Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

Got it. You cant be bothered to read or watch what you don't agree with and will only look at stats that confirm what you want to believe. There is nothing else to say here except good luck with your head in the sand - hope that works out for you!

 

It’s wild to me that you seemingly watch a lot of Rockets basketball but you don’t understand how special Amen is and how impactful he is in regards to winning.

Like absolutely wild.

You have a very reductive and simplistic understanding of the game.

 

Again, love Amen, love what he brings to the team. It's not a max player. Simple. I don't know why y'all struggle so much with this?

 

What do you mean "works out for me?" Are you on drugs? I just think it'll be a massive waste of money to spend all that cap space on a player who gives you 18 points a night and can only shoot within 4 feet of the basket reliably. If you want to be the kind of shitty team that does that (see: Kings etc) that's on you not me. I'll read actual points that have value and meaning, like heypartner's excellent posts. But what the **** do I need to waste my time reading your rant on Giannis for? I don't want us to trade for Giannis, you're arguing points I never made, so it's got nothing to do with me.

 

Fair enough. I’m admittedly coming in a bit late on this deal and have mostly just seen you, from my perspective, dumping on Amen in the past couple of pages.

Your central point is not unreasonable, even if I could be talked into Amen as a max player.

Apologies.

 

I've not been dumping on him though, literally all I've been doing is saying "we shouldn't pay a max contract to a player who gives 3rd option scoring numbers." That's not dumping on somebody, the ridiculous zealotry and fervour from his ********ers against me - that's dumping on someone for no reason. Especially by flat out r****ds who don't understand that "estimate" literally means it's not a fact. I'd love for Amen to be a 25 points plus player with a respectable jump shot - that instantly solves every single issue we have in our rebuild because he's then a 1A top 5 player in the league. Unfortunately it's not ****ing true, is it? So why they **** would we want to pay that much salary in a super frugal cap situation on someone who can't carry that load? That's how you end up maxing out players like Scottie Barnes or Evan Mobley. You jumped on the hype train and didn't actually read what I've been writing.

 

Okay man. I don’t care about this as much as you do. Whatever you say.

You’re a hero fighting the good fight.

Jah bless.

 

I don't even care that much, but if you get non-stop insults and slander from morons it doesn't really encourage anything other than disrespect back, seriously. Especially when half of those people live and die by idiotic bullshit "metrics" because they're not intelligent enough to do basic math. It is what it is.

 

My personal opinion is that this idea of Thompson only generating offense from being an off the ball cutter or just Being opportunistic is not quite the full picture.

Granted, I don’t sit here and analyze the data that y’all do. Maybe I am more wrong than I think. Do you think that data can be shifted around to show just about anything.

So I just kind of tend to go off my eyeballs.

he seems to improved across the board to me, offensively with the exception of the three-pointers. I was definitely hoping to see an uptick from at least the three pointers from the corner. the shot motion looks better, but admittedly, they haven’t gone in.

the free-throw shooting was much better than I thought it would be. and when the spacing is right, he seems to be able to get to the rim. I’ve actually been impressed with his ability to finish with little floaters, or even the mid range Jumpshot seems to fall a little bit more often than one would think.

considering that he has extremely dedicated to basketball, I think everything will continue to trend up.

I do agree that the three-point shot is a concern, but I don’t necessarily agree with the idea that it will kill his ability to be a max player. Although maybe it will enable us to get him slightly under the max.

I think he’s taking on more offensively, and this has led to him being less impactful defensively, but I still think he has been very good and I expect he will turn it up in the playoffs.

if I had to guess, by the time it gets to him signing a restricted free agency contract, we probably will be paying the max.

 

What is actually wrong with you? You are literally just hanging out in an 'Amen is great' thread telling everyone who thinks he is great that they are stupid and are juggling multiple fights at once - literally half the posts over the last few pages are you picking fights with people....because why? Seriously ask yourself why it's so important to you to come into a Player X is great thread and just spend half the page inciting fights with people? Normal people who think Subway sucks don't go into a Subway and spend the day telling everyone walking in that this place sucks and its overpriced and they should spend money on Jersey Mikes instead and spend their whole day there just stewing on negative energy. If you are telling me you aren't reading anything that may conflict with your POV or looking at any other stats but the handful that prove to you that Amen sucks AND you are just hanging out here all day every day....then there is something actually wrong with you. Get off your self righteous soapbox and go get some real help because your misery is unwelcomed here.

One last time - I'm trying to get you to see beyond your 'dont pay Amen' scenario to say - realistically how would this play out. I'm genuinely asking you: so what does that mean/what in your mind are the realistic alternatives....but because you can't be bothered to read ANYTHING that confronts your world view you aren't even receiving the message that I'm trying to get you . Not giving Amen the max is fine but what then? It's not like you get to go shopping for whatever player you think fits our team - this isn't a grocery store. So you don't pay Amen the max and someone else does - what then? You just got shopping for $30mil/yr players? Who? Who are those players realistically available once Amen walks? Do you trade Amen, if so for whom? DOesd the money work out in that trade(ie. is it even possible by the rules of the CBA?) How would that work - sign and trade? Is that possible with the CBA in the position we are in? What about teams that can't take part in a sign and trade because of their status as a tax paying team?

Look - we are a team in the dessert and the only things they have are the things we drafted and what we bought/traded for with the limited money and opportunity we had. We may prefer tuna to not be one of those things but if I don't know when I'm going to find more food, I'm certainly not going to throw the tuna out on principle because the consequence of that can be worse than the Tuna itself. Thats' what I'm asking you. If you can't be bothered to think through that, then I'm not going to bother having any more conversations with you at all. Like I said a few posts back - if you can't be part of the solution and only point to problems, then sit the **** down while grown folk are talking.

 

The problem you have is you think your perspective is the only valid one. I think if somebody offers Amen the max, you let him go and let them make the mistake and then use the money on somebody who's worth it. Stop operating like this is the Morey Rockets, it's not. We attract people in FA these days, people want to play here. We've got a superstar player, an up and coming all-star, a popular (oddly) coach and a player friendly front office. My solution is simple: offer Amen what he's worth, if someone outbids, ****ing let them, he's not a top 20 player yet. Then use the money somewhere else. Ideally we'd retain him for a figure he's actually worth, if not I'm not crying over Ben Simmons lite (Simmons had more accolades at this point in his career FYI.) Maybe jump down off your moronic high horse and stop waffling so much and maybe I won't respond to you back with the same hostility every single post you've aimed at me, mad thought that isn't it? Every single year there's a player with lots of potential a team can't afford, why throw away all cap space and flexibility on someone who so far hasn't actually achieved jack ****? Oh, and wind your ****ing neck in, you're no superior anything, cool?

 

@glimmertwins real talk, i have lots and lots (thousands annually in fact) of really enjoyable, fun, pleasant interactions on this forum every single day (i'm fairly active.) I'll always give you back the same energy you give me tenfold. Ask yourself why i spend most of my time laughing and joking and having silly banter but with a select few i'm happy to go hard against in arguments? (Hint, look at how you approach every single post you aim at me, and the tone you use. It's not rocket science, it's not even basic math; which this crowd generally struggles with.)

 

Amen is lowkey elevating his offense and middie game, and for some reason, fans are aren’t allowing it to be true.

amazing how we stay entrenched in our belief systems, for comfort and safety, due to fear of change.

 

The middie is more of short distance paint jumper. It's something both he and Jabari are doing more successfully this year when they can't get all the way to the rim. I think it's something they both picked up from KD since training camp.

He has good touch in the paint so he's using it along with his leaping ability to gain an advantage.

I think his true progression will come as he gets better at getting 2 feet in the paint and rising up for shots at various spots and angles. I would be shocked if he ever truly developed a 3ball or even a deep midrange jumper.

 

lol imagine posting this yesterday’s game. Hilarious.

 

I was watching a prime Russel Westbrook last night. The one in OKC with KD. Best Rockets performance since they traded Harden.

 

Well, either that or Sengun’s 45/15 game.

 

EXACTLY. The problem is that Amen is better at everything that our center is supposed to do. Finishes better in paint, rebounds, sets picks, cuts, like Amen does all the big man things, but neither him nor Sengun can shoot and Sengun isn't good enough at traditional center things. It's pretty obvious which one you keep, but I would keep.both because I dont think.there is a direct upgrade to Sengun that fits timeline and talent. Both can still get better, only 23.

 

You are right. There is no clear upgrade for Sengun. The few that might be in the conversation are Ware, which is a gamble because of his youth, Clingan who is a definite downgrade offensively and probably not available, or Myles Turner an aging vet having a down year and has been somewhat injury prone. Other veteran alternatives, KAT, Embid have their own issues and horrible contracts. Giannis is the only out and he will be an albatross contract as well if they extend him. If they can manage a trade for Ware and Wiggins and a good FRP, it might be a decent gamble, but a gamble nonetheless and dumbass Ime would probably start Adams.

 

I'm actually inclined to agree that his current production level is not quite max value, although I do think it's pretty high, like around the very top of what a "roleplayer" should ever make. Let's keep in mind that guys like OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are making damn near max money, and yeah, they're probably a bit overpaid and I don't know if I'd say they're worth their contracts, but even still, a really elite third option who is all-defense caliber is probably worth pretty close to the max. If you think Amen just is what he is and he'll never improve more than marginally, I can see the argument against paying him more than, say, Sengun's contract.

That said, I don't think that he is done improving or that he's a finished product. So if the Rockets were to pay him the max, I think there's a very good chance he would end up being worth the money.

I still even have some level of belief that he will fully add a 3P shot to his arsenal. If that happens, he could end up actually being a supermax player on his third contract. Some of y'all probably disagree strongly and that's fine. (I'm not saying it's guaranteed or even likely to happen, I just think there's still a real chance.)