both are small. Sheppard was mainly in lineups with Amen last year probably since Amen offsets Sheppard's size if Sheppard plays 2.

 

Frankly I believe this team plays better with less Sengun and Fred in those predictable high screen or DHO sets. I agree Amen needs more touches and actions for him. I believe coaches still think Fred is the best choice out there at point for this team due to Amen's abilities and where he scores. If he dumps it to Sengun on the low/mid post him lingering on the 3 pt line does no good since he can't shoot. This compresses the defense.

If he brings the ball up on the perimeter teams will sag or play a zone scheme since they know he will either drive or pass. Having another ball handler at the point allows Amen to cut from the perimeter or baseline. He can play at the dunker's spot or short corner. He can screen and short roll or slip. He can get the ball rotated to him from Fred and drive from the perimeter.

I made the D-WADE comparison in the other post. Wade played point for the first couple years. Was TO prone and couldn't shoot beyond 10 ft. He was best driving and cutting and playmaking from there.

 

This actually makes me wonder would it be in Rockets best interest to pick up Westbrook on a vet minimum to let Amen learn from some of Westbrook’s good habits, work ethic and strengths while still learning shooting, playmaking, handles from the expert trainers.

it also would be a cool PR move to reunite Russ, KD, Jeff Green as their last team together and have Amen be Westbrooks understudy to pass the torch too and become Westbrook 2.0

 

Amen doesn’t need to learn work ethic from anybody. He is the most basketball focused young player I have seen since Larry Bird who never left the court.

 

Gross bro. Hard pass.

 

FVV is built like a fire hydrant. FVV guarding up a position will not be the reason. If Sheppard and FVV don't play much together, it will be because Sheppard isn't worth playing more than he absolutely has to.

If Sheppard's offense is worth playing, Reed-FVV-Amen-Durant-Sengun is going to be a fun offensive lineup. Defense may drop off.

 

I do think it'd be awesome for Amen to learn some things from Russ (especially the best methods for furiously dunking over the top of everybody regardless who they are) but I'd rather we found a way to do that in the off-season without actually adding Westbrook to the team haha.

 

Ok, I keep remembering things from my conversation with a Rockets scout I sat next to on a plane the other day. He said that the Rockets see Amen's upside as elite level. He's definitely the franchise in terms of untouchable. Other items I posted in Reed Sheppard and KD threads.

 

Always good to see makes and misses in these training videos. Amen's jumper looks a lot better. Getting better at shooting over smaller players in the midrange will take him to the next level.

 

Amen is holding back on blocking him and I know he can blow past for a lay. I'm just assuming this is a jumpshot focused drill

 

That was beautiful! I wonder what they did beforehand to gas themselves out.

I've watched Davion Mitchell play a bunch of times, but this clearly illustrates just how amazing his footwork is. He's short in stature and has very little wingspan, which means his margin for error is tiny. Yet he is a plus defender because his anticipation and super-quick feet almost always leave him close enough to contest the dribble or shot. Plus, he's a tank!

Good to see Amen sharpening himself against a guy like this instead of using some clown with a paddle to mimic reach. I'm also glad he didn't bother wasting much energy defending.

 

In a redraft if we had the #1 pick I’d still draft Thompson over Wemby or find a way to get two picks in 2-5 and draft both twins.

 

If Wemby has another major medical issue or injury next season, then Rockets most likely won that draft and better thank the basketball Gods we did fall out of 1st pick

 

Just watched this and was coming to post it, but I figured someone already did. Lol