"I'll say it your face" is so childish. If I met you in person I'd buy you a beer and watch a game. You might not realize how you sound but the vast majority of us are here to discuss sports and pass time at work. Are there other immature members...absolutely but you're self aware and that doesn't mean you have to follow the lowest common denominater. I am checking this thread for anything on Amen because there are people here that have some inside information. I'm not checking it to see you arguing and nobody should have to skip over posts of people arguing with absolutely no relevance. Be better or don't. That's up to you
Kid will be the best Rockets draft pick since Dream. Best defender we've drafted since Dream. I've been up and down on can he ever develop a consistent outside shot. I still don't know if he can. But if there is any non-shooting playmaker that you gamble on, it's Amen. Ben Sullivan needs to earn his keep and help this kid fix his shot. Gather the best shooting coaches from around the world and let the collaborate. Try any and everything. Because with even a serviceable shot he becomes a top 10 if not top 5 player in the league. Who plays that kind of defense on Booker? Seriously? Insane talent.
Hard working players can learn to be good defenders. But great defensive players play great defense from the beginning. Amen is that kind of player.
He is an exciting player. Been getting all the accolades (deservedly) for his defense, but how about his rim finishing? Currently shooting 72% at the rim. If you see him as a guard, that's insanely high for anybody, let alone a rookie. That's comparable to what Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell are shooting right now, prime D-Wade--only the most elite rim-finishing shooting guards are around at that level from 0-3ft. Harden never did hit that mark while he played here, he was in the high 60s at his peak. Now, yes, Amen is not playing on the ball as often or receiving the defensive attention a star player would get. But again, he's also a rookie, so his skills will improve as defenses begin to focus on him more. Really starting to think he has the type of special athletic ability that he can be an all-star even without a jump shot.
It's amazing there aren't more lottery pick rookies traded when they are shooting 37% in the first half of their rookie season on a bad team. It's almost like no GM in the league ever is as observant as you are...................
Personally I hope they don't waste time on a mid range shot. It doesn't necessarily take less time to develop that shot, that's something people assume but never actually unfolds. Who gained a mid range shot within a season? It's going to take roughly two seasons. If it will take roughly the same amount of time to add any such shot, let's jump straight to the 3pter (and FT's of course) and break his offensive future open. Once the 3pter is there he is a star no question about it. If he adds a mid range we're still just going to see if that works while the league continues to trend more and more towards 3pt shooting in the meantime. Even if it takes 3 years to develop a 3pt shot and 2 years to develop a mid range, just work on the 3pt shot. That's the smart investment. Hopefully Ben Sullivan will be glued to Thompson this summer. I don't care if Sullivan doesn't see himself as a shooting coach anymore, this is so critical it has to be in the hands of a lead assistant.
He actually already has a close midrange shot anyway--he's shooting 50% from 3-10 feet, which is about a quarter of his shots. A lot of those are jumpers. He can keep working on that, it's a useful weapon, but I agree there's not much point in bothering with long midrange shots.
I need Amen to learn how to shoot so badly. He is so much fun to watch and he's immediately a superstar if he has a respectable jumper.
Virtually any player that is good next to Sengun is also good alongside Amen, since on offense, both of them share similar strengths (rim pressure, passing) and weaknesses (outside shooting). We can afford to wait and see which of the two becomes more impactful while adding players who can space the floor around them. And if one or both of them learns to shoot, they fit great together, too--they're already beginning to form the basis for an excellent two-man game. As far as the implied comparison with Jalen--the difference is, Amen is an impact player on defense, probably a future all-defensive guy. He's also better at passing and finishing around the rim.
Amen is much better than Jalen but being a good shooter is a must have skill in 2024. Probably the only thing you absolutely have to have in your bag and both Green and Amen can't shoot the ball so they automatically disqualified of being cornerstones of this franchise. It's so important literal bums like Duncan Robinson, Huerter can average 30 mpg only because they can shoot the ball. It literally opens the doors to you. That's how much it's being valued. It turning into 3pt shooting fest helped the likes of Sabonis, Sengun and Jokic. They wouldn't have survived in this league otherwise. Rim protection isn't as important as before, they don't post up bigs because of the simple fact that 3>2 and if your big can cost you 2 points you score 3 points in the next possesion so you are good. You want them to take 2's. You almost prefer your center to get cooked in the paint. Amen's ceiling to me is an elite Robin. He has to be distributor of the ball but the guy, the cornersone is the guy you give the ball and get the **** out. That guy is capable of dropping 10 points in last 3 minutes when they are down by 6 and getting his team the win. You spam that guy, you unleash him onto them. I'm almost sure that guy is not Amen. Sengun looked like that guy in some games in the first half of the season. We spammed Sengun post up and it worked. They couldn't find an answer to him. Now they are doubling, trippling him and he looks worse sometimes lost. If he can't adjust to that he isn't that guy either. But my money is on Sengun being the guy than Amen being the guy because 1) I know that he can be better at ft line and he was shooting much better in Turkey. It is either some sort of posture problem or he waits just too long, thinks too much. Maybe he needs to bend his knees do sth because he can go 9/10, 11/12 in some games. He has that in him. 2) He's a 30% shooter from 3pt line. He's a better 3pt shooter than Amen. He's not good but not terrible either. He almost never airballs it. He has a very soft touch and honestly it feels like it can get better. 3) He already has a midrange game which tells me that he works hard. So my money is on Sengun being that guy but i like Amen a lot. I'm just so angry that after Green disaster we have to deal with the same bullshit couple more years. Is he gonna get better from 3pt line? Which shooting coach should we bring to help him? Because it is so sad that you look like the greatest talent on the floor and some random mf goes off, drops three 3's and piss on everything you have shown to me and now what? i'm left with your fancy footwork, no look pass, dunk and supposed to be happy with it. "At least Amen has 7 assists" we lost the game 112-100 btw. Honestly i appreciate Harden more than ever now.
Fred came back and his minutes dropped. I'm surprised Holiday still plays this much. I guess shooting is still too scarce and Holiday provides it.
Not quite as high on Amen after two Thunder games. Chet took away some of Amen's dunks and post scoring. We need more 3 point shooting. If Jalen, Sengun and Amen could shoot better we could now play with the Thunder.
