I'm sure he is disciplined. My point was mostly that it's much easier to see pump fakes when you are athletic enough to just wait longer to jump. He can do things not even other top defenders in the NBA can do, like this stuff below.
I like that decision. Amen has proven himself while Jabari was out. Only concern is that there really isn’t a playmaker off the bench. Backup PG should be a priority next season.
Top 5 Most Improved Players (MIP) Rankings this season, week 17: #1 Evan Mobley #2 Tyler Herro #3 Cade Cunningham #4 Amen Thompson #5 Norm Powell Amen Thompson youngest player on this list. Last Week's Ranking: No. 4 Average (Week 17) - 18.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.8 BPG Average (This Season) - 14.0 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.4 SPG, 1.3 BPG Average (Last Season) - 9.5 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.6 BPG "Amen Thompson continues to be the missing link for the Houston Rockets despite the team's struggles in the past three weeks. He should get plenty of love in the Most Improved Player conversations toward the end of the season." https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketb...24-25-top-5-candidates-week-17-ft-evan-mobley
It should be a priority this year. FVV should be the one coming off the bench, but, of course Ime will not do that. Our starters with Jabari are doing great. We have won 4 out of the last 6 and the games we are losing is because of the bench. FVV would be perfect along with Tari and Adams to hold the lead that our starters are producing most every game. FVV could also be in the closing line-up to protect the ball with his poise, unlike the Amen, Jalen, and Sengun who are often not protecting leads down the stretch. If we were serious about competing this year and preparing for competing next year, this would be the logical rotation.
Ime was the one who decided to put Amen in the starting line up, and also keep him there, which was great coaching. FVV is still the best PG on the team for running the offense with a two season sample and playoff/championship experience. You put FVV back and let Amen start and now you have to lead ball handlers and can adjust based on the situation. Excited to have us back to full health.
We were 27th in TS% and half-court offense with FVV running the point and dominating the ball. I'm fine with FVV playing PG on defense and playing off ball on offense, because it will help spread the floor. The main reason I would like to see FVV off the bench is because we are doing fine without him and Amen, Jalen, and Sengun running the offense. We are a disaster when Aaron Holiday comes in to spell FVV. We would be better off having an Amen and FVV rotation at PG, than a FVV and Holiday rotation. It is also a mistake to continue to run Amen and FVV 40 mins a game, because you can't afford to go to the bench for more than 5 minutes without us losing the lead. By the time the playoffs come around they will be running on fumes.
Yep, this is exactly what we should do. Unfortunately I have the feeling FVV and Amen playing big minutes is going to be kind of unavoidable since Stone made the dumbass call not to go pick up a backup guard who's better than Holiday. But hopefully Ime will at least get their minutes down a little bit because it was getting pretty ridiculous.
We were worse offensively overall before Ime, and we don't have true shooters on the team and are developing as a young team, which is why he focused on having us offensive rebound at an outlier level and play strong defense, which was another great decision. We were also #2 in the West with FVV running the point guard spot, and many have stated that our offense ran better over a much bigger sample. And we weren't doing just fine overall, we lost six in a row without him as well as other injuries to players. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/rockets-record-without-fred-vanvleet-this-season And dominating the ball? He's seventh on the team in usage, third among the starters. He's also been noted to play well off-ball this season or on-ball, speaking to his versatility. He played off-ball with Siakam, Kawhi, etc., in the past as well and won a championship. You start your best players to win the game, which we did, despite a poor bench showing. Having your best players on the bench with fewer minutes makes no sense. We can agree to disagree here.
Last night proved otherwise. He showed the Rockets the importance of having an elite table setter in the back court. He is a top player and he just ripped us apart.
Skimming through Amen's stats and found this. I know there are a lot of Udoka fans who says well he's young he can handle it, he hasn't been playing big minutes so it's ok and all that. But honestly in today's NBA game, especially for player like Amen who does exert a lot of energy on both sides of the court, he cannot be playing 38-39mpg and still be effective. And stats are clearly showing his decline in production. Not to mention this is why Reed Sheppard is still playing token minutes despite no FVV for a while now.
