On defense the comp works. On offense, Marion's skillset was not on Amen's level. Marion was an early-age modern stretch 4. So if you made the Marion comp last year, I can see it. But this year he's clearly showing an expanded game. In terms of historical comps I'm still leaning more towards some version of Scottie Pippen.
There's definitely something different about him. I've noticed he hasn't been playing with the same balls to wall energy that he usually has. It's been noticable since that day off they gave him. Idk if he's trying to mange his energy more and pick his spots or if he's just worn out overall.
He does play a LOT of minutes after missing 20 games last season and only 22 mpg. He could be hitting that "rookie wall". All star break will be good for him
A 9-man rotation is normal for the regular season. In the playoffs many coaches cut it down to 8 or even 7 guys. But our style is high intensity defense and rebounding. That's very taxing to the body and the mind. The players have to be fresh enough for it to be sustainable.
Now tied at 139th all time in triple doubles. If he gets another before the season is over he will go to 109th. He should get many many of them over his career.
That he managed to get 11 assists when the team was shooting as poorly as they were is quite an accomplishment
The point guard skills are flashing. It's coming along slowly but I guess that's expected due to his limited opportunity since we have Fred. Either way, these triple double games are really encouraging.
Got a couple of days rest and Ime lets him control the rock most the game. This is the result. I don't care if he's called a PG or not. He needs to be the one initiating the offense most of the time. His stats as a starter are better pretty much across the board than any other player on our team. Now that we are turning the corner into a more reasonable schedule after the break. Ime needs to hand it over to Amen and get out of the way. FVV can always be waiting in the corner if Amen is having a bad game or is getting gassed and run the offense for a while. All doubts about Amen being able to PnR with Sengun were put to rest last night. I don't know how much he will have in the tank tonight, but the all-star break should rejuvenate him for a terrific 2nd half. Let's beat GSW and start the roll to a playoff seed! Out of the break we have Minnesota to start a stetch of 10 home games out of 14. Hopefully FVV and Jabari are back for the majority of that.
Enjoy https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&ContextMeasure=AST&GameID=0022400779&PlayerID=1641708&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=&flag=1&sct=plot§ion=game
I'm feeling more and more optimistic about his ability to be our primary ballhandler in the future, but let's not forget we're coming off the worst stretch of the season without Fred, and we lost to some bad/mediocre teams, not just good ones. The offense also looked really, really bad for much of last night, until guys finally started showing some energy off the ball in the 4th quarter. And that's against a depleted and not-very-good Phoenix team. I still think for the rest of this season and possibly even into next one FVV has to be the initiator in the majority of halfcourt sets. Get Amen some reps, and of course let him run and facilitate the transition game, but he still has some development to do. It will really help if he can get that above the break three point shot going during the next offseason. Long-term, I'm really excited to see what he can do as the primary initiator, whether you want to think of that as a LeBron-esque point forward or a true point guard or something in between.
I am against anyone having the majority of reps as the initiator for the Rockets except when paired with bench players. FVV, Amen, and Sengun attack teams differently and it is hard for one defense to be set to stop all three provided the shooting doesn't go to zero. Edit: I don't care too much if Amen is the PG long term or not. I just want another initator (skilled player) that can shoot with him and there are just more PG initiators that can shoot out there than at other positions.
For me I noticed that when he had that monster game and we lost against the Knicks, already he was not himself in the post game interview. Between a game and a post game, what could happen that would last a week? This one, he's not been happy since this moment:
His court vision and processing speed are great. He is relying on those talents for his assists. Right now, he is more read and react while driving in kind of playmaking rather than the more methodical organizer. A lot of times, he scans the floor AFTER jumping in the air. That is fine. He still needs shooters and smart cutters around him.
So, I'm at a total crossroads here. Do I see the logic behind the argument that Amen's highest hypothetical upside is at PG? Absolutely. HOWEVER, he would have to improve in a ton of areas for him to reach that "upside." Conversely, I have seen him be dominate at forward, and he wouldn't have to refine nearly as much about his game to continue dominating at that position. Also, I do think we have a really solid PG option in FVV and a really good PG prospect in Sheppard. So, the question becomes - is the difference in potential upside worth the possible downside of wasting a lot of time and energy trying to, essentially, fit a square peg in a round hole? Or, does it make more sense to continue with FVV at PG, Sheppard as our developmental PG, and allow Amen to thrive at forward where he has already thrived? I don't quite know the answer.
As long as we have FVV, we don't have to choose. Sheppard is not ready, but I'm hopeful for him a year or two down the road. So Amen is by default the backup PG behind FVV for now. If Reed pans out, and we can keep FVV or get an upgrade, then there's no need for Amen to play PG. At this point, I think the best way to use Amen is positionless. Just do whatever needs to be done on the floor. I mean, does anyone care what position LeBron plays? I think what Amen needs to get to his "ceiling" is a reliable jump shot, either 3pt or midrange. Everything else will organically improve as he gets more experience.
