I agree with this. I think jump shot is the key word here. I’m not on the bandwagon that they have to be great at 3’s to be all-stars, but having a dependable mid-range jump shot is pretty much a necessity to succeed on a championship level team. Amen and Sengun in PnR would be virtually unstoppable if they could both shoot mid-range.
Without a 3 point shot, defenders just go under the pick making the PnR nearly worthless. Without a 3 point shot, but with a mid range shot, isolating Amen would be a much better option. Mid-range shots do not pull defenders out of the paint when off ball. They just make a player more efficient when on ball.
Sengun can get away with a mid-range only. Amen needs a 3 ball, or he's just a role player/fringe all-star defensive specialist.
Marion averaged 33% from deep for his career, Amen's sub 25% And Marion played in an era where very few non-guards could shoot tons from deep, and he was a 3/4. Amen's supposed to be a ****ing POINT GUARD, he either gets a 3 ball or he's genuinely an undersized 4, and even then a limited one because most 4's can shoot, but they HAVE to be able to shoot if the 5 can't. Amen without a jump shot is a defensive specialist role player, seriously. He's a hyper athletic Rudy Gobert but less functional.
I genuinely don't think he has a real comp. His shooting is generationally bad, most of his skills on offense are average at best, but he's genuinely a top flight athlete and sometimes a top tier defender. Usually top tier athletes have so much natural talent on offense that this doesn't happen, he's like a somewhat more athletic, significantly less skilled Igoudala who's much more limited on offense and has shown all-world level defense for one season.
If FVV was playing, I don't think Durant would be so ball dominant. But if that happened, I'm sure you'd be even more pissed. I think you are too harsh on Amen. Amen with a mid range would be a good on ball PG, provided that his ball handling also improves. His at rim finishing also needs more work. Except for the jump shooting, the other improvements are very achievable. The mid range is also achievable. The 3 ball looks to be less likely as time goes by.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm hoping and praying that he gets a jump shot. Amen with a jump shot solves so many issues, I've just put stock in hyper-athletic dudes with sketchy shots before. Gonna have to be conservative in my judgement on any kind of stardom at all until that turns around this time around tbh
yes and it’s why that Stone post-deadline press conference, where he disingenuously kept quoting our offensive ranking, is straight disrespectful to even semi-intelligent fans. I strongly dislike our GM.
I do not like the I told you so....but yes I said that 3-4 years ago that Stone was just another GM that lives life to the fullest, semi trophy wife, the luxury......just not the hardest working guy, let Witus do the dirty work etc.
Reed and the bench have been bad over that time frame. Reed is starting to score better again, but the Rockets have no bench scoring besides him. Offense for the starting unit has been decent to good. I expect Ime to try to push through Reed's slump, and Reed will play better than he did in January. I'm still not sure the rest of the bench is capable of doing anything at this point. Okogie has some good games with his defense, but it really depends on how defenses treat him on whether offense is hurts team or not, and he really needs 4 of the starters to be on the court with him.
We don't care about TS%. We care about OReb%. Our offense went down the toilet when Steven Adams went down.
