What might seem crazy to some, but I think Amen is more NBA-ready than Sharpe was in his rookie year. Sharpe eventually showed us he can become a good defender, but his reputation was not caring about that end. Amen’s reputation is being known for his potential on that end. Amen’s playmaking is almost going to be remarkably faster than some think. I’m talking maybe 6apg even in his rookie year. Imo, Winslow’s shot is no better than Amen’s, but he’ll shoot them for some reason. Worse case scenario, Amen as a rookie is Winslow now. I defy anyone to actually make a case that Amen would be any worse than Winslow was for us. On the bright side, Amen is bigger, more athletic, and young so he can work those things out. With all the attention Dame gets, Amen’s ability to make plays immediately gets better if he is willing to play off the ball early and get easy baskets off cuts and rolls. Amen’s shooting should be treated like how we view Shae’s turnovers, we’re happy with any improvement and ultimately know it’ll get better if they work hard at it. Work ethic is not something that scares me about Amen, he’s a gym rat.
Dame/Sharpe/Amen/Grant/Nurk gets increasingly better the more I think about it. Guys like Dort and Jalen Williams made an impact on defense right away. If defense is what may be Amen’s calling card, let him do it right away. Grant moves to being a help defender to cover for Amen’s mistakes, and Thybulle comes in for Amen in case of foul trouble. Sharpe is going to have to get increasingly better at his off ball defense, but he should get better at it sooner if that’s what he’s tasked to work on, and his on ball defense will come when his body matures more. My hope that if Amen, Shae, and Grant do their job on defense, Nurk does a better job when he only focuses on protecting the rim. Realistically, we could ask Dame to only focus on getting over screens when Grant or Nurk’s guy sets it, and he is free to switch when Shae or Amen’s guy sets the screen. I don’t think it’s crazy it expect Dame to accept that duty, especially if we split Dame’s workload by 50%. Offensively, Nurk should work on getting more consistent on his jumper. If Nurk ever got to that point, he gives Amen a fourth shooter to kick it out to. Between Dame/Nurk PnRs where Dame is a threat to shoot from 30ft, Dame/Amen RnRs where Amen is the secondary decision maker, Sharpe’s cutting and lob threat presence, Amen’s cutting and potential to make the right secondary play every time, there are a lot of possibilities to go to.
I think as an entire package, he's impressive and easier to place on this team, but I think it's easier to guard a 3 and D player than a guy who isn't letting your offense to settle. If Brandon proves he can put the ball on the floor and create for himself and others than that changes his trajectory. I like guys who can play bigger than their height. I want athletes. Miller's athleticism has been questioned as well as his ability to finish at the rim. Saying all that, I'd still be excited at getting him. I don't love guys who HAVE to rely on their shot to be productive on offense.
I'd be surprised if Brandon and Amen actually played the same roles on their teams. That's why I'm not sure ft rate would translate. I think Miller does put pressure, just not as much as the others. In the team concept sure, I think it's about good fits. To me, it's easier to find a sharp shooter than one that makes you live in transition. It's a very simplified way of thinking about it because there are degrees, but in isolation I think it's harder to find the skillset of a Morant or Ben Simmons vs a Michael Porter Jr. Steph is the greatest shooter of all time, but on paper, a great shooter is easier to find than a guy who can put the pressure on the defense and turn everything into a transition. I'm comparing the skillset, not the players. There's too much we don't know. Saying all that, I'd be excited for any of the three players.
Functionally, Amen is the most difficult. A team would have to be dedicated to running a lot of the offense through him and surround him with shooters imo. I think because his shot is so far away, he won't be as ready as Sharpe but I'd love to be proven wrong. I'd be very surprised if they taken Amen over Scoot. Too many holes in comparison and similar upside. Amen vs Miller? I could see that going either way. We have an embarrassment of riches, honestly. I'd be excited about adding any one of the three. If Scoot is there at 3, I just don't think there's any way you can pass. He's as much of a sure thing as you can ask for. Don't let this end up like when we passed on Chris Paul again.
Same here. Miller is my least favorite of the three. I haven’t dug into Miller to come up with a comp (I don’t see PG), but he looks like he could be Brandon Ingram in his prime. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not like we couldn’t use a BI on this team.
I would love a healthy BI. I think Miller would probably be the best fit out of the three. But you don't draft for fit. That's usually a recipe for disaster.
I’m not advocating for skipping on Scoot at #3, it would be something like a tradedown to #4, #20, and a future 1st for #3. Scoot is clear cut #2 in terms of AS trajectory. But the CP3 situation is totally different. There’s a huge gap between having a top 75 player at PG and believing in Sebastian Telfaire. I’m thinking Amen might be more NBA ready because things like getting easy buckets and playing defense, things we said Shae would have to do to see floor time, are things Amen is said to excel at. People underestimate how quickly Amen can a POA defender. If Amen becomes that right away, he already helps us immensely and is arguably our starting SF by the end of the season.
If Amen has such a broken shot, I'm not sure how you can even take him over Brandon Miller. You're always going to be a liability if you can't shoot. Unless he shows himself to be an adequate shooter in the workouts, I don't know how you can take him over Miller, who doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. His ceiling is less, but he's far more likely to hit it than Amen if his shot is really that bad.
Serious question What is worse 1. Liability on offense 2. Liability on defense not saying either are those things
For me it's defense. There is the old adage "the best offense is a good defense." Every player in a starting five does not have to be a top five player in the NBA for his position. You need players diving for balls, banging on the boards, setting screens and getting the hustle points. Yes, at least three players need to be able to fill it up, but you also will have instant offense coming off the bench too.
if you look at the league today being a defensive liability is clearly more acceptable than offensive, except if you’re a center. Poole and ant got 100+ million, and Matisse thybulle is gonna have a hard time getting 6 mil a year.
I'd say defense. But if you're a liability on defense, you probably won't play unless you're outputting tremendously on offense. I think all three of the likely prospects have the potential to be very good on defense.
I'm pretty sure you proved my point with Poole and Golden State. There is only one basketball. Poole plays on a team that starts a defensive center making beans with no offense and a Draymond Green that is a hustle/glue guy. Curry, Thompson and Wiggins provide the scoring with Poole as instant offense off of the bench. Portland, with a ball dominant PG in Dame, and Ant when Dame is not in, require defensive players on the court with shooters. The lack of defensive players has caused much of the under performing in Portland.
I hate this defense vs offense nonsense - you need both, but more importantly, you need to care about net-rating and no-one should care where it comes from. The last champions were only 17th in offense by 1st on defense, but the ones before were 5th on offense but only 10th on defense. What most championship teams have in common is that their net-rating is in the top of the league. Last 4 for example were 5th, 4th, 5th and 3rd in the league in net-rating.
The Hornet fans seem to be 100% on the Scoot train. If the Hornets pick someone else, it's not going to be a happy moment for their fanbase.
I agree. Furthermore, this ill-advised focus on defense can result in really really stupid moves like sending two 1st round pick for RoCo. Lock-down defenders don't have much value if they are useless on offense. Two way players with decent net differentials are the way to build a solid rotation.
This is where roster construction is so important. RoCo was fine offensively, problem was that he was not a lockdown defender and never was. He’s essentially what grant is. Just a good help defender. When we signed GP2 he was a good on ball defender as well as off ball, but we didn't have the offensive systems to utilize him much like the warriors did. Thybulle issue is his shooting, it never consistent. His defense is fine, although it has some issues that he need to fix such as quit gambling for steals and blocks. Any of those guys would’ve been awesome to have if we weren’t already having to make up for two defensive liability in the backcourt. It’s a uphill battle that Cronin is trying to figure out
