I went through some tapes of both twins this morning. Very impressive, I hope they do the combine. If they measure out to SF sized (6'6 or taller barefoot, 7' wingspan) I'm truly intrigued. Amen is more of a playmaker, Ausar is supposed to be longer and a better defender. Both are top shelf run jump (40"+ vertical) athletes.
STOMP
Combine measurements are already out. Ausar has longer hands. He has a taller standing reach (8’8 vs 8’7.5), but oddly not a longer wingspan (both are 7’0). Both are 6’5.75 barefoot, so a solid 6’7 in shoes. Both weigh in the mid 210lb so they aren’t rail thin like Ant was at their age. I don’t see any official measurement for vertical, but I see reports that Amen’s is 44”—Ausar has an obvious notch below Amen in athleticism, but it will probably end up well over 40”. They are both essentially Spurs Kawhi-size.
I like Ausar a lot too. I really hope Ausar wows Schmitz enough to be convinced he’s the guy. Keying in on Ausar invites a tradedown like an ORL deal to get more assets like possibly a second lotto pick. I’m going to believe it’s a wash defensively until more tape says otherwise. To me, Ausar looks like a really good off-ball defender, but Amen might be better as a point of attack defender. I don’t see why Ausar couldn’t become a point of attack defender though. Ausar’s jumpshot is alot more NBA ready than Amen’s too, and is more of an off ball player. If Ausar could do what Sharpe did early last season, he’ll be guaranteed 10-15mpg.
I don’t know if Ausar could become a guy that will become your PG of the future though. With Amen, you have another guy that can realistically facilitate the offense, Skylar Mays as a safety valve. When Sharpe subs in for Ant, Sharpe will have the majority on the best opposing guard. Then you could sub in Ant for Dame and play Amen at SF. Ant will be masked on defense with Sharpe and Amen on the floor, with Thybulle as a sub in if either on gets in foul trouble, and at the same time, Amen takes less pressure on Ant as the primary ball handler and will grow as a primary decision maker. Amen would thrive growing in a Ben Simmons role where you put four shooters around him, one of them being Sharpe. That way, Dame will be able to operate more PnR offense, and Ant/Amen can play a more of a San Antonio kind of offense.
The future of the NBA looks to be having less of a traditional PG and more guys who can kind of do everything. Amen could be fed 1-2 PnRs a game so he can grow that aspect of his game. Sharpe has shown he can at least be an adequate passer soon. Watford can also push the ball and make decisions with the ball, he’ll be here a few more years. Once Dame’s gone, I don’t think we can ever go ball to being this one player centric again.
