I think it is kind of interesting that in absence of FVV Udoka decided to roll with Jalen as primary ballhandler. Because of Amen's lack of shooting it kind of reduces him only to a cutter hanging around the basket looking for bunnies and putbacks. Not sure is it lack of faith in Amen or something he sees in JG.
He went #4 to a team drafting him to play PG. He would have gone shortly after to a team drafting him to play PG. He has been a successful PG at every level he has ever played at. He seems to be a savant at passing, rebounding, finishing and creating turnovers. Surely these things must give him some latitude in his current adjustment to NBA level handling. IMO it really hasn’t been bad. This guy is doing things that are INSANELY unique.
It's pretty hard for a rookie to be a PG immediately, especially since Amen also missed a lot of the training camp stuff. Jalen Green for all his issues has a lot more experience.
Plus Udoka doesn't want to invent a whole new offensive scheme mid-season to adapt to a non-shooting PG in the starting 5. When Alpy is off, I notice Amen being primary ball handler. But they seem to prefer Jalen as primary to stop defenders cheating under Alpys screen. As a starter Amen is at 4.6 apg - not mind blowing, but solid considering he is basically playing PF
If our guy is better than their guy, what does it matter what size he is? Obviously the most important metric is being better. I’m not sure why cloud it up be adding something secondarily important that was already accounted for in determining who the better player is. Size matters if you know how to use it only. If you know how to use your physical abilities, then the production is already factored in. If you have some kind of athletic advantage and don’t know how to use it, the size is pointless. Anyhow, we obviously see things differently and you seem frustrated by it. Not sure why I would act like something important is not important lol. Thanks for the conversation.
Dunno if he's a long term pg but he's the only part of the team I want to talk about right now. Maybe Hinton or long wistful sighs thinking about Whitmore and Tari...
Amen was fantastic last night. Most impressed by his fight and desire to not accept defeat. He is definitely one of the core 3 and if his shooting gets better we have our number one.
If size doesn't matter, why did you say: "They're going to put someone his size on him, no matter which position we nominally start him." Size is a key component on who is better. Also, fit matters unless there is a significant talent discrepancy. If Amen is nominally the PG, it will most likely partly be to create a size advantage (i.e., to prevent your original statement). You don't create a size advantage at the PG and then go out and get Collin Sexton as the SG.You don't get a stretch 5 and then have an Otis Thorpe clone be your PF. If Amen is the SG, it probably won't matter.
Can this starting 5 work? Sengun Bari Tari Amen Fred with Dillon, Cam and Jalen coming off the bench? If Bari and Tari shoot 37% from three I feel like this could work.
I would switch Brooks with Tari and Cam with Amen. The starting lineup needs Cam's outside shooting and he needs to adjust to being a starter and playing minutes where the offense doesn't totally revolve around him. Tari and Amen off the bench would be crazy. No doubt both guys would earn the closing role very often. For those games when Brooks gets into foul trouble or he plays his worst, his buns hit the bench sooner and Tari's minutes go up. Jalen won't accept a bench role on the Rockets to a younger guy. Very few players have that kind of humility. He would on another team though, which is what will happen next season.
Not enough reliable shooters so no. Also Tari-Brooks change wouldn't make much of a difference imo in fact i think we would regress because Brooks is more experienced and a more reliable shooter than Tari. As much as i like him finding Amen a place on this team is not an easy task when you consider that you absolutely can not have 2 nonshooters on the floor at the same time in this era. This sounds exciting on paper until they step on the court and their opponent drops 8 threes on their head in 10 minutes and they can't match their firepower. I don't think Amen will improve a lot at 3pt shooting which makes Sengun's development vital. He has to get better from the perimeter for Amen to be undisputed starter. If not we will watch 40 minutes of Fred again.
I agree the easiest path is to have Alpi become a good three point shooter. Although I still think Amen has a decent chance of becoming a mediocre three point shooter eventually, simply due to his work ethic and intelligence. He surely knows what his biggest weakness is and will work hard to fix it. I do want to point out, though, that Amen is just about the perfect point guard to pair with Sengun on the defensive end. Future all-defensive guy, long, fast, smart, high motor--has a chance to become the best shotblocking point guard in NBA history. I also want to point out that Alpi already needs to develop into a respectable shooter to become the best player on a contender, whether Amen is the starting point guard of the future or not. While I agree with some of his boosters that he's not as bad on defense as people think, he is definitely an offense-first guy, not a rim protector/all-defense type. He needs to become adequate from three and very good from the midrange to get to that Jokic, Embiid kind of level. Both of those guys have that in their game and Alpi needs it too. I think he will get there, he has shown enough signs. So yeah, overall, whether or not Amen develops a jump shot, I would still plan around him being our starting point guard. He's too good at too many things to deny.
Amen is undeniably very talented. Tiers above Jalen, Tari and Jabari. If it was up to me i 100% would use him as playmaking wing. To be able to start as pg on an my nba team you have to have ball handling skills and vision. You have to have them both. Only a handful of 6'6"+ guys can play pg. While guys like Doncic can Paul George can't. PG has incredible ball handling skills but doesn't have the court vision of a pg while Doncic has both. It's incredibly rare for a big guy to have them both. Amen has court vision which can't be taught but isn't a good ball handler so right now he is not a pg. Can he improve yes is it ever gonna be enough i doubt it. And honestly it's so easy to exploit that weakness. Amen can turn into a turnover machine and we might start ******** on him for that. So i want him to evolve into a guy who doesn't need to control of the ball the most to be able to perform his magic. People genuinely need to understand that our 2nd, 3rd and 4th pick are all bad ball handlers which is problematic. Jalen is unfixable because he has too many holes to fill but Jabari and Amen can be saved if we limit their relationship with the ball. Sometimes less is more when it comes to certain players.
Amen reminds me an awful lot of Magic. The combination of size and skillset .... you can't paint that guy into a single position, you just put the best players you can around him and win a hell of a lot of games. I was against drafting him , said I'd have traded the pick for the best player I could get .... He's won me over despite the craptastic shooting. IF he ever learns to shoot, it's game over for the league. He'll be the game's best player IF he shoots league average from distance. Magic couldn't shoot coming in either .... he shot above league average from 3 only once in his career and still somehow managed to win 3 MVP's.
Size factors into the guy being better. In the case of Amen being only 21 he still has a lot to learn but having 6'7 height and top 5% athleticism does a lot for him. If Ben Simmons and Magic can play pg not sure why Amen can't as well.
