Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

No defensive team
Ausar first
Same votes as Castle
Mobley 13 second place votes
Jabari 1 second place vote

 

Same as SGA

 

What an absolute utter failure from the head coach.

You literally have to actively go out of your way to make a guy who cherishes playing defense - worse - on that end of the ball.

 

https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/onsi/lakers-lebron-james-gives-rockets-amen-thompson-his-flowers

 

There's a video I think I posted a while back where an interviewer/podcast host said Amen is "one of the most athletic players in the NBA" to De'Aaron Fox and he responds by saying "one of?" and goes on to say he's probably the best athlete in the NBA and then added something like "I know because he guards me". Then you have Steph and Draymond singing his praises in postgames. Amen is legit - it's just finding what he does (or will do) best and letting him do that role (or roles). Ausar coming out of high school was basically 0.95(Amen) athletically.

 

Amen finished with less steals and blocks than Reed Sheppard despite playing 11 minutes more per game. So if Amen should've been 2nd team all-defense then maybe Reed should've been 1st? Either that or Amen is completely overrated.

 

Amen got voted about right for his performance, regardless of how many Rockets fans call him the best defender on the planet lol.

 

most minutes in the league

best defender on this team

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?CF=MIN*GE*20&TeamID=1610612745&dir=A&sort=DEF_RATING

and one of only 2 players with positive net rating on this team

 

Just checking, do you actually think stocks by themselves are a great indicator of overall defensive production or is it just trolling at this point?

 

Absolute BS for Daniels and Wallace to be in there. It's ok we got bigger fish to fry. Only a handful of the 1st/2nd team players carry a serious offensive load for their team.

Congrats to Ausar for doing what Amen did a year ago, but to be honest I'm not jealous of a one-way player. Pistons are wasting time not developing him. Will happily take the hit to the public perception of Amen in exchange for the amount he developed offensively this season. We're building a future top 10 player, not a defensive specialist.

 

Obviously I don't believe that Reed should be 1st team all-defense, so yeah, sarcasm. And obviously there's more to defense than just stocks. But the fact that Amen (i) is behind a player on his own team in stocks (which the voters absolutely do consider) (ii) despite having way more minutes than that other player, and (iii) that other player is generally considered a poor defender, is credible evidence that Amen is not some all-word, generational defender.

But that's not the only evidence. I watched too many games this year where the Rockets were eaten alive in the 4th quarter or OT, with Reed almost always on the bench and Amen doing nothing to stop the bleeding. And in the playoffs I watched Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard go by Amen like he was standing in mud. Yeah, he's a very good defender, but not game changing and not all-NBA, and therefore overrated on this board.

 

Our franchise player can’t shoot or dribble

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...on-watch-20-players-shape-offseason-big-money

Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets

Eligible to sign: July 6
Extension deadline: Last day of the offseason

Kevin Durant's sub-max extension last offseason has given Houston the flexibility to re-sign Tari Eason and sign Thompson to a lucrative extension.

"I fully expect they will be with us for the foreseeable future," GM Rafael Stone said, referring to both players.

After earning All-Defensive first-team honors in 2025, Thompson averaged career highs in minutes, points, assists and rebounds, and he trailed only the 76ers' Tyrese Maxey in minutes played this season.

In Thompson's final 22 games of the regular season, he averaged 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. (For the season, 70% of his points were scored in the paint.)

Defensively, opponents shot 42.8% when Thompson was the closest defender, per GeniusIQ. That ranked 15th among 188 players who defended at least 500 attempts in the regular season.

The next contract: Thompson's defensive prowess and upside should have him at or close to a five-year, $251 million extension. In a max extension, Houston will need to be careful of negotiating 30% language if Thompson is named Defensive Player of the Year next season. For example, with his selection as DPOY a year ago, Evan Mobley's extension increased from $224 to $269 million.


Ausar Thompson, Detroit Pistons

Eligible to sign: July 6
Extension deadline: Last day of the offseason

Thompson's accolades this season put him on the elite defender level.

Named Defensive Player of the Month twice, he was selected to the All-Defensive first team. He finished third in the DPOY voting to Victor Wembanyama.

"As the season went on you saw how much he impacted the game on both ends of the floor," Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said after the team's season ended. "He put a lot of time into his offensive game last summer. I think we'll do the same this summer and I think he'll come back with more confidence."

Thompson averaged 4.3 deflections this season, second in the league behind Oklahoma City's Cason Wallace. He held opponents to 42.7% shooting as the closest defender, per GeniusIQ tracking, which ranked 14th among 187 players to defend at least 500 attempts.

Thompson's offense remains a work in progress. Of his 575 field goal attempts during the regular season, 80% of his points were scored in the lane. Thompson took just 24 3-pointers this season, less than half of last season's total and significantly down from the 113 3s attempted in his rookie season.

The next contract: Expect a deal around five years and $162 million. It would be a slightly higher percentage of the cap in Year 1 in comparison to the contract Jaden McDaniels signed with Minnesota in 2023.