The "franchise player" debate has been settled. It's Amen.

ZA

It’s funny, but that is exactly what he is doing. Attacking the rim and getting to the foul line. What do y’all need? For him to score 40 points a night? 24 not good enough on a team that has Durant? Amen is attacking like crazy when he has an opening. You can’t just sprint into a 3 person blockade. The problem with the zone is how we are attacking it. They should put Amen in the middle just outside the free throw line instead of Adams or Jabari, instead of having him initiate or sit in the corner. When Sengun gets back, he will facilitate from that position.

The way you bust a zone is going to the middle and then hitting cutters or spot up shooters, but you have to have somebody that can pass at the middle position and someone that can hit threes on the perimeter. In effect, they are having Adams and Jabari facilitate the offense against the zone because they are tall, but they both suck at it. I don’t know if Amen can handle it, because he doesn’t usually play with his back to the defense, but it’s worth a try. Having him try and bludgeon his way into the lane against a zone will not work and he is doing the right thing not to try. They could also try Durant in the position and have Amen make the initial pass to him and find an opening somewhere on the perimeter. Maybe when the schedule provides more home games they can work on their offense against a zone.

 

Thats driving into the lane on fast breaks. If you compare him to Deni, Deni drives into set defenses and invites contact. Every athlete can score in transition and on fast breaks, thats how frauds like Bradley Beal got their nos during their peak. The problem is when Blazers can set their zone, then Amen gets neutralized and only KD and Reed can do something. Thats why in the gravity stat Reed was the 2nd most guarded cuz after KD he is our best shooter already, teams key on him and not Amen.

Deni is nothing compared to Amen. Amen should be doing what Deni is doing snd then he'll be a star even without shooting.

 

Amen has been driving into the lane from the half court whenever they are in man. Him driving into a stacked zone is not the answer. Once Sengun gets back his high post acumen will solve the zone issue. Right now Ime is using Adams and Jabari in a position they are horrible at executing.

 

Deni drove into those zone defense and did just fine. Unless Amen can be an offensive threat on his own he cant be the star imo.

https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1641708/shots-dash

If you look at his shot dashboard this season Amen only attempted 7% of his FGs with defenders 0-2 feet. That means 93% of his attempts have nobody on him, he doesnt try to attack when he is closely marked. In contrast, Sengun scores 15% of FGs with defenders 0-2 feet.

https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1630578/shots-dash

The other thing is the lack of FTA. Amen doesnt have any range but he is only averaging 4.5 fta. If we compare to Jalen, Jalen averaged 4.1 fta but he was taking 8 threes a night. So they average same fta despite Jalen having half his attempts be 3s. This shows Amen doesnt really attack the rim enough except on fast breaks or in transition.

 

Okay, we've heard from the peanut gallery, but Nate Duncan, John Hollinger, and Danny Leroux all rank Sengun and Reed ahead of Amen on the latest Dunc'd On podcast, which focuses on the top players in the NBA 23 and under. Their list in order:

Wembanyama
Flagg
Holmgren
Sengun
Banchero
Harper
Duren
Sheppard
Knueppel
George
Sarr
Thompson
Castle
Queen
Edgecombe
Coward

Now then, I'm sure that some of you Amen-stans think you know more than Duncan, Hollinger, and Leroux combined. But unless one of you stans happens to be Sam Presti, I think we can reasonably settle the question of whether Amen is our franchise player - he most assuredly is not.

 

Wish we had gotten just one stretch 5. Instead we have two backups that struggle to even make FT's.
PnR is useless with Amen since he can't shoot. Teams just drop back and dare him to shoot, extremely predictable problem.

So you need that C to be outside the arc. Then, if Amens defender sags, there's no rim protector behind that defender. He's on an island with Amen. Amen can attack the hell out of a single sagging defender who has no rim protector to back him up. If they double him - which they will - THEN he can actually dish to a wide open shooter. Then he racks up assists and FTA.

Driving and dishing right now feels robotic. He drives into a crowded paint and passes to someone right next to him who can be closed out easily. Teams are happy to let him do that and he's not generating enough assists that way.

This is what I mean when I say they didn't build for him. Sengun better keep shooting the 3 regardless what Ime feels about it. It's insanely critical to making this offense deadly. If your PG and C can't shoot, we're wasting our time. Playoff teams will suffocate us easily.

Fingers crossed about Sengun's 3 which looks less shaky this season. Even at 34% on wide open ones, the math works out.

 

It sure looks like the Blazers drafted the wrong point guard
https://ripcityproject.com/looks-blazers-drafted-wrong-point-guard-amen-thompson-scoot-henderson

 

Yeah this should be WAY higher than it his but I think you are 100% right that he avoids contact on drives, a lot of times it's to do that mid range jumper that has improved on but it would actually be beneficial to him to not do that at much and attack and get to the line because then he's also putting their shot blockers in foul trouble and thus making it easier for him to attack during the game.

Either way, aggressive Amen is better for the team than when he's watching everyone else play. Even off ball he should be moving more, forcing a defender to commit to him. I feel like whenever he's standing at the 3 point line it's probably a bad play...I mean unless KD is ISO'd on a guy or Sengun has someone in his spot, then yeah its fine since those guys can get buckets on their own....otherwise though Amen really has to fly around with and without the ball to get the most value.

It's easy to say this as a fan though not realizing how much energy it takes to be that relentless THEN turn around and be an elite defender.

 

Scoot being a bust doesnt make amen any better

 

Even this list is overrating both of them. Theres really no argument for reed to be over konipple and especially sarr

 

When was this settled again?

 

so I like the analysts you mention but they don’t follow the rockets as closely as the people on this board. I guarantee you that if Amen was playing the 3/4 all season, they would have him much higher on this list. There’s no way they are appreciating the challenge Amen has taken on this year moving to point guard. He would be much more effective if he was playing where he was last year. Amen should be way higher on this list period. I don’t care who came up with the list. No way Amen is behind Duran, Sarr, George or Reed.

 

Amen Thompsin has that it factor to me. I know his shooting is suspect, but if you dont see the Jordan aoura in him. I think there was only one game I saw Amen wasn't that guy. It was the Dallas game on a back to back this year. He picks up the best offensive player, no problem. He effects the game in so many different ways. That game 7 against the warriors last year. There was only one player that came to play. It was Amen. He's just a freak athlete that is trying to harness this all together, while adding a jumpshot. Scottie Pippen came into the league and couldn't shoot, but over time became one of 50 greatest players of this league. Some of things I've seen him do in the air when going to the basket has been A plus level. So out of all the young Rockets you ask me im my opinion who I would pick first? It would be Amen, then Sengun.

 

The discussion was very nuanced. They went back & forth between Kon and Reed. But they clearly had Amen on a lower tier and were of the opinion that his development has hit a wall.

 

If you mean they are not fanboys of any one team, Rockets included, then that is true and to their benefit.

FYI Duren has a PER of 23.5 and Sarr has a PER of 20.8 compared to Amen's 18.2, which is the exact same PER as Amen's rookie season and down from last year. Both of those guys are better than Amen, are younger than Amen, and are continuing to improve unlike Amen. As for Reed and Keyonte, I expect that both will be better than Amen a year from now when they're the same age that he is now.

 

If you told the Rockets they could only keep one player from their young guys they'd say "Amen" before you even finished the question.

 

LOL. Sengun will soon be a 2-time all-star who is only 6 months older than Amen and is locked in long-term on a great contract. Whether it's this Dunc'd On list, the ESPN top 100, the Ringer top 100, or by any statistical measure, you will not find a single person in the sports business who values Amen more than Sengun.

Consider that Sengun, in less minutes per game than Amen, scores more, rebounds more, blocks more shots, and has more steals, all while having more assists per game than Amen who is supposedly the starting point guard. No sane person would keep Amen over Sengun.

 

Do you like....watch basketball?

Windhorst said just the other day that in trade talks Amen is untouchable and Sengun is....probably....untouchable. Why would the Rockets leak that?

 

I've watched these last 2 games without Sengun. Same 2 games we lost with Amen being -6 overall.

And are you seriously asking me why GMs try to bluff each other?

 

Count me in with these gentlemen, that clearly see him as a franchise player.

it might end up that the only place is 50% of his time as a point guard and the rest of it as a forward, but I have all the faith in the world in this player.

his improvement from the free-throw line and mid range is the ultimate indicator that the three-point shot will at least get too decent. Even 30% will probably work.

he is able to create a quality shot at Will and his athletic ability is top one percent of the top 1%.

we might need to put a couple more shooters around him, but this is the guy.