He's a rookie playing PG. He processes the game at a high level. He's going to be fine. Wouldn't trade Amen for him though.
Quality through quantity! Man, we’ve seen teams struggle season after season (Clippers, Sacramento, Golden State, of the 1990’s) and never become relevant. It’s looking hopeful that after 3 rock bottom pitiful seasons, the Rockets have a legitimate looking superstar. I mean the total lack of a jumper is glaring, but the young man is on a different stratosphere than the rest of the guys he’s playing with. A lot has been made of Jalen Green’s struggles, but I think Jalen Green turned green of envy when he sees the natural fluidity of Amen Thompson. Green knows that his circus athleticism isn’t going to translate to a long career in professional basketball. He’s got flavor of the month vibes, and he’s on the verge of getting downgraded Mark Appel style… Sengun is another that is flourishing too, but right now I think he’s needing to make adjustments, because the league might have figured him out. But I am confident he can make adjustments to continue to strive. Though I think the season’s playoff chances are hanging by the thinnest of threads.
Last years OTE tape showed he could consistently get to the rim but didn't quite have the strength/mindset to go through some defenders, forcing him to resort to difficult finger rolls or spins off the glass. That first bucket, bumping off McCollum and finishing with Valanciunas in his space is the kind of growth you like to see. On top of that, those english layups, floaters, middies and similar finesse finishes are going in more consistently. That's the main reason why i'm optimistic he'll become a serviceable shooter. He doesn't lack touch, he lacks mechanics, which I believe are easier to develop.
I'm not doing the work for you - there are plenty of stars who were so bad that people were like - hey, we should give this guy a MIP because we did NOT expect that and years later those players won MVPs. But the better question is: can you ever tell anything definitively about a player in their first year?
Who? Steve Nash? He is the only guy that I could find that meets your definition of coming out of nowhere to win an MVP - and he was the weakest MVP ever. Guys as bad as Scoot Henderson has been this year - or Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Brandon Miller (Yes, he had been bad too...) in their first year don't end up being all time greats. Maybe you should down shift to guys who became all-stars because the list of MVPs is really exclusive....Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kareem, Moses Malone, Jokic? Lebron, Kobe, etc.. Maybe you are thinking Jokic - but he was never anywhere close to bad. Literally all the MVPs are all time greats who where great out of the box... Duncan, Olajuwon, Robinsion, Shaq, Kevin Garnett, Even Curry was good, if hurt his first few years. List of MVPs https://www.espn.com/nba/history/awards/_/id/33
Giannis was damn near as bad as Scoot his rookie season. One thing you need to keep in mind with these kinds of historical comparisons is that it was very rare in the past for a guy to come into the league as a teenager. Guys were usually age 21 or 22, sometimes even 23 (like Larry Bird). That makes a major difference on how easy it is to come in and actually be productive right away.
He's been the best Rocket for a month by a large margin. Rookies aren't supposed to be this good. He is awesome.
Clutchfans informed me that Amen playing with OTE against highschool kids wouldn't prepare him for the NBA. Was that wrong?
This is how I felt before seeing Amen in his one summer league game. Preseason is when he became my favorite player on the roster. I apologized a couple of weeks ago about doubting him because of OTE.
To be fair, those arguing that way could point to how he has had to adjust and has improved as the season has gone along. Not saying it is a good argument...
It's not wrong that the competition is bad in OTE, although maybe it was slightly overblown by some posters here. Some guys just got it.
Someone on Reddit mentioned Amen reminds them of Dennis Rodman on defense and rebounding. I could see the similarities.
