He turned down a 15 mill player options to get 2 years 26 million guaranteed here. Rockets FO has done a number of reckless things, but this really isn’t one of them. I remember Adams and Landale both looking like abominations for months after returning from injuries over the last 2 years, and both had huge turnarounds. Give DFS some time to get his legs and rhythm back.
Stone might be forcing Ime to play DFS more than Okogie so DFS' larger contract might have value in a trade. Wouldn't be surprised.
Understand and don’t disagree with your theory, BUT what are you expecting from a career 7ppg player who is also a career 32% three point shooter if you take away his abnormal past two years. A great game for him is 10 points and that just doesn’t move the needle. If you want just a defensive hound pick up Matesse Thybulle for less than half the price (and a higher ppg average). You gotta remember that Stone is a lawyer fronting as a GM. He hand picked Stephen Silas and that’s enough to tell me about his basketball acumen.
Really, he's not playing as a point guard. He's not setting up the offense or distributing the ball. What he is doing is pushing in transition and early in possessions, rebound and go .... but once it becomes a half court possession, he's no longer on ball - he gives it up to someone else to run the half court, usually Durant, particularly with Sengun out, and he assumes the dunkers spot. And that's fine with me as it takes advantage of his athleticism and ability to attack the rim in both in transition and off ball in the half court. And he might defend point guards .... but that doesn't necessarily define the position. What it doesn't do is settle the offense down, limit turnovers & run the offense - but that's not on Amen, that's a product of not having anyone on the roster with that particular skillset. Notice how most possessions will begin with Sengun catching the ball with a foot outside the 3 point line, or Durant again, outside the 3 point line - that's not where those guys are best. They need their touches other places, generally inside the 3 point line.
He has initiated the offense in the half-court more than anyone in Sengun’s absence and has done it well. When Sengun is healthy that initiation is being rotated between Sengun, Durant, and Amen. It isn’t because of Amen’s inability to initiate an offense, it is by Ime’s faulty design of an offense. Tell me how a “true” pg (FVV?) would initiate the offense better. It sure didn’t help last year. Amen can’t make our shooters shoot. He is setting up all of them for open shots better than anyone on this team other than Sengun.
This is reasonable. In the meantime, I would like the Rockets to see if they can pick up another guard who can get a bucket.
I just meant that the modern PG doesn't have to necessarily be the 6'2 standard floor general who guards the shortest players. You can do that from any position now.
FVV did pretty good on PnR with Sengun. A lot of his assists were from that. FVV has good timing in feeding Sengun rolling to the basket. Amen can't be the ball handler in PnR because he can't shoot. Defense won't chase him on a pick. They'd just drop and the roll man would have no space inside. Amen can be the roll man though. I don't know why they don't do it at all. A Reed-Amen PnR could be good. They need to get the timing down though. I wonder if they even try it in practice.
I think we should trade him for multiple reasons. He’s not producing at the rate we need him to. He’s battling uphill with this previous injury. We need to get under the cap and trading DFS will accomplish that. With that salary, we can get 2 decent players for cheap and avoid having to pay any extra tax being in the 1st apron. End result, we can pick up somebody like a Chris Paul and another PF and have a full 15 man roster. As well as, be in a better position for the next season financially.
Agree that he’s not producing at the rate we need him to. Agree that he’s battling uphill with this previous injury. Don't agree that we need to get under the cap and trading DFS will accomplish that. Rockets will be an above-the-cap team from now through the foreseeable future. Damage to cap has already been done. Tax is within limits that Tilman is willing to pay. While 2 players can fit in the slot of DFS, it would take FRPs to make it happen, and likely doesn't help the Rockets much. Don't agree that the Rockets would be in a better position for the next season financially. The Rockets are an over the cap team. If the Rockets need flexibility in the offseason, they can do whatever they need to at the moment they need to. I'd rather not waste a pick moving him unless it is absolutely needed. I get planning ahead, but that is better on not getting into a bad contract than trying to get out of one early. DFS is an expiring contract next season.
Please explain to me how you trade a guy averaging 2.3 ppg on 22% threes with a $53mm contract. I’m listening and not hearing anything….
Amen is not the ball handler lol Sengun and KD are the ball handlers. KD had 4 ast, Sengun 11 and Amen 2. Amen is playing the wing role (at the pg "position") and 3rd ballhandler like he did last year. He just carries more load now because with FVV gone he became a full time starter instead of coming off the bench.
I am getting ancy with him... NGL....but I know that it hasn't been more than a handful of games. When you break something and get it surgically repaired....after the rehab...it becomes more of a mental thing. I think that is where DFS is stuck rn. Super flat footed and the shoot is ASS.
I agree. We’ve got to give DFS until late February, but he’s got to play really well down the stretch and into the playoffs. I do think betting on a seriously injured player for a win-now season was at the very least a questionable decision relative to other options. Hopefully it ends up being worth it. We’re gonna find out.
People always focus on that 1 season with them Fakers when he shot 41% from downtown but the 8 seasons before that he shot like 34-36% they just flat out ignore. He is a 36% career shooter for a reason. And more streaky than consistent.
He's a 36% shooter for his career because he sucked as a 3-point shooter starting his career. Since the 2019-2020 season, he's a 38% shooter despite a horrible time in Brooklyn. Not much of a difference, absolutely, but a very important difference on how a player has to be guarded. for me, I watch more Western Conference games than Eastern and don't pay too much attention to guys that suck (i.e., I am a little surprised his career 3 point percentage is that low). As such, yes, I pretty much ignored his first 3 seasons, but I don't think that is relevant to his current skill level. I assume Brooklyn being a bad team, so the shot difficulty was just slightly not as good there as in LAL or Dallas or that I expect with the Rockets. I will say that I focused on his defense more in LA than previously. Always thought he was more annoying on defense than actually good in Dallas. Though even then, I probably did not watch enough.
