Amen & Ausar Thompson - Potential 2022 NBA Draft Guys

[Hal14]

You said it again. One of the most skilled players ever but neglected to answer my very direct question. What exactly are those skills, with specific examples.

Huh? My post you're replying to is talking about Kobe Bryant.

Are you seriously asking me what basketball skills he had?

I thought you meant the twins I misread your post but still you never answered what I asked.

What question? Was it where you asked what skills the twins have? I'd suggest checking out the Box and One scouting report vid on each of them (on youtube and also linked in this thread).

Those vids cover it pretty well. I've also described their skill set in detail already in this thread..

[JMAC3]

Ausar shooting 7.8 threes in the playoffs and making 3 per game tells me he is a confident shooter and him shooting 4-6 threes per game at the next level isn't going to be pulling teeth.

Amen shooting really needs to get to an SGA, Fox level of shooting where he does it just enough to keep the defenses honest. Anything after that and he could be a really really big problem. SGA shoots 2.5 threes per game right now.

Realistically though I expect these guys to be more in the Scottie Barnes level of productivity as rookies. Not elite scorers, but so good at everything else you have to keep them on the floor. I could see Amen averaging 14 ppg, 6 assists, 6 boards with good defense and Ausar 12 ppg, 4 assists and 7 boards with good defense. With room to improve on the offensive side of the court year over year.

Probably not ROY numbers when compared to VO or maybe even Scoot depending on his landing spot. I just really like getting guys who I think will be high level defenders come playoff time.

[Big J]

I could see scoot putting up a bunch of counting stats on low efficiency and winning a tainted ROY based on that.

[JMAC3]

I could see scoot putting up a bunch of counting stats on low efficiency like Jonny Flynn did his rookie year.

Yeah maybe, something similar to Jaden Ivey has done this year.

It will really just depend on where he lands. If he goes to Spurs where he probably gets the keys and puts up massive stat lines like Josh Giddey did on a bad thunder team last year. If he goes to Detroit or Houston or Charlotte where he has to share the ball more and has less playmaking opportunities he probably isn't in the running for ROY.

[Big J]

I could see scoot putting up a bunch of counting stats on low efficiency like Jonny Flynn did his rookie year.

Yeah maybe, something similar to Jaden Ivey has done this year.

It will really just depend on where he lands. If he goes to Spurs where he probably gets the keys and puts up massive stat lines like Josh Giddey did on a bad thunder team last year. If he goes to Detroit or Houston or Charlotte where he has to share the ball more and has less playmaking opportunities he probably isn't in the running for ROY.

Crazy how much the Spurs have changed. Back in the day Pop used to lay into Tony Parker. Basically turned him into an all time great. Unfortunately he’d probably just hand Scoot the keys nowadays.

[Hal14]

The twins might be the 2 best passers in the draft.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[Hal14]

One thing nobody talks about when it comes to the twins level of competition.

They played against each other everyday in practice.

There's only 2 players in this draft class who got to go head to head, battling it out everyday in practice vs a top 7 pick.

Those 2 players are Amen and Ausar.

Iron sharpens iron.

Look how much it helped MJ and Pippen, the fact that they went against each other everyday in practice. Look at how much it has helped the development of Tatum and Brown. You know that as we move forward, the twins are going to continue to train together and play against each other every offseason too - they'll keep pushing each other to get better. Just like they've been practicing against each other and pushing each other all growing up to get where they are today.

[The-Power]

Clearly too many passing lowlights to be considered the best passers in this draft, imo.

[Big J]

All great passers commit a lot of turnovers. It comes with taking risks.

[jezzerinho]

All great passers commit a lot of turnovers. It comes with taking risks.

Fully agree. And in the high school style transition game of the OTE, a lot of the passes are made on the run to moving targets.

I don't see anyone better a passer than Amen in this class.

[ItsDanger]

The level of opposition they faced was very poor, defensive intensity was lacking often. Going to be hard to evaluate.

[Big J]

The level of opposition they faced was very poor, defensive intensity was lacking often. Going to be hard to evaluate.

Not really. Their athleticism jumps off the screen. That translates to any level.

[babyjax13]

Ausar's improving shot has me feeling a lot better about him.

[Hal14]

Ausar's improving shot has me feeling a lot better about him.

His shooting improvement is really impressive.

Overseas trip in september = 4.5% from 3
OTE preseason in October = 11.1% from 3
OTE regular season = 30% from 3
OTE Playoffs = 39% from 3 (including 44.1% from 3 on 8.5 attempts per game during the last 4 playoff games)

That's some crazy improvement.

[azcatz11]

What are the odds they go ahead of scoot?

[treefi]

The level of opposition they faced was very poor, defensive intensity was lacking often. Going to be hard to evaluate.

Not really. Their athleticism jumps off the screen. That translates to any level.

Eh.. Simply being an elite athlete doesn't mean your game is likely to translate to the NBA level though. I would even suggest the opposite actually in some cases....

I don't think there's a GM out there who would say the Thompson twins are easy to evaluate/project right now, and yeah, it's due to the level of competition and athleticism they've faced so far. It's a lottery ticket. Who knows what they look like when everyone else on the court is also an elite athlete and extremely talented. They're OLDER (20) than last year's OTE star Jean Montero (19) is right now, who led the league in scoring yet still went undrafted.

Jaden Ivey's athleticism jumped off the screen last year too, playing in the Big Ten... I bet it would jump off the screen even more if he played in OTE.. Every year there's a couple guys like that. Now now don't get me wrong, Amen does appear to be an even better athlete... but Ivey was much less of a lottery ticket, easier to evaluate/project due to level of competition.

I'm really curious what people think the Thompson twins will do in the NBA their rookie year. Gotta say it's tough for me to put Amen ahead of Ausar due to the complete lack of shooting.

[The-Power]

All great passers commit a lot of turnovers. It comes with taking risks.

It's not about turnovers per se.

[Big J]

They are going to be able to force a defensive rotation any time they feel like it. Since they are great passers they will find the open man or take the open shot. When you have the first step like these guys at their size it’s easy. Just look at Antman.

[Hal14]

The level of opposition they faced was very poor, defensive intensity was lacking often. Going to be hard to evaluate.

Not really. Their athleticism jumps off the screen. That translates to any level.

Eh.. Simply being an elite athlete doesn't mean your game is likely to translate to the NBA level though. I would even suggest the opposite actually in some cases....

I don't think there's a GM out there who would say the Thompson twins are easy to evaluate/project right now, and yeah, it's due to the level of competition and athleticism they've faced so far. It's a lottery ticket. Who knows what they look like when everyone else on the court is also an elite athlete and extremely talented. They're OLDER (20) than last year's OTE star Jean Montero (19) is right now, who led the league in scoring yet still went undrafted.

Jaden Ivey's athleticism jumped off the screen last year too, playing in the Big Ten... I bet it would jump off the screen even more if he played in OTE.. Every year there's a couple guys like that. Now now don't get me wrong, Amen does appear to be an even better athlete... but Ivey was much less of a lottery ticket, easier to evaluate/project due to level of competition.

I'm really curious what people think the Thompson twins will do in the NBA their rookie year. Gotta say it's tough for me to put Amen ahead of Ausar due to the complete lack of shooting.

Amen is a consensus top 4 pick so I guess the experts aren't as hung up on the competition as you are.

[babyjax13]

Ausar's improving shot has me feeling a lot better about him.

His shooting improvement is really impressive.

Overseas trip in september = 4.5% from 3
OTE preseason in October = 11.1% from 3
OTE regular season = 30% from 3
OTE Playoffs = 39% from 3 (including 44.1% from 3 on 8.5 attempts per game during the last 4 playoff games)

That's some crazy improvement.

There is a small sample size issue on each of those splits, but the fact that the stroke looks better and is getting results is encouraging. I feel pretty confident that he will be able to punish teams going under on screens. Maybe not his rookie year, but soon, and that makes him a high lottery pick, not a mid or low lottery pick. I don't think Amen can do this, and for this reason, I have Ausar>Amen.