So now the upside move is a nearing 30 year old Devin Booker? I really don't get the appeal of Devin Booker at his age. He has had a chance to step up and really hasn't. There will likely be another couple stars that become available in the next 12 months. Then again - the Thunder and Spurs have the assets to get anyone really good and they have the roster teams want to play for.... but Houston is a more appealing destination. The Lakers now are again a destination with Doncic in the fold.
Yeah I think we know what those options bring but after each playoffs' new stars tend to break loose from their teams so maybe someone else will become available. You never know which ones but someone always does.
Lets make this simple. This year Jalen Green is shooting right at Bookers career average. He's also shooting a slightly higher volume than Booker. So, assuming that Green never improves, you're telling me that he goes down as an elite 3 pt shooter?
A couple of points: - Booker has only shot 36% or better 4 times out of 10 seasons. - Booker has never averaged 8 3pt attempts/game in any of his seasons. He's only attempted 7 or more per game in 3 of his ten seasons. - there are currently 8 players attempting 7 or more 3s per game and shooting over 40%. -there's another 3 players attempting 7 or more 3s per game and shooting 39%. - there are 6 other players attempting at least 7 per game and hitting 38%. That's 17 players and there's quite a few more between them and Booker's 34% or 35%. So, not everyone with high attempts shoots league average. Not to mention that on average, Booker doesnt shoot league average. Unless, you have an extremely generous definition of elite shooters, Booker isn't one. Over 10 years, he's been a below average 3pt shooter. Being inefficient at a high volume doesn't make you an elite shooter.
Exactly It's a luxury to be factored in when assessing Book's value. And, imagine the looks he would get here.
I do think the timeline on the Phoenix picks is going to run out. We should make a hard run at Ant or Giannis and if that doesn’t work go ahead and send FVV and the Phoenix picks out for. Booker. Booker, Jalen and Amen as a point forward sharing initiator duties would be pretty spicy. If that doesn’t work out then jalen or Sengun and the nets picks and every available Rocket pick for another run at Ant or Giannis the following year. Booker, jalen, amen, Jabari, Giannis or Booker, Ant, Amen, Jabari, Sengun. We’d be a second Apron team but with all that youth it wouldn’t matter for five years or so.
While I find your commitment to group-think and narratives a bit curious. CraftedNBA provides the following comps for 22 year-old Amen: 1 Antonio McDyess - 23 years old 2 Ben Simmons - 21 years old 3 Josh Smith - 21 years old 4 DeMarcus Cousins - 23 years old 5 Gerald Wallace - 23 years old 6 Paul Millsap - 22 years old 7 Ben Simmons - 23 years old 8 Josh Smith - 23 years old 9 Paul Millsap - 23 years old 10 Darius Miles - 23 years old Being the next Paul Millsap, for example, is not nothing. But there's zero data to suggest that Amen is a future superstar who could not possibly be traded for an actual all-star. I'm sorry, but his 8 points in 41 minutes against the mighty Toronto Raptors hasn't convinced me.
I don’t see how anyone could have watched Bookers career the last decade and think “yeah let’s trade Green + 1st rounders for him”
Yeah here's the thing with your cherry picking, early 20's Ben Simmons never shot above 62% from the line. Amen is nearly 10% above his best season prior to this year. I don't need to go in to the data which shows a positive correlation b/n FT% and shooting percentages. But it's substantial, expansive, and real. But wait, there's more... On a per 36: Amen's offensive rebounding is ~100% better than Simmons, ~ 2 vs ~ 4. Amen's stocks are 25% higher; in fact, Amen's /36 stocks for his 2 years are higher than Ben's best individual season. Ben Simmons has attempted 36 3's in his entire career. The fact you listed that stat is just R O F L M A O Amen's career net rating is higher than Ben's best individual season. There, now I cherry picked **** that makes it look like it's the lowest of lowIQ to comp these 2 players. As an archetype - perhaps. As a ceiling/true comp gtfoh please good sir. That's cool that you started watching the Rockets last week. If you want to enhance your fandom please put on the back to back games from 2 weeks ago against the defending World Champions where Amen had 30+, and the night before when he had a 20+ triple dub on the best record in the East. Now you've increased your sample size by...wait for it...200% !!! Surely, relative to your 1 game sample that didn't convince you earlier, he must be like the #1 trade chip in your mind now right? S M H at you SSS wierdos dawg. Just SMH is all.
Speaking of cherry picking, my last post, which you only quoted in part, contained comps for Amen from CraftedNBA that were okay but far from suggesting the untouchable status that you've bestowed upon him after 112 NBA games. One of those comps was Darius Miles, once the 3rd pick in the draft and the next big thing on a young Clippers team that looked eerily similar to the current Rockets in terms of both players and improvement. You see, I've watched a lot more basketball than you, and I've seen a lot of ultra-athletic wings come & go because they never developed an outside shot. Will that be Amen? I don't know and neither do you, but only one of us has anointed him.
# Player Total | Off | Def Age Year Pos 1 Antonio McDyess 90 | 83 | 97 23 1998 PF 2 Ben Simmons 90 | 86 | 93 21 2018 PG 3 Josh Smith 89 | 84 | 93 21 2007 SF 4 DeMarcus Cousins 88 | 84 | 92 23 2014 C 5 Gerald Wallace 88 | 83 | 92 23 2006 SF 6 Kevin Garnett 88 | 84 | 91 20 1997 SF 7 Paul Millsap 88 | 83 | 92 22 2008 PF 8 Ben Simmons 87 | 84 | 90 23 2020 PG 9 Darius Miles 87 | 84 | 89 20 2002 SF 10 Josh Smith 87 | 79 | 95 22 2008 PF KG
If you can disprove the principle and foundation of an argument you don't have to argue on the margins. Hence, I excluded everything else that was garbage after summarily showing you the foundation of your argument was garbage. That's cool brother. I remember Darius coming straight out of high-school. I forget which basketball movie he was in but that was pretty fun as well. Now here's the rub - 23 year old Darius Miles was a Portland Trailblazer and was already a former Clipper and former Cavalier. Sure brother, a guy 2 franchises had already given up on, and who was in his 5th season in the league with 3x as many games played as Amen, is a bonafide comp. (that sound is my bellowed laughter in the background) And as evidenced by the fact you were 2 teams and 4 years behind on Miles it appears you've forgotten much more than I as well, eh? BTW, I'm mid-40's and have bled ball for 35 years. Good luck pulling experience rank. You might have it, might not, but it's inconsequential. Fair. I remember the first time I watched Jonathan Bender play, and dunk from the foul-line, I thought he might be the evolution of basketball. The man upstairs works in mysterious ways. Ultimately your point here is valid w/ a caveat. I - and many others - haven't anointed Amen as a "savior" per se but moreso "off limits" until you figure out if you have something generational or a fringe all-star/all-defense type. Conversely, I'll submit you've put him in a tier w/ Ben Simmons as his ceiling and I showed above there are areas of his game that are already better than Simmons has ever been across multiple all-star seasons and an 8 year NBA career. One could argue that's a bastardized version of anointing, just on the other end of the spectrum.
