All of Amen Thompson’s makes and misses from midrange at OTE

That one player didn't post game-breaking true shooting percentages either.

 

A 15 year old led the 68 player league in rebounding, he was 2nd in blocks and 5th in ppg.

Amen and his brother are the oldest players in the league by about 4 months or so.

 

Fun fact, OTE brought in some 30 year olds to play the junior teams U18 of the European teams they scrimmed this summer. Added adult players ad to make the games closer. These players were not part of the OTE regular season.

 

That's true, but he's a biological freak that can do things people shouldn't be able to do at his size.

If Wemby was 6'7 or 6'2, it would be a 0 player draft.

 

Guy we're on this forum talking about the greatest collection of unique athletes the world has ever seen. Amen Thompson is 6'7" 220 with a 4' vertical jump, that doesn't qualify as biological freak?

 

It absolutely does. Amen is almost as much of a freak of nature as Wemby. Not quite at that level, but not as far as off as people realize. His athleticism at 6'7" is an extreme outlier that you rarely see--guys with this kind of physical talent at this height only come around about once every 5 draft classes on average. If he was like a 33% three point shooter instead of 27% (or whatever the number is factoring in playoff games) he would be the consensus #2 pick in this class, regardless of level of competition. Nobody would give a sh** about OTE. The only reason he might (and he might not!) be in play at #4 is that his jump shot sucks.

 

On a playground? Yes. In the NBA? No.

A 6'7 Giannis isn't an NBA player. That's just how it goes.

 

Amen is the best playmaker in the NBA draft and soon in the NBA

 

You said: “Majority of his defenders a head shorter than him and wouldn't even contest his shot.” I explained to you that likely a pg or sg was guarding him. He is a big guard at 6’7. There were several instances in the video when they switched a bigger 3 or 4 on him. The first two clips you pointed out, the guard played back. If you watch the entirety of the video a lot of the teams played off the line sagging back and went under the high screen likely because they respect his speed not his shot. This is no different than teams playing off Westbrook or Giannis or Fox.

The third clip you mentioned there was miscommunication as there was a slip screen and the defenders both went for the slip screen instead of guarding the perimeter. If you watched further, at the :29 mark and :44 and beyond the defenders were guarding the line tight. It’s easy to selectively watch a few clips with little to no context and come to a Conclusion. That’s where the bias and lack of analysis comes into play.

And if you are telling me the G league players and NCAA players always run players off the line or put their hand up guarding the 3 100% of the time then I would say “Great Job Buddy!” But that’s not reality.

And in this context given that Amen can’t shoot but have lightning quick speed it’s logical teams sag off the line or go under defending him. Again know what you’re talking about and stop the knee jerk reactions and 2 second shallow ass analysis.

 

Do you have a video of him making a shot? Is it like 2 minutes long?

 

The best playmaker is his agent who hyped him into a top 5 pick.

 

I’d be way more interested in him if he had a 3’ vertical and obscene handles like Curry, Kyrie or Jamal Crawford…or if he even had an assist to turnover ratio greater than 2 and wasn’t averaging 4.6 TO per 40 as the oldest and most physically gifted player in his league…

 

Go watch tape of his turnovers--the majority of them were from over-ambitious home run passes to kids who weren't ready for that type of stuff, not from getting stripped. A lot more of those turnovers would become assists in the NBA, and it's also the kind of thing where it's easier to dial back on the ambition a little.

 

On a playground lol

Touch grass fool. If there's anything not to be questioned about Amen Thompson it's his athleticism.

 

I actually would like to see this.

I wasn't super impressed with what I saw before but if there was a whole video it would be easier assess his talent. What i saw in the clips before was a tall superior athlete that was able to get to the paint and make relatively simple passes as the defense collapsed. Sort of like a more athletic Tyreke Evans.

It would be nice to see a whole video of passing to see if he's making advanced reads and leading his teammates into easy shots in the halfcourt.

 

Your logic: If a player is older then that player should out rebound out block and out score younger players in the league.

1. Jayden Quaintance is a 4 star recruit and already had an offer from Pitt. He is a 6’10 Center.

2. Deandre Ayton was a freshman and he outscored outblocked and outrebounded Mikal Bridges. Bridges was a Junior and not a Center.

3. How much of an advantage is age? 4 months? 5 months? 1 year? Ja Morant was a sophomore and was 9th in scoring ppg in 18-19. RJ Barrett a freshman was 4th. Your logic says Morant should score more than Barrett since he is older. Donovan Mitchell wasn’t even in the top 10 in scoring ppg in 16-17. He was a sophomore. Fultz a freshman was 6th. And are these statistics and rankings a reliant indicator of what kind of success would be achieved by these players in the NBA? Or maybe deeper analysis and assessments need to be made of the players such as performance in critical or pressure situations, awareness on the court, ability to read defenses etc.

 

same with how Jabari Clown Yoga got that

 

I watched some of his scouting videos and I wasn’t overly impressed with his handles or his control of the game. He played too careless and out of control too often in the videos I saw. I expected more considering he’s played professional ball for 2 years and he’s the oldest in the league.

Granted I do see the potential with his athleticism and good court vision. However, I just don’t see a ton of upside considering his age and limited skill set that is overly reliant on being levels more athletic than the competition.

Also considering his age and basketball background you would expect him to come in and be an immediate contributor. I just don’t see that happening because he has glaring holes in his game that will need a couple seasons of work.

I’m not trying to bash the kid because him and his brother seem like decent guys but the reality is he needs a lot of work.

 

That's fair, we're all going to have our opinions after watching the tape. I do agree he will take some time to get it going in the NBA and he's not a plug-and-play starter like, say, Scoot could've been for us.

 

It's wasted on a 6'7 player. KJ Martin is the most athletic player on the Rockets roster...does it really matter? No.