Amen Thompson: The athletic 6-foot-7 guard
One of the two Thompson twins who are projected in the top 10. What makes Amen Thompson so special?
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Basic
- Position: Guard
- From: Oakland, CA
- Current team: Overtime Elite
- Height: 6-foot-7
- Weight: 200 pounds
- Wingspan: 6-foot-9
Stats
- Averaged 27.5 minutes per game for the City Reapers.
- Averaged 16.4 points on 56.6% shooting, with 5.9 boards, 5.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
- Took 2.7 3-pointers per game, averaging 25% of makes.
- Shot 66% on all 2-point attempts.
- Got to the charity stripe 4.1 times per game, making 2.7 of attempts (65.6%).
A little context on OTE
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Overtime Elite, if you’ve never heard of it before, provides an alternate path to pro basketball. Amen, as well as his identical twin Ausar, sacrificed their college eligibility to join OTE in 2021, which was the year it launched. It has worked, with both players now projected to be in the top 10 come June. 22.
The league is in Atlanta, GA and tries to resemble an NBA setting with ever-available facilities that are pristine and has multiple courts to practise on. There are stats, albeit limited, and perhaps that’s to the player’s advantage as scouts almost have to watch to be able to gauge ability.
Strengths
- One of the best athletes in the class. He has crazy levels of speed, along with bursts off the dribble, and verticality. This is a guy who has worked on himself and has become as prepped as possible for the NBA game.
- He’s a great playmaker, and every pass he makes is delivered with accuracy and as a guard at 6-foot-7, he can see over the defense to make passes from high angles. He turns steals and defensive rebounds into offense which is quick, and doesn’t mess around with outlet passes. He usually makes the right ones, and if he doesn’t then he uses his speed to bring the ball up the floor.
- Has a change of pace which keeps him unpredictable when on the dribble, and he stays under control with hesitation moves.
- Fantastic help defender, has the height and length to be able to commit to helping and then switch back if he has to, and has the speed to be able to get back on difficult situations.
- As an on-ball defender, he is a pest with active hands and disrupts rhythm and applies ball pressure.
Weaknesses
- 3-point shooting is an issue for a guard, especially one that can play in both the point and shooting positions. Defenses often dare him to shoot, which can collapse the paint, thus making it more difficult to score inside. That can hurt a team’s offense and he needs to develop a shot or complications will arise (think of the Brooklyn Nets’ offense with Ben Simmons).
- To improve shooting, a good indication of his mechanics and overall touch comes from the free-throw shooting. It’s a free shot and the percentage is a way of gauging where he is as a shooter. Amen Thompson makes 65% of his free-throws, which is a little worrying. Perhaps changing mechanics is an option.
- Another question: how will Amen Thompson adapt to a majorly supreme competition in the NBA? It would’ve been nice to see him play against a college team, but he never did. It won’t (and hasn’t) affected the draft stock, but the NBA could be a little bit of a shock to him because the difference in quality is a lot different to college, or even European leagues. In a negative sense.
Clips
The following are some videos of Amen Thompson’s game!
Draft projection
Both Thompson twins’ draft stock rose significantly this year, but Amen is the highest projected of the two. He is expected to be selected around the four-to-six range in the draft, depending on factors such as team needs and what teams like in a guard. He’s touted as the second-best guard in the draft, behind G-League Ignite’s Scoot Henderson.
Amen Thompson’s athletic ability alongside the basketball I.Q. will help him fit in the levels needed for NBA competition, and the intangibles are there. He may take a little longer than others to acclimatize to the NBA, and the skills will then come with that. If the 3-point shooting improves, then he will be a very nice player for a team to have.
