Amen Extension

Amen’s lack of shooting progression necessitates that he’s not a max extension guy. But I don’t like that he’s apparently gonna play out of position for an entire season. Fortunately I think he’ll rebound next season hopefully after the org and the coaching staff become smarter people.

 

He’s going to get exposed in the playoffs. Full on Russel Westbrook defense. It already happened against San Antonio. Ben Simmons 2.0 should be getting the max

 

Oh boi.

 

As things stand right now, I'd offer him Sengun's contract, take it or leave it; if he leaves it, have him bring back an offer sheet. I think there's still a real chance it would be a max offer sheet though, which would put the Rockets in a bad spot. Maybe not though. *Shrug*

 

I think something to consider is what Detroit will be doing regarding Ausar’s contract. Will Detroit feel pressure to offer him a max contract?

On the other hand, if they offer Ausar something low, will that push Amen into taking something less than the max?

I think Detroit could play a role in how Houston handles this.

 

Can we stop playing pretend that his contract will be based on what you wish he was?

It's 100% based on what the market expects him to do in the next 4 years. Here's the market that knows what he's capable of if he's not playing out of position:

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/gm-survey-rising-rockets-star-144645282.html

Other GM's will look at his deflated stats as an opportunity rather than a problem. It's clear we're playing him out of position and using his development stats to lowball him. This is an opportunity to snatch a near-future max player from a team that doesn't appreciate him.

Do not f*ck around with our best asset. Even if you don't think he's worth the max, you sign him to the max and then you trade him later.

 

At this point he is not worth the max, however, if other teams view him as a max player then we are going to find ourselves in a tough position. I personally would rather let him become a restricted free agent rather than jump the gun and offer him a max contract. Let the market dictate what he is worth and make a decision based on that. I know from a relationship standpoint with the player it is not the best move but this is a business and with the current salary cap rules, we really can't afford to lock ourselves into a player that will not be a superstar.

I'm sure Stone is going to negotiate hard on this one because it would be tough to hand Amen a max contract based on his current skills even though most GMs may believe he may breakout in the next few years.

 

Also consider: while playing out of position, Amen Thompson has the highest net rating on the team out of Amen/KD/Sengun. By a lot. If he leaves this team, our defense takes a massive unrecoverable hit.

Be honest with yourself. If you know you're better at SF, then your team needs you to urgently learn the most difficult position in basketball and your stats decline because of it. Wouldn't you feel extremely angry if the team then showed up with those deflated stats as the justification for why you don't deserve more?

What would Amen have been this season if he stayed in his natural position? Is it his fault FVV got injured and the team ascertained that there's no one who can possibly replace Franchise Fred?

Having said that Amen is a very nice kid and I can see a GM taking advantage of him.

 

They don’t have to max him this off-season, but if they want to keep him he will have to be maxed the following year. Ime will not give up this year to development. He has already granted the wish of many on this forum. He even said it in his postgame. When Amen is initiating he gets one foray to see if the can get in the lane, if it’s not there he immediately needs to decide to give up the ball and go to the corner or provide picks for Durant. It is what will work best this year. Without his defense and DFS’ defense last game we get slaughtered even with Durant’s incredible game.

Amen is not going to accept an offer like Sengun. Amen is a student of the game. He knows his path to superstardom is with the ball in his hands. If the Rockets won’t give him that opportunity he will force his way into FA and even if he doesn’t get a max offer, he will move to a team that will give him that opportunity. His defense is other worldly and his work ethic will eventually pay off in regards to shooting. At some point, in the next 2/3 years the Rockets will have to do one of 4 things:

1. Trade Sengun
2. Trade Amen
3. Fire Ime
4. Lose Amen to FA.

Our competitive edge this year is defense like we played last night. Amen was integral in that win, despite having a horrible shooting night. The Amen as a PG experiment is over for this year. We will pile up regular season wins if Durant can stay healthy and Sengun gets his toughness back. We will fail in the playoffs and Durant will turn another year older after having one of the largest workloads of any player in the league. This team has inexorably linked its future to Ime’s wagon. Let’s hope defense really does win championships.

 

If other teams think Ben Simmons 2.0 is worth the max, fleece them in a trade.

 

Me personally I'm not risking it with the Warriors (his hometown) having a ton of cap space when he's an FA. Especially if the NBA is serious about banning tanking, then teams will take FA-hunting seriously again.

Defense unfortunately mathematically does not win championships. It's exactly 50% defense and 50% offense in every era since the NBA was born. That's why teams have to be exactly in the top 10 both defensively and offensively. If it wasn't the case, then teams could plausibly win a title with a top 15 offense and a top 5 defense but that has not happened regardless of era and rules.

 

I agree with you. My defense wins championships comment was meant as sarcasm. My main point is we will have to max Amen to keep him. I am way too lazy to try and figure out the optimum year to do it with all the Apron rules and commitments we already have. If Sengun continues to falter this season, I think the team will make a run at Giannis (which is a mistake). If we continue to do well in the regular season, we will run it back and only make a minor move around the edges, using the FVV injury as an excuse. I can’t imagine that Tito is going to pay off Ime to go away at least for another 2 years after this one.

 

And we thought Amen would be better than Wemby.

 

No serious person thought that

 

Sengun's contract. If his shot had progressed he'd be worth the max but if his shot had progressed we'd be the #1 seed in the West. Rockets are showing patience with their young guys and the young guys all seem to be understanding of that. I've been open to exploring Sengun trades but I'm 100% ok with giving him another Summer to get his FT% to....over 70%.

Feel like Amen could've been playing point since last season so we wouldn't be dealing with some of these warts this year just like Reed shouldve played more last year (but we got the two seed yay!). I think this gets done without much fuss but Amen is the #1 untouchable young guy on this roster. I don't even know who #2 is at this point.

 

Detroit fans are thinking Ausar is worth 20-25 per year

https://www.reddit.com/r/DetroitPistons/s/EpMOFOz67W

 

Before or after Wemby’s inevitable career altering injuries (ie Embid)?

 

The 2001 Lakers had the #2 offense and the 21st or 22nd defense, won the chip. Offense massively outranks defense in terms of championship potential, they're not remotely even at all, I'm not sure where you got that from tbh. Nuggets had a massively higher Offense than Defense rank too, and one of the Warriors teams if I remember correctly. They're not actually even, the more important is the offense, and then the defense cements it.

 

Wemby can shoot a basketball, he'll still be better.