He was not allowed more than 10 games to become the main initiator. He got maybe 20% all year. Pg is not bringing the ball up court and handing it to Kd and Sengun. It is a false narrative. Amen is going to be a superstar PG with the right coach. With reasonable ref respect he goes to the FT line 10-12 times a game. It’s coming not only because he will develop a mid level jumper next year, but the NBA storyline of the twins is too good to pass up. Of course, they might find a way to get him to the Lakers. The Magic legacy would be “Magic” for TV revenue.
This is misplaced He's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, that's how he made all defense in 25. Not coincidentally he did much less ball handing This year he spent more time on the ball as a 1st option and spent less time& energy on D (unlike Ausar, for a counterexample) This is all a very common thing! Harden was a much better defender when he was coming off the bench in OKC; there are many such cases of guys getting better/busier on offense & not able to devote the energy to defense. See Giannis, etc. The point is that Amen is capable of putting up a (perimeter) DPOY caliber season - should he or the team so choose, which you have to pay for.
It's really a decision of if you want Amen or not going forward. He's an 18/8/5 3rd year guy with great defense. Someone will offer him max or near max money so it's just a decision of if you want him or not. I think they'll try to get him on a Sengun like contract but they'll cave and give him the full max if he doesn't agree. I'm not a huge fan of keeping him at that number unless he improves his shot. But, someone is going to pay him.
The proof is in the pudding, if he's so great, why did we not put him on the star player in the playoffs, and instead put him on 9ppg average Luke Kennard? Seriously. Top tier on ball defender spent all of his time off ball, whilst LeBron battered us with ease. Your narrative is cute, it doesn't hold up to the basic level of scrutiny. Dillon Brooks would NEVER.
Follow up question: If Amen's so great, why did Luke Kennard's averages skyrocket in the playoffs compared to his absolutely bog standard, mediocre regular season scoring numbers? Are y'all really this blinded by your homerism?
Ask the coach. You saw what he did to Curry last year. Do you think he's athletically no longer capable of that? Sure doesn't seem like it. It's only logical that as Udoka moved up Amens offensive usage this year, he moved down his defensive "usage". Honestly this not a controversial or even novel thing? I mean do you want me to post usage stats to prove it? Because I think this is a case where eye test doesn't require it
IDK, why don't you show us some examples? I mean if you are saying Thompson is no longer capable of being a good defender you can at least show some video or stats or whatever . Individual level defense is tracked on that I'm pretty sure
Also by Luke Kennard "averages skyrocket" do you mean the fact that he went from scoring 14.1 /36 minutes in the regular season -to- 12.4/36 minutes in the playoffs
Im watching Maxey killing the Celts with 3s and mid range shots. It makes the game so much easier for his team.
My post was an indirect hit on Amen, lol. Look, we all love Amen, but that inability to shoot the ball is a serious flaw. Hopefully, Amen will develop thst 3 pointer. Many non-shooters eventually develop a decent 3-point shot, latest being Andre Drummond (34% from 3).
That's crazy that Drummond is taking them at all now, but the sample size is reeeally small, haha. I agree overall though, I would suggest that if they keep at it, most NBA players who are able to learn to shoot FTs at a semi-decent rate can eventually learn to hit wide open threes at 33% or better. With Amen, I think it's just a question of when that happens. It doesn't help us much if, like Andre Drummond (if you believe it's for real) or, say, Marc Gasol, it doesn't happen until he's 32 and well past his athletic peak. Basically, I firmly believe he will learn to shoot at least at a mediocre clip at some point in his career, I just don't know when. The earlier he figures it out the more likely he can ever become a #1 / #2 option.
that's if you believe a non shooting wing can start for a contender in the playoffs. i stopped caring about regular season basketball after the past few playoffs, it's just totally different. we were the fakest 2 and 5 seeds i've ever seen. the pistons as well, you can see how bad their offense is when teams gameplan for ausar + duren, they do the same **** they've done to us the past 2 seasons. yes amen did well enough even in the playoffs but did so while completely disrupting the team's spacing along sengun. it will never work unless he becomes at least a threat from 3. i'm still willing to see if a better coach can somehow make this work, but only because our only other options is to trade them all and tank again for years. i'm really not ready for that after the silas years... but if we're being honest, that's what we should do.
i think it's the opposite, i change my opinion on players and roster construction all the time and don't care if i've been wrong at all. we are humans and make mistakes all the time. go look at my post history, i've been high on jalen, then low and loved the trade. i've been VERY high on sengun and even amen, but new evidence shows me none of our prospects are IT. on the other hand, you're the one that always treated amen like a future superstar because YOU like the player for some reason. you will never change your mind on this subject even if evidence is clear, that's why you would give a defensive wing with no shot a full max contract. that's putting your love for a player above your love for the rockets.
