Scorer off the bench is maybe the most overrated concept in the NBA. If you have multiple top scorers you just stagger their stays on the bench. Only time one of your top offensive weapons should come off the bench is because there's simply not a good fit for them with the starting unit. I've been on the side of keeping him on the bench, but after the last week its starting to feel like our playoff starting lineup is gonna feature him, so why wait. His growth is happening so rapidly, it sure as hell caught me off guard and I imagine Udoka is in the same boat . Get as many reps as possible on ball to get comfortable playing next to KD/Sengun. I think Amen would benefit also with less time on ball and more time in the dunker spot. On top of that we still need to figure out if we need to add a game manager PG by the deadline. If Reed can fill that role in house it would be awesome.
Sheppard and Sengun should be our primary assist engine. Everyone else feeds off of ball movement, picks, fast breaks and offensive rebounds.
I might catch some flak here, but I think Reed is more Pete Maravich lite than Mark Price. He's shorter, and, of course doesn't approach Pistol's ball handling. But this kid's more of an explosive scorer than Mark was. Either way, he's definitely worthy of the #3 pick in that draft.
Sheppard is one of the best shooters in the league (TOP 3) Amen is one of the best cutters in a league, when he's off his feet he's going to get fouled or finish (TOP 3) KD is offensive GOAT, and one of the best ISO scorers in the league right now (TOP 3) Shengoon is one of the best post players in the league (TOP 3) You have folks that are TOP 3 in the league at different and deadly skill sets and your offense still comes to a halt where you keep making the same failed plays over and over? This team's offensive potential is being sabotaged with lack of discipline and structure @Downtown Sniper Obviously its hard recognizing which of those skill sets to goto when you're swinging the ball on the floor and defense adjusts which is why you can't just go out playing pickup ball
I thought by now we should have learned the lesson of not judging young players too soon, whether too much hype or too much doubt. The only exceptions are young guys who are uncoachable at the outset. It has been a long, long time since the Rockets is parading a whole line of kids in front of us. These past four years has been a very interesting experience, watching some guys taking leaps and some guys not getting it.
Thanks for posting @zeeshan2 I was in the air and driving home and missed the first half. WOW! First reaction, is I love how he was taken it to the hoop and finishing over Joker. To score 20 pts in 1st half against a really tough Denver team is an excellent milestone in his development. Wish we could have gotten to overtime--not sure why we didn't try to get it in his hands for that last shot.
Great post. Amen doesn't have to be at the dunker spot all the time. But him playing off ball more than what he's been doing this season is the right thing to do. Amen is an elite cutter and finisher. With an elite outside shooter like Reed, it gives him a much more open lane to cut. The offensive skillsets of the lineup of Sengun, Smith, Durant, Amen, and Reed should fit very well. You have two spacers, one ISO king, and two rim pressure guys. And four of the five guys are good to great passers. An offensive coach would salivate with such a group.
Yeah, but I had nothing to lose, you don't see me betting on or against him, I can still voice my opinion, he is neither mine to take or to to discard. I do not have a strong opinion on him as I had on Jabari, Jalen Green for that matter. He is their only real pick in 2-3 years, I get it.....He is fine, but what I learned from guys like JG, JSJ or even Amen, you do not want to go too high or too low on them either. It is not that bad to have serious role players, they are not paid that much......
He now has the highest WS/48 and BPM out of our rotation players, only behind Sengun in VORP. There is a real argument that he is our best, or 2nd best player if he can maintain his level of play.