Amen Thompson is the Rockets' REAL franchise player

Do you see Lebron or Russ as point guards or point forwards? Was Lebron's best trait being on ball or off ball? Russ?

 

What similarities does Amen have with either beyond athleticism? He plays nothing like either one, he's not even sniffing LeBron's vision/playmaking on his best and LeBron's worst day, like it's several tiers of difference. Russ is closer, but even then, Russ actually attacked people much bigger than him and posterised all of them, Amen's more from the Jalen Green school of driving.

 

Still see him very much as a rich man’s Jimmy Butler. Way further along than Butler in his 3rd season.

 

Amen is as good of a passer as Lebron. If not better. Lebron just had a much more sound frame and was bigger. He was basically jumbo Russ in his prime with a better shot. Lebron *could* pass. Westbrook was different. He passed to get assists he was not a natural playmaker. Reminds me of watching Anthony Edwards or Jalen Green who pass because they have to not because it's inherent in the way they play.

Amen is actually a much more gifted natural playmaker than young Lebron, his issue is that unlike young Lebron he doesn't have the size to bully or the shot making he had which makes his playmaking abilities sort of moot right now. He's the NBA's "potential man" right now. The minute he gets a serviceable jump shot then he vaults to Top 5 players in the league and the Rockets instantly become title favorites or at the minimum, Top 3 title contenders.

Amen in his 3rd Year has a better assist to turnover ratio than Lebron did at that time. Lebron's Assist to Turnover ratio actually didn't get close to current Amen's until his 5th year. So to respond to your statement on if he sniffs Lebron's playmaking....yes. He does. Handily actually if we're speaking about where they were in their 3rd year. He's also a better defender *right now* than Lebron has *ever been*.

 

Funny I've been saying that Amen could play the LeBron role. He is actually not a PG or anything. He's just LeBron. LeBron is positionless. He just does whatever needs to be done. Of course, Amen is still far from LeBron's level. He doesn't have LeBron's vision and handle. And even though LeBron has never been an elite shooter, he could score from outside from the outset. That said, it is possible that Amen will improve on those things and actually play that undefined role.

In a way, Westbrook is a much smaller version of Amen (without the defense). His size pretty much locked him in the PG role even though he was not a smart floor general and he also couldn't shoot (better than Amen though). His handle was also better than Amen.

This season just shows that it would take much longer time for Amen to develop into a primary playmaker. There are similarities with LeBron and Westbrook. But those guys could handle and shoot better than Amen from the beginning. And I wish Amen had Russ's attacking mentality.

 

I'm as high on Amen as any reasonable person should be, but some of you guys need to pump the brakes. We're talking about the 3rd best player on the Rockets, not a Lebron clone.

His defense is stellar, but he's VERY limited offensively. He's the worst high volume jumpshooter in the entire league, he's got a questionable handle, he's not a very good passer. His entire offense is within 3 feet of the rim.

His defense is amazing, he's a monster in transition, and he's still young enough to potentially add to his game....but let's not go crazy. We're not talking about a future MVP here. The Rockets don't have ANY player of that caliber....but they do have 4 guys currently in the top 40 of the league in VORP and 3 of them are under the age of 24.

The future is bright if we ever get rid of Ime and get a head coach that can do anything with the talent on the roster. We have no reason to go too crazy with projections about our guys.

 

He really is not even close the passer that LeBron is, are you crazy? I didn't even read the rest of it, that first sentence invalidated anything that comes later. Absolute insanity lmao. This is like when people claimed he's the most athletic player ever despite not being the fastest, the strongest, or jump the highest, or in fact the best at anything by any reasonable measure. "He's the most all round..." **** off, it's bullshit and homer glasses, god damn.

 

I'll flat out say it in fact, Amen has FAR more in common with Jalen Green than he does with LeBron, real talk.

 

He has the least questionable handle on the team behind FVV.

 

Unorthodox route to the league
Supreme athlete but almost never dunks over anybody
Sketchy handle
Very few offensive fundamentals
Poor/sketchy shooter
No big year 3 leap in scoring production as expected from a "Franchise Star Player"

Amen's just lucky he's a really great defender tbh, that's the only thing that separates him from Rebuild Bust #1.

 

To me, he's the polar opposite to Jalen Green. Jalen's bball IQ is as bad as it gets and consistently takes the 10/10 difficulty shot over the simple, easy shot every time. Amen has a high bball IQ and will always pass up the difficult shot for the simple shot every time. He plays within himself and never tries to play hero ball.

Jalen is also extremely streaky and will have a string of games where he looks like a superstar, followed by a month where he is ice cold. Amen has been about as consistent as any Rocket this season. He's good for 18-20 points, 8 rebs, 5 assists, and great defense/effort every single game. Is his ceiling limited? perhaps. But I would much rather have a player on my team where you know exactly what you're gonna get every single game.

 

I mean in terms of their actual basketball skill more than the vague "IQ" people always give that hasn't actually translated to being elite at anything outside of defense 3 seasons in. In fact, Amen's less fundamentally sound on offense than Jalen, not more. I'll give you that Amen's much more consistent (is that a brag over Jalen Bust? I mean Green) but he also doesn't even have the superstar flashes on offense, like there's been nothing to suggest he'll be a superstar on that end - at least Green ****ing teased it every now and then. People comparing Amen to LeBron are actually beyond the pale, Simmons is much closer, though thankfully Amen's not a b**** like Ben is so he'll at least have a long fruitful career as a premier defensive specialist who you can rely on for a few dunks and layups.

 

I was skeptical about Amen when we first drafted him. The NBA is full of super athletic guys who don't have fundamental basketball skills. They get drafted because of a questionable "you can't teach athleticism" mantra. But the league is littered with busts just like that. I'd always take skill over athleticism.

But Amen proved me wrong in his second season. Not only is he a superb athlete and defender, he's also a fast processor. He doesn't have the traditional court vision (seeing the floor before it happens). But he can scan the floor very quickly and use his physical ability to make the move or make the pass. He is also a fast learner. He has improved a lot within his second season. I expected him to continue that growth in his third year. But I have been largely disappointed. I blame putting him in the PG role. But it's his lack of progress in shooting that is concerning.

 

Always realize you could see something stupid when you open a thread, but saying Amen has the passing ability of f**king LeBron ranks pretty high on my stupid s**tometer.

In high school LeBron was whipping around passes we rarely see from Amen. He also happens to be his teams best scorer. He could have averaged 9 assists the second he stepped in to the league if he dedicated himself to it.

Amen is getting better, but come the f**k on.

 

LOL your boy Jalen is a low bball IQ player.. just a frontrunning chucking loser

JG takes 16 shots a game with the lowest TS% compared to 46 other players taking as many shots or more. TS% even worse than 37 year old westbrook. just like WB he's literally stealing good shots from his teamates. what a loser.

and this year 3.3 assits with 2.2 turnovers. only 1.5 assist to turn over ratio. even worse than KD. wanna be playmaker who can't take good care of the ball

don't drag Amen who knows how to win offensively and defensivlely to jalen's level

Amen takes only 13 shots a game and he is in the top 40% among 80 players shooting 13 or more shots a game in terms of TS%. he's at the level of Lebron, Franz Wagner, Deni Avedja, and Jalen Johnson

Amen for the season has 5.3 assists per game and 2.4 TOs per game. 2.2 assists to turnover ratio. knows how to take care of the ball as Lebron and Harden

FYI 4th year lebron had 6.0 assists per game and 3.2 TOs per game good for 1.8 assist to TO ratio.

I know you miss JG but rewatch last year's playoffs. Clearly Amen is a winner while JG is a loser.

Amen is closer to Lebron than JG.

JG is closer to 37 year old WB or Jordan Poole than Amen.

 

Clutchfans always overrates our young players. At one point or another Sengun was a more athletic Jokic, Jalen was Kobe Bryant, Tari Eason was a young Kawhi and Reed was Steph Curry with Chris Paul defense.

The comparison isn't even as wild as the fact that when he inevitably doesn't reach the lofty comparison they will say Amen wasn't given the right system and shooting coach or something.

 

Amen is not as good of a passer as LeBron, but he's not so far off as to make it a ridiculous comparison like some of y'all are suggesting. LeBron has always been more of a "great passer for a forward" than being one of the greatest playmakers of all time. What has always made him special is that he's good at virtually everything while also being an all-time great at attacking the rim. He's not Magic Johnson or Nikola Jokic level in terms of having preternatural court vision and passing skills.

If Amen had a passable jump shot and the size/strength to just bully his way to the rim (strength is the only aspect of his athleticism that is unfortunately not elite, although still pretty good) I think "poor man's LeBron" would be his best comp. As it is, again, I think there's not really an extremely close precedent for Amen's game in 21st century basketball.

 

He was shooting 80% from the FT for a large part of the season. This year has been really taxing on both him and Reed and it shows with Amen's "regression" from the field and Reed's streakiness. The physical demands from both were far greater than prior years but they both seem to be peaking at the right time. Regardless, the writing is on the wall. This is going to be their team to run for the next decade.

 

There are a lot of terrible takes on this board but this might need to be stickied for future reference lmao

 

LeBron by all metrics (and eye test) is considered, regardless of position, one of the best passers in NBA history. He’s not just a “great passer for a forward”.