I hear this a lot but my eye test tells me that when his defender doesn't hang back, he's actually pretty good at facing up and driving as well. I do agree that Amen with the jump shot is the better scenario. I don't know how likely it is that either of them develops one at this point. Hard to put a percentage number on it. There have been a lot of guys who have developed 3P shots as their career progresses, some sooner, some later. And there have been a lot of guys who never did. The one major point in favor of Amen possibly doing it is that he is still shooting 80% from the FT line and it doesn't look like a fluke at this point. A big improvement in FT shooting often does presage an improvement in outside shooting to come.
We are going to learn a lot about Amen after last night's embarrassment. I'm a big fan of his, but he deserved every bit of the humiliation. I thought his shooting would improve a lot this year. It's good to see his FT% over 80, but for some reason it hasn't carried over to help his mid-range game at all. When you're a perimeter player and the defense guards you with their C, it's a shame. Sometimes you have to hit the bottom hard. He's done that now. Stay tuned.
We can certainly hope so. Amen with a shot is instantly an absolute stud, probably a top 10 player if not top 5. I just don't think the correlation between FT% and 3PT% is that significant (maybe I'm wrong). Many players seem comfortable from short distances and just don't have the range to be effective from 18ft+. I think it's just smarter to explore trades for Amen or Alpi, sometimes we get too attached to our own players. Like I said before, both would net us a significant haul. Trading Amen would make roster construction way easier with a higher risk of missing on his upside if he evolves as a shooter. Trading Alpi would automatically force us to go after stretch 5's, which are hard to find and highly valued in the market. It's a tough spot, but I would explore trades for both since they are still regarded as projects, maybe in 2 or 3 years their value won't be that high. Anyway, it's nice to have a healthy discussion about our team without being accused of being a "player X only fan". Most of us just want the Rockets to succeed. Cheers!
Everybody around the NBA has known for a decade what it looks like when you put multiple non shooters on the floor, and the defense truly gameplans for it. There's no adjustment to beat that defense other than changing personnel or taking and making shots. Shotmaking as a skill is waaay more important than any other skill, period. Basketball might be a more "fun" and "fair" sport to follow if this weren't the case, but it is the case. Ime and maybe Stone, philosophically, seem to reject that, and IMO that's just wrong. We put non shooters on the floor together more than any other team in the league. And we've been a bad halfcourt offense every year. We're 19th this year and we have Kevin Durant. This is the least efficient halfcourt offense KD has been part of since 2008 when OKC won 23 games their first year after leaving Seattle. When KD isn't on the floor, we have a halfcourt offense this year that would be 29th out of 30 teams. And KD will be retired or not KD anymore quite soon. Then what?
Great players make average coaches look good... Great coaches make average players look good... From the looks of it, we don't have great anything! I hate losing, but I especially hate losing to the turds down both Interstates... Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
Amen clearly didn’t put in enough shooting work. If he did, he wouldn’t be shooting 20% from 3. The proof is in the pudding.
I’m taking his sub 20% 3pt percentage as evidence. Somehow it’s EVEN WORSE than last year. Clearly he didn’t work hard enough in the off season. Teams are giving him the Ben Simmons treatment.
Maybe he has to shoot like Lamelo more on jumpers...like barely leaving the ground. Where's it's like he's shooting free throws just with a quicker release. I'd almost do anything these days to find a way to fix Amens jump shot
I'm just wondering when people are going to finally accept that Amen is not the megastar they all think he is? He's not remotely the most athletic player ever, at all. He also shoots generationally bad. He's going to be a great utility player doing all the dirty work and will have a long career, but he's definitely held to lower standards than our other draft picks. He has the same main weakness Jalen did, but so much worse. Did Jalen have that 3 year leap where he fixed his shooting? Nope. I have no idea why y'all think a generationally horrific shooter will manage it, he's not even close to Jalen "Bust McBust" Green as an offensive weapon, like at all. At least Jalen actually flashed megastar scoring performances a few times every year with insane efficiency, Amen's Fool's Gold where there's not even really that much shiny **** and y'all still getting fooled. Imagine not even having to be guarded and people still think man's a franchise level player? Please.
I wouldn't consider that evidence of not working hard. A lot of possible explanations for it. I personally think he has the yips. Again, how would you explain the huge improvement to his FT shooting if he's not working on all this stuff?
I don't think I'm blind to Amen's problem, but Amen provides value in a lot of ways while Green did not. This is a little much.
I agree with this . His middy has been improving, but his confidence was definitely missing this game. Wemby could have something to do with this. His 3 pointer looked good in preseason which would suggest your yips diagnostic as possible. He will work it out, but probably not until the off season. It would be stupid not to continue to develop him on ball in a year where we have very little hope of a championship. Besides that we don’t have a reasonable replacement.
He did enough work to improve his FTs but not enough to improve anything shots beyond 15 feet I find it hard to believe that someone who put in the work can’t crack 20% on wide open threes.
This team went from ok to the 2nd seed last when Amen became a starter. He was put into the lead guard position this year and you want to trade the only plus defender we have in the starting lineup. Make that make sense. I went to the game. Amen was an absolute animal last night until Ime stuck him in the corner in the 4th and had Alpi and KD walking the ball up gingerly. The issue isn't Amen. It's every play starting with let's hand the ball to KD at the top of the key where he struggles to get separation. You gotta play Reed and Amen together. Amen should bring thew ball up every time to start the offense and his first option should be to drive and kick. Amen is the only player the half court set who can consistently pressure the rim for easy buckets for himself or kick out to wide open Jabari and Reed. When he's off in the corner his man stands in the lane like Wemby, last night. That's on Ime. KD was visibly frustrated win the 4th due to the physical play of the Spurs and his body language was of a defeated player. he went 10 minutes of play between FG's attempts, he essentially quit out there. The trade was a bit in favor of the SUNs imo but it is what it is.
The "two non shooters can't share a court in the modern NBA" narrative continues to bite Houston. The problem isn't necessarily Amen guys - the problem is we have TWO poor shooters and ONE spot where you can hide a limited shooter. That Amen is put in that situation is a symptom of how the coach is forced to use him. Houston ultimately need to decide Amen or Sengun - they are both highly useful players but their limitations are causing problems when their minutes overlap and will be even more problematic in the playoffs. Put it like this - you could replace Amen with the guy who finished 3rd in MVP voting last year - Giannis and San Antonio STILL would have exposed that problem. We have a structural team composition problem, not an individual player one. This is the difference between "well constructed teams" and "teams with a collection of high level players". The sum is greater than the parts for well constructed teams and the opposite is normally true for poorly constructed teams. This is 1000% on the front office to decide on a direction moving forward and commit to it because right now teams are poking holes at that poor team construction and the long term impact of picking "best player available" without consideration to how the skill sets overlap.
This is an accurate description of last night. The Amen detractors will jump on any 5 minute stretch of play that Amen is not performing like prime Magic Johnson. its a shame, because they are missing out on watching a superstar in the making.
I think the hope is one of them develops a shot but I’m not sure how long you can continue waiting for that to possibly never occur. IMO as currently constructed I think the team would be most optimal with Sengun, KD and then three shooters surrounding them. Personally would rather have the skilled big that can’t shoot especially given his passing capabilities. I love Amen and I realize everything he brings to the court but I completely agree with you here.
