Another injury signals our destiny: is it realistic to bench Amen ever again?

Man, it is amazing how many times you've said the Rockets weren't going to make the playoffs. It is amazing how well FVV and Amen play well together and that Amen has developed great while playing with FVV despite your view that FVV was holding Amen back.

I will say Brooks may not fit with the current starters now. He's still a rotation player. Cam is a bigger factor on Dillon staying a Rocket than Amen.

The current starting lineup is not playing defense. I don't believe Jabari is a better defender than Amen, but someone has got to help Brooks in getting out to shooters.

 

FVV ultimately will be the one sitting, next year.

DD

 

Talk to me again after the next five games.

 

Should be Brooks but it will likely be Smith for political reasons.

 

The lineup with Amen in it seems to work much better with Brooks than with Jabari for some reason. Doesn't mean it has to stay that way forever, but historically, the lineup stats are clear.

 

I would continue to let Brooks start and give Jabari the opportunity to earn it back. Jabari was handed the starting spot from day one. If he has "it", he will earn it back, like Alpi did. If not, keep going with Brooks. Eventually, if nothing else, some injuries will open up an opportunity for him anyway.

From the Rockets' perspective, it's a great problem to have.

It can also be done in a face-saving way because Bari was injured. It would be much more disruptive to suddenly send Brooks to the bench when we are doing so great.

 

I think either Jalen Green or Brooks will end up sitting. But if its Brooks then Green will have an extremely short leash. If he plays soft like he did yesterday then he will get pulled and likely end up losing even more minutes to Brooks/Tari/Cam. One problem yesterday was that Green was getting locked up on offense and he was getting barbequed by Jaylen Brown on defense.

We have way too much wing talent and I think if Jalen Green can't figure out a way to stop being inconsistent he will probably end up being dealt.

 

Idk though because the stats show we dropped significantly in defensive rating and rebound ratings ever since Jabari went down. Having a 6.10 power forward who can rebound and spread the floor would help Sengun/Amen out significantly.

 

as much as i'd love to bench Brooks you just can't do it right now. Jabari will have to earn the job back...

but I think there's actually a good chance Jabari starts to thrive from the bench. I'm really excited to see how we look when we send out Jabari-Eason-Cam on other second units. we do need a creator for this unit, a back-up PG becomes even more valuable.

 

I think only true de-motiving factor would be to give Jabari a low-ball extension number. He's clearly a long term starter for this club for many years to come. We're only talking for this year and maybe half the season next year.

 

Amen gives you everything (and more) defensively that Dillon gives you but offensively Dillon's 3pt shooting this year has been pretty consistent. It would be tough for me as a coach to ask Dillon, a guy that has done everything that you've asked him to and improved his 3pt shot, to go to the bench but I would start Amen over Dillon at SF and have Jabari at his normal PF spot.

 

I get the arguments for why starter status matters and maybe they do make somewhat of a difference--but I'm still not losing sleep about who comes off the bench and who starts, as long as Amen keeps playing 35+ minutes per game. (That being the key thing, and I don't see any chance he doesn't after what he's shown.)

In any case, Amen Thompson since Jabari got injured:

10 games
19.2 points per game
11.5 rebounds per game (ludicrous numbers for a perimeter player)
4.4 assists per game
2.2 steals per game
1.2 blocks per game
57.4% field goal percentage

Factoring in his overall defensive value, those are all-star numbers. Coming from 21-year-old who has only played in 104 NBA games, most of those being limited minutes off the bench.

This kid is something truly special.

 

My first thought is that Jabari-Eason-Cam lineups might get rough even if it is very switchable defensively. I checked lineup data to see how those three have played together. They have not played together at all this season or last.

 

I think Jalen Green sitting is a possibility if he continues to be inconsistent. He’s the only starter that we have that isn’t top 35 in defensive win shares and offensively he is shooting worse than Jabari and Brooks from the three point line.

Or atleast Jalen will start over Brooks but will have an extremely short lease. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me if we sit Jabari. Our defensive rating has dropped from 1st to 13th over this stretch with him injured and our rebounding has dropped as well. We also need floor spacers for Sengun and Amen.