I’m reading this thread and thinking that people are way too concerned about current shooting skill of a player who will likely not see any minutes next season. If Udoka is going with meritocracy over "let’s play trash players coz potentialz" Amen will not play, period. I see both Amen or Scoot as the 7th best guard on the team next season: Harden, KPJ, Green, Jaygup, TyTy, Nix go in that order and then it’s Scoot/Amen. Both of these players come from BS leagues, where they didn’t dominate, cmon what are you guys expecting here? Neither of them looked as good as Nix in the G-league. So if we go with Amen, he’ll have plenty of time to work on his shooting and whatnot, and try things in the G-league, before it matters. Scoot is a question mark to me, as he thinks he’s better and will likely not be willing to go for a third season in the Gleague… If we want a guy who will actually see playing time we should draft Jarace, he’s the only one who has a chance to crack the rotation next year, IMO/
ok, I disagree with a lot of what you said, but I just want to laser in on the fact you think Nix will be better than Scoot Henderson next year. That's, uh, that's crazy man. I don't even think Nix will be on the team next year, maybe not even in the league.
Exactly....it's silly to compare George Mikan stats to Wilt Chamberlain after they put the restricted area after Mikans time. Zone defense was implemented in 2001 or so and took teams about 10 years on how to use it. Those were simple zones.....now teams are getting smart and tweaking the zone. This has allowed Brook Lopez to stay near the rim now defensively. Robert Williams and others. Teams find the guys that can't shoot and put the rim protectors on them, which allows the paint to be packed. Forget about having two or three guys on the court at the same time. You couldn't have Sengun and Amen on the court at the same time. That would be two extra defenders sitting in the paint. And in MJ's time defenders had to stay close to their assignments or commit to the double team. You couldn't play halfway like they do today. Stretching the illegal defense to the extremes.
I believe Sengun will get confident enough as a shooter to space the floor. If he doesn't, you would have to end up trading either Amen or Sengun. But that is not a decision which would need to be made this upcoming season, maybe not even the one after that. You don't draft for nitpicky fit things like that, you take the best player.
Or just don't take a guy who can't shoot to put on a team with a grand total of 1 player that is even an average NBA 3 point shooter. It's not a "nitpick" to talk about a guard who shot 22% from 3 against children in a glorified rec league. That's a guy that simply doesn't have a future in the NBA unless he gets A LOT better. You simply can't be a Shaq level shooter as a 6'7 guard. Giannis barely gets away with it and 1. He's a better shooter than Amen 2. He's 6'11 Do you really spend the #4 pick on a guy who has a floor of being out of the league almost immediately?
I would say Cam is ahead developmentally because he played against better comp and hes almost two years younger than the twins. Twins will be 20 on draft day and Cam will still be 18. And Cam didnt spend last season playing against prep schools. So if they all have issues but one guy played against better comp and is two years younger, its natural to think hes ahead at this stage developmentally, no?
Not really. Once you're programmed that's pretty much where you stay. I can't think of someone becoming a playmaker that wasn't one early on in their college/prep careers. You can work on mechanics, reads, watching tape, etc but I don't think Whitmore will suddenly become a willing passer. His vision just isn't there and his brain doesn't seem to work like that. Neither does Ausar's frankly. That's what makes Amen special. You can't turn someone into a Kevin De Bruyne for example. That ***** just innate. It's why I feel like people are *really* low on Jarace Walker. I like him more than Miller who really only brings shooting and passable defense. If we lose out on Amen I'm down for trading the pick to Detroit and nabbing Jarace at 5.
I don't think that Whitmore really played better competition overall. I know that is controversial but I don't think this year he really played tough competition from the perspective of being an NBA player. From an age perspective, 1.5 years DOES matter. However, Whitmore is a very under-developed passer and struggles at seeing the court. He has a horrible assist/turnover ratio and can be a blackhole on offense.
What is the track record for Overtime Elite? From what I can tell, they don't have any noteworthy alumni. This prep program seems really questionable. With all the money to be made from NIL, I'm not sure why any NBA prospect would choose to go there.
I haven't done a deep dive on many of the guys at OTE, but I know the 2 teams the Thompsons played in the playoffs had some decent big men (Alex Sarr and Somto Cyril, the former is apparently a top 20 pick in 2024 draft according to Givony I guess). I've heard OTE broadcasters throw out top 15 projections for other guys, though searching the web, might be closer to 30-45 range. I'm not saying it is the best competition, but I think it is pretty underrated (not hard to do when most people seem to think it is a bunch of 5'7 14 year olds). Speaking mostly about the "real" OTE teams anyway (though they did play against Bronny, Marc Gasol, and others IIRC in some exhibition games).
I agree that his shot needs a lot of work - but just to nitpick: he shot 25% last season and 30% in the playoffs from 3. Overall, season and playoffs he was at 27%. Still pretty bad, but not 22%.
To those who are worried about Amen and Ausar being a project, how do you square Cam being 18 and being such a hesitant decisionmaker on the court? With Amen and Ausar, even though they played against bad competition, they've had a lot more reps and a lot more time to work on their fundamentals, and that matters. I think all three of them will have a rough initial adjustment period, but I could see Amen and Ausar turning it on in the second halves of their rookie seasons, whereas I think with Cam it might be a bit of a longer-term project.
I don’t get the love for Cam. If I had to choose between Cam and Jarace, it would be Jarace all day every day.
I love how Nook started gassing up Amen and Ausar yesterday and now the next morning Jackson Gatlin has a new video gassing up Amen & Ausar I think Jackson be peeping on the board for content
