He did say "there is nothing wrong with that." so he is forgiven. It's like going to confession after taking out big puzzi for be an fbi informant. all good. Spoiler alert.
Amen is definitely years away from handling the offense, seems like too much on his plate thus limiting his defense ability.
Can Amen dribble the ball up the court? Yes. Can he play PG? So far that looks like a no. His handles looked pretty weak and it looked like his aggression as a player was impacted by having to set the table as a PG. I still trust in Amen as our future - but that was not a very good look for him running the point. Honestly I saw more from Reed and JD Davison at the point….but hey, let’s continue to see here. Atlanta is probably a bad matchup for PG Amen because of all the long athletic defenders they can throw at him….still some positive takeaways for Amen(3pt shot looks way better) - sadly playing PG was not one of those.
To ask a philosophical question: what is a PG in todays NBA? In the past the PG set up the play, directed players to their position and excelled at driving and passing. Today the game is centered around isolations by your star player and pick and rolls (which can include your PG but doesnt have to). On most plays the ball will be in Senguns or KDs hands to create offense. If Amen wants to be that superstar he needs to take more of an initiator role as well. I think the most important part for your 5 players out there is, that they can guard everyone on the other team. Other than that you need your mix of shooting, driving and rebounding, but I don't think you need a PG in a traditional sense.
lol yes it's hard going against the best perimeter defender with multiple non-shooters on the court. Your defender can just stick close to you and not worry much about you driving into an already-crowded paint. Sengun, Tari and Amen still haven't earned the reputation for being competent shooters when open so they stayed home a lot which gives Amen nowhere to go. We're going to see a lot less of that if Sengun and Amen are competent as wide-open 3pt shooters this season. Even if one of them can hit a decent %, we'll have more breathing room in the paint than we've had in literally half a decade.
Waaaaay too early for any assessment. He didnt showcase any of the shooting hes supposedly worked on all summer. He needs to establish that to open up his lanes. Its going to be a work in progress for a bit until they all get accustomed to it. Just like in the Reed thread....lets not pass judgement based on the first pre season game. He looked fine. Just a little rushed.
Maybe don't judge whether Amen can play point guard based on the first preseason game with our best player/floor-spacer not even on the court?
I honestly don't understand this obsession with having someone designated as the "PG." Amen, Sheppard, and Sengun all initiated the offense at different points last night. Durant will obviously do so at times as well. Hell, even Bari initiated the offense a couple of times, one of which resulted in a sick slam. The Haws are a very good defensive team and we had no problem scoring. I just don't think our team needs an old school floor general type - it's built around versatility.
A PG is a player who (most of the time) has the ball at the beginning of a possession, usually bring the ball up from the back court. He knows where to bring the ball and who to pass to at the beginning. He does not have to be the primary play maker. But if he is, he will start attacking. If he is not, he will pass the ball to the primary play maker at an optimal place.
I mean, that was certainly the case last season. Whoever rebounded would immediately look for FVV. It often tremendously slowed us down. Last night, whoever got the rebound often took it up, resulting in a seemingly much faster pace.
I love Amen but his skills just aren’t there yet to trust him with initiating the offense in the half court. Hopefully he can just try and be a fast break creator at first until he learns more and let Sengun and KD handle it for now
Right. That's fast break opportunities. Every team should look for that. If you have enough players who have good handles, they can take off after getting the rebounds. I mean, you don't want guys like Jabari or Sengun to do that because there is a bigger risk of losing the ball. The thing is, is everyone who is fast and who can bring the ball up court capable of directing the offense once the defense is set? If we are talking about half court offense, not fast breaks or semi fast breaks, then we do need at least one guy, preferably two or three, to do the initiating move.
I though the shot looked great for the most part - he was 1-2 from 3 but both shots looked smoother and the 2nd shot nearly went in. He also had a pull up that didn't look as great but hey - I was super encouraged by the completely different form he had on those 3s. I don't see what the problem is watching a game and reflecting on what you see with people who hopefully also watched the game. Again, that's literally what this site is for. If you don't agree - that's fine but quit with the "way too early" **** - it's such a cliche to shut down conversations for the first 3 months of the season because YOU want to see more. That's your choice. I'm going to watch every game all season like I have since the Akeem days. I'm going to give insight into when players are looking good and looking bad on a game by game basis and I'll give them credit when they improve throughout the season and criticize when they decline. You can join the conversation when you are ready but don't try to moderate other people's opinions just because YOU want to talk about a body of work that does not yet have enough data to pass judgement. The game by game analysis is very valid even if you don't personally like to talk about it.
I'm beginning to think the question isn't "should Amen play point guard?" It should be "is point guard the best role for Amen?" Seems to me he's probably going to be the most physically gifted player night in and night out. Bigger and stronger than the the quick guys (but just as quick), and quicker than the big guys (but just as strong). Putting the ball in his hands and asking him to be the "coach on the floor" is to handcuff him from maximizing they ways he's already dominant. Like putting and Prius battery in a 74' Camaro that originally had a 4-barrel 350 V8 with solid-lifter cam and dual exhaust.
I think there are ways of saying it. Saying "so far it looks like a no" on whether or not he can play PG....is stretching it no? There isn't enough data to say "well so far it doesn't look like Amen can play PG". By that metric, there just isnt anything to say Tari has expanded his game much or that Reed can beat his man off the dribble. I think Amen still has some issues that plague him and some of the summer league/preseason hot takes just come from folk who want to use it to reinforce their already instilled beliefs. I am admittedly a "non believer" in Tari Eason and yesterday didn't exactly do much to quell those doubts but I think I should probably give him more than one game to say "well it doesn't look like Tari will be much more than a 6th man this year". I think the truth is that thanks to the FVV injury, both Amen and Reed are going to be given every chance in the world to prove they can do what they want. I know Amen wants to be PG. He's said that before. Many times. I'm not sure about Reed, he's a little more cagey about stuff. Like I did with Jalen last year, I'll give them both until the end of the year to see what they have. 30-40 games is actually more in line. I don't think February-March basketball matters much, players stop caring and are just going through the motions at that point.
