We want Thompson to be a point guard. Is that viable? | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Can Thompson run point in his prime? Rockets fans are tired of debating whether someone is a point guard. Yet, the debate rages on. For a long time, the subject was...well, you know exactly who. Fine, we’ll say it. There’s no sense in pretending he never existed: Kevin Porter Jr. You remember the terms of the discussion. Porter Jr.’s supporters would argue that in the modern NBA, the best point guards are shot creators. Reasonable people His detractors would counter that even Steph Curry has some degree of playmaking responsibility. An NBA point guard can’t turn the ball over four times every night if he’s only getting five dimes. A lead ball-handler still needs to make good decisions - you know, with the ball. Anyway, it’s a moot point. Porter Jr. is gone. Fred VanVleet is distinctly - despite some late-game misgivings from time to time - a point guard. Is Amen Thompson? What does the future hold for Rockets’ Amen Thompson? The Rockets don’t need to worry about Thompson’s decision-making. He’s a savant. The concern is whether he can handle the ball well enough to make decisions with it. It’s interesting. Thompson is almost the inversion of Porter Jr. He’s a throwback floor general in so far as he’s got pass-first sensibilities. At the same time, he’s a very modern player in that he can guard across positions. Here’s where, unfortunately, the Porter Jr. people had a point. A modern NBA point guard does need to be able to create offense in the halfcourt. So far, that’s been a challenge for Thompson. Per BBall Index, Thompson is in the league’s 29.9th percentile in Passing Creation Quality. He’s in the league’s 25.3rd percentile in Passing Efficiency. None of this reflects on Thompson’s raw ability to pass. The issue is that he can’t shoot and he’s a poor ball-handler. Defenses are sagging off of him when he tries to initiate offense. If he had a tighter handle, he may be able to punish them by driving to the basket. Since he doesn’t, that’s a recipe for a turnover. In other words, Thompson can’t shift the defense. If he could, he’d be able to capitalize on those shifts with his uncanny floor vision and passing delivery. As it stands, he’s in the league’s 21.2nd percentile in Points Per Scoring Possession (PPP). Passing is a secondary skill. Shot creation is a primary skill. This is the revelation that birthed the modern point guard. You can be Luka Doncic and regularly look to leverage that secondary skill, or you can be Kyrie Irving and only resort to it out of necessity. Either way, if you can’t score, you can’t run point. So...how will Thompson run point? Thompson has work to do to be Rockets’ starting point guard Let’s establish some groundwork here. Firstly, by point guard, we mean “primary ball-handler” and/or “primary playmaker”. Please note both the “and” and the “or” - they were deliberate. After all, the primary ball-handler merely takes the ball up the floor. The primary playmaker runs the offense. Some alarm bells are beginning to ring. Relax. This isn’t a Sengun hit piece. For starters, we already discussed this recently. One of Sengun or Thompson needs to develop a shot for them to co-exist. If one or the other does, in theory, they can both be primary playmakers for this team - even if that contradicts the meaning of primary. Secondly, there are concerns about whether Thompson can ever function in an equivalent role no matter who’s on the roster with him. Even without a shot, he may be able to eat off of rim pressure and passing vision with a good handle. What if he never develops either? Thompson has many possible futures Enough fear-mongering. Let’s look at some positives from Thompson’s season. This Amen Thompson graphic(Via @DamianXII) pic.twitter.com/vTrGNJFWqZ— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) March 15, 2024 Thompson is one of the best defensive rookie guards in NBA history - period. He’d be the best defensive rookie we’d seen in a long time if a certain French alien who also plays in Texas didn’t exist. He’s going to be a productive player. Scratch that - he’s already a productive player. We just don’t know how that production is going to look. Is Thompson Ben Simmons? Anfernee Hardway? Andre Iguodala? We’ve seen a lot of comparisons - yet, none of them quite fit. At the risk of stating the obvious...he’s Amen Thompson. Thompson isn’t an archetype. He’s a prototype. It’s possible that, in time, he’s a wing. Perhaps Thompson is a 15, 10, and 4 + elite defense guy. He gets his 15 mostly by cutting or camping in the dunker’s spot, and he gets his 4 largely in transition. That sounds very much like a player you hope to land around fourth overall in the draft. Yet...let’s be honest. We’d be disappointed. That’s because the best Thompson outcome is something much more special. Here’s hoping the handle, the shot, or both develop sufficiently. In time, we’ll find out if he’s a point guard or not. For now, the debate rages on.
Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/2024/3/19 ... wembanyama