Maybe we trade down for Ausar instead. He has the same size, athleticism, and defense as Amen. He's a good passer too just hasn't had the ball in his hands as much as Amen. The difference is that in one year he went from 22% at 2.3 3PA to 33% at 4.7 3PA. That shows a lot of work ethic to be able to improve 10% on 3s in one year. Also he's very good off ball.
The more I watch Amen, the less I like, which is backwards from what typically happens for me. I originally took it at face value that he had all these skills people attributed to him but I'm not seeing it. He is a truly exceptional athlete and that makes other things easier for him, especially against mediocre competition. So, I'm not seeing exceptional finishing ability. He's not changing direction and switching hands and consistently making tough layins like Russ or Ja. He has some tough finishes but he has more dunks and simple lays over smaller guys and slower help defenders. He's not seeing plays before they develop and leading his teammates or making precision pocket passes. He's using his size to throw the ball over everyone's head across court to an open teammate. Or his first step has gotten him by his man so he's kicking it to the open man from the helper. It's possible some of these things translate. But, there will be nights where his size and athleticism won't afford him these same advantages on offense in the nba. I would also say his jumper is worse than I thought. He's not just missing open 3s, he's airballing or hitting the side of the backboard on some of these shots. Consistently hitting the rim would be a significant improvement. He definitely has a high ceiling and I'd be happier with the pick if we weren't switching to "win now" mode with no future top picks coming. I think you trade the pick if you can get a good young star back.
Thank you for this. So much negativity in this thread. I really think he has the highest ceiling in this draft after Wembanyama. And this is exactly the type of pick the Rockets have to make, a swing for the fences high lottery pick before they lose their picks to OKC. Trade the other picks but you don’t trade the 4th pick. He has all the other tools that you can’t teach and it would be devastating to see him become a great player in this league somewhere else when you had him in the palm of your hands.
Ausar is a really good athlete but his brother is much better. Likewise, Ausar can pass but Amen is better. One's a PG and the other is a wing.
If he's able to go all the way to the rim and dunk, then why wouldn't he? You want him to take the simplest shot available. If he can dunk then why would you want him to take a difficult layup? I'd disagree about him not seeing plays develop or making precision passes. Not sure what videos you watched but he's got footage out there making some great passes in traffic.
Ausar is a secondary passer, with very good defensive ability. His shot is getting better. He isn't a great finisher at the basket. I was pleasantly surprised to see him looking a bit buffed up in a recent workout video a couple of days ago. He might sneak up as a jack of all trades player to 6 or 7. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Stone picked him at 4. Udoka might be okay with him too.
Just like in the NFL, it's so important to differentiate prospect grade and positional value. Big wing on-ball players have the most positional value by far of any archetype in the league. We're sitting in a spot to get one with a high prospect grade. We must do it. We won't get another chance for a looong time. After this draft, if they make their picks, the Rockets will have made 9 first round picks in 3 years. 3 of those are top 4 picks. Another 2 prospects acquired in KPJ and KJM. Of those 11(!) opportunities, if we trade out or trade far down, zero of them will have been swings at the most valuable archetype in the NBA. I get it if the reason you don't get one this draft is because you can get Wemby or Scoot. But otherwise, it'd be a massive failure. And to be clear, I think the best one of that archetype in this draft is Amen, but if we ended up with Miller or Ausar or to a lesser extent Cam Whitmore, we should be satisfied. They're all high graded prospects in the most valuable role in the league. It's a gaping hole in this rebuild, and we have the golden opportunity to correct it.
Would have had no problem with Amen if he were on the Kings, Celtics, Warriors even, on some good shooting teams.
Of course he should dunk if he can dunk. I meant I don't see evidence of the crazy layup package of a guy like Ja. That's something he'll need to be an elite finisher in the NBA. He won't be able to dunk on everyone all the time. In a nutshell, I can see that he can be dominant when he's bigger and more athletic than everyone. I just don't see clear evidence of what he can do when that's not the case. Normally you see that.
We can finally answer the question of what Giannis would be like if he was shorter and shot the ball worse. Seriously, the Amen hype is beyond ridiculous.
Clutch: Matter of fact, this is before the draft, I don’t have any evidence, any clear indication at all, matter of fact the opposite, that Scoot Henderson is ranked ahead of Amen Thompson on their (Rockets) board or certainly not a big enough of a gap that they’d give up assets to make that decision. I think they’re perfectly content with Amen Thompson at 4.
Scoot's stock has dipped some since where it was start of the season. Before it was he'd be an amazing consolation behind Wemby and #1 in any draft...and since then he's fallen a bit, to the point where he might not even be #2 and Charlotte could take Miller ahead of him. I wouldn't even be surprised if Scoot is there at 4...I wouldn't even be surprised if someone traded up to get Amen lol. I just think some of the luster of Scoot has worn off over the season, partially do to his shooting being in question, that kind of ruins the whole "Chris Paul" thing some people are going with him, CP3 could shoot, that's never been an issue or doubt in CP3s game but it is with Scoot. Some are comparing Scoot to Westbrook too but Amen is definitely the uber athlete of the two.
I think a lot of that was just desperately looking for another prospect to hype in what most people realized early on was a one player draft. It was never going to stand up to much scrutiny as more and more people started looking into the other guys in the draft class more closely. Just look at the top two perceived PG's in the class, they are highly athletic guys who can't shoot even against laughably weak competition.....one in a glorified rec league playing against children and the other playing in a joke of a professional league against guys not good enough to play in superior overseas leagues. It's a REALLY bad looking class, it seems damn near every pick besides Wemby has some major flaws that could prevent them from being starters in this league for long....or even being in the league at all for long.
My point is that he doesn't need to do what Ja does because he's so much bigger. A super fast twitch 6'7" guy with a 44" vertical is going to be fine finishing.
You have to have spacing in order to get to the rim, why would ANYONE guard Amen on the 3 point line at all? Ever. He won't be playing against children in a glorified rec league anymore.
