How can he improve his shooting? Does he have a personal shooting coach? Is his shooting beyond repair? If not, he needs to do whatever it takes to get there. He’ll be stupid not to. It’ll be the difference between becoming a superstar and a high end role player.
I think he gets the rookie max, but Stone will try and make it a Sengun like contract. Just not sure Amen will go for it. He will gamble on himself and go into RFA if necessary. He is going to develop a mid-range shot this off-season. He showed progress on that towards the end of the season. He is a basketball savant and it would not surprise me if he wants to shed himself of Ime.
I would probably trade him, your basically tying up a player who cant shoot but paying for his ability to drive and really make things happen defensively. I just would stay away from players that cant shoot. I don't give f--- how much people love this kid around here. You go out there and find a better SGA type player in the draft. I would trade Amen and future 1st for someone in this upcoming draft 26 where supposedly there are franchise changers in the draft, this is not who Amen Thompson is, he's extremely good but not a shooter, and not a franchise changer. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/thompam01/gamelog-playoffs/ His PO #'s doesn't look to me like he's worth this at all, would be a huge mistake. He will be 24 next season, I'm not paying someone who avg 14ppg in 2 playoff series that kinda money. Sengun is an Allstar on a good contract. Hes a keeper.
I expect Stone to offer a Sengun like contract which seems reasonable. Maybe it will be shorter like Jalen Green's 3 year contract (last year player option).
brother, people have been delusional about amen thompson ever since we drafted the guy. i would even be wary of paying him 30M a year, but 50M? that would be imediately one of the 3 worst contracts in the league. i just don't get what people see in him. if he doesn't develop a shot, i would say he wouldn't even be a STARTER on a championship team... we've seen this time and time again, floor spacing is mandatory in the playoffs. teams like houston, detroit, magic, etc are just pretenders and will be quickly exposed for their lack of proper spacing for offensive sets. even his defense is overrated like you said, it's very good but i wouldn't say it's elite or historical. he doesn't completely shut down guys in the playoffs, especially if you're paying him max money to be an offensive engine. his dribble is average at best, he has crazy athleticism but can't get to his spots or shoot. in a way, i'm just as open to trading him than i am to trading sengun, both players are FLAWED and probably will never be good enough. if the FO is planning on giving him max money, i would even trade him before alpi, since alpi's contract is still not a negative asset overall.
"Basketball savant" 21% from deep 53.4% with the shot profile of a 90's center (for comparison, Rudy Gobert shoots from similar areas, his is 68.4%) Not a top tier defender in the league -unlikely to make an all-defensive team, not even in the argument for DPOY 5.3 APG as the starting PG 77.9% from the line whilst doing almost all of his offense attacking the basket Is this where people hear "idiot savant" and don't realise it's the bit of the autism that makes them human calculators, rather than the bit that makes them disabled? What type of savant is this mediocre across the board? More fool's gold than Jalen ever was, at least he'd give you a few mega games every season. Amen has less in his entire career than the average "Jalen is a bust" single season. "Basketball savant" why? Because he runs really fast and can jump up and down quicker than everybody else? He should go do track, he'd probably be more successful.
I’d do a soft rebuild around Amen, he’s already first team all defense and has 20+ ppg potential by just marginal improvements in the mid range and corner 3. I’d develop him, Jabari and Reed. Load up on picks for 27-29 drafts because OKC and SA have the conference locked down barring injury. Move KD and Sengun for assets while we can and max extend Amen, he can potentially become a 6’ 7 Russ
You people keep saying this but you know damn well this guy cant shoot worth a lick and wont avg those numbers.
What exactly suggest Amen can be a 6'7 Russell Westbrook? Russell Westbrook is a real PG, compare their actual numbers at this point in their career as starting PG: Russ Year 3 21.9 PPG 45.4FG% 33.0 3P% 84.2 FT% 8.2APG 4.6REB 1.9STL 0.4BLK All star, all NBA 2nd team - actually a Point Guard. Amen Year 3 18.3PPG 53.4FG% 21.6 3P% 77.9 FT% 5.3 APG 7.8 REB 1.5 STL 0.6 BLK - super limited, defensive specialist wing masquerading as a PG. Put down the crackpipe, that's actually disrespectful to Westbrick, Amen aint **** in comparison.
Rockets should pivot to the 321 lotto era by middling out around Amen and SendGoon away for pix or it didn't happen
Yikes. Maybe this ownership is actually somehow even worse than I always suspected. Which I genuinely did not think was possible.
a rebuild around AMEN THOMPSON is the biggest cope i've seen in ages... bro wouldn't even start for a championship team unless he develops a shot (it's not happening).
that would still be overpaying IMO. 25M is fair value for a 20% 3pt shooting defensive wing with no handles. Of course the market may say otherwise, but if there's teams willing to pay him 40M+, it is time to trade him.
I'm still amazed anybody can actually watch Amen play and say he has "no handles". KJ Martin is an example of a guy who had no handles. Amen has very good handles for a forward, just subpar for a point guard.
maybe "no handles" is an exageration, but his handles are not nearly good enough for a player you rebuild around. if we're planning on playing amen + 4 shooters (the only viable option), he would have to have the ball in his hands a lot.
