Amen Thompson - Point [Forward or Guard?]

Great defender already.! Elite finisher already. Winning player already.

 

elite rebounder

 

Where’s he on rookie ladder?

Edit: nvm. Saw post #865. Currently #4, I think that’s before last night’s performance? Well deserved. Keep it up young fella!

 

Amen has really REALLY impressed me. I was certain a guy with a broken shot would be limited in his impact especially as a rookie, but I was way wrong. That kid is a savant. He makes winning plays and always gives you 100% on the court. Even with a jumper in progress he is a likeable young man and I hope he is a big part of our future.

 

It's been interesting seeing him basically playing power forward. Isn't something we talked about at all when he was drafted or going into the draft. We instead were talking a lot about the matchup advantages for a 6'7" point guard.

But playing him at the 4 gives us other matchup advantages--he can switch downward better than almost any other player in the league at that position. It also makes him one of the best passers at that position, and makes his inability to shoot threes easier to stomach (ala Zion or Giannis).

I still believe he could be our point guard of the future if the handles tighten up and either him and/or Alpi learns to shoot. But I could also see a path to him getting around 30mpg off the bench as sort of a super-swingman backing up 3 or 4 different positions, like a better version of Bruce Brown.

 

Agreed. His athleticism is elite, but his timing is also incredible. The other thing I've noticed are his hands -- he generally doesn't fumble any rebounds away, either (cough, Jabari). You put the athleticism, instincts, and hands together, and his rebounding just looks easy.

I assumed he'd be a good rebounder for a guard just given size and athleticism, but he's truly elite. NBA.com lists him at 6-7 with a 13.7% rebound percentage. The leaders for rebound percentage among folks under 6-7 (rough guard cutoff) are Draymond Green at 12.9%, Ausar Thompson at 12.4%, and Josh Hart at 12.1%. Westbrook is at 10.9%.

Among all regulars, the only guys ahead of him in rebound percentage who aren't traditional bigs are Tari Eason and Jabari Walker. He's ahead of folks like Okongwu, KAT, Chet Holmgren, Julius Randle, Scottie Barnes, etc. He's basically even with Sengun as well -- which explains why we haven't seen a huge drop off in rebounding despite going smaller.

 

Over his last 7 games Amen is averaging 17.0/10.1/3.0.

This is the worst he's ever going to be.

 

Someone said (half jokingly, I think) that he's a point center. If you look at his numbers, they look like a center's stats, high rebounding, high close range scoring, low outside shooting.

He just doesn't have the bulk to play full time defense in the interior. I feel that if he bulks up some and develops a decent outside shot, he can play the LeBron role for the team, sort of PG, wing, PF combined.

 

He's a center trapped in a point forward's body.

 

Amen has such incredible rebounding instinct and motor.

If he's given the minutes next year, I think he is nearly as good as peak Ben Simmons (with even better rebounding?).

As bad as Simmons is now, he was a force to be reckoned with defensively and in transition. This would be a huge win for the Rockets.

 

So much hang time in this squad.

 

All stars don’t come off the bench? He is already a top 15 defender in the league.

 

Tell that to Manu!

I actually don't really care that much about starter vs bench player, I'm more concerned about minutes and usage. Amen needs to be playing at least 30mpg or so, I don't care what position or role he's in right now.

 

And that's before you factor in him already being a plus defender

 

I mean that’s fair, but Gino Bailey was more of a sparkplug scorer type. It made sense to bring him off bench.

I can’t really think of any reason why we would want Thompson coming off the bench. Start him at SF next year (Brooks to bench or traded) and he takes over at point guard.

 

I'm definitely in favor of us trading Brooks if the deal makes sense. We got Tari coming back too.

Just thinking about ways to get Amen as many minutes as possible next season since we'll probably at least still have Fred. He's been on fire and his talent is wasted playing 20mpg

 

Honestly, I think we would get a mid to late first rounder for Brooks. Or at keast he has positive trade value.