How Amen Thompson Extension Buzz Signals Rockets’ Long-Term Vision

Monday on The A-Team, Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler react to the latest reports surrounding a potential long-term extension for Amen Thompson and the Houston Rockets. While Varun Shankar of the Houston Chronicle doesn’t expect Thompson to land a full max extension, others around the league believe the rising star may wait to sign unless Houston is willing to fully commit. Listen to the full discussion as AC and Wex break down both sides of the debate and share how they believe negotiations between Thompson and the Rockets could ultimately unfold. And what that means for the Rockets in the short and long-term.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think that first of all, this report that Amen
Thompson may or may not be getting that max deal.
We talked about this, I can't remember what you can't
what conclusion you gained to you thought they would end
up maxing him? Yep.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I think if they don't offer him a max, he
will not be agreeing to a contract extension.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah. So that's the part of it that I just
don't I'm like, that's fine if you want to do
the rafel Stone thing where you get your players that
you're giving new contracts to to agree to terms that
are lesser than the full whatever the max contract offer
you can give them is I just don't know how
you're going to get a mend to do that.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
With Jalen and Shingoon, it was a least understandable. I mean,
you could make the very same case for a men.
Don't you think, Well, you just can't shoot a big deal. Yeah,
it's a big deal. I mean he's still one of
the best. If we go very badly, if you take
that tact and ultimately someone in the room, presumably on
the other side of the table, says, I mean, okay,

(01:01):
I mean maybe that's a little harsh. At least you're
not a SAR.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Like.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think a SAR might be a better defensive player
than a man, maybe, but it's very close. A SAR
makes a man look like an offensive wizard.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, I mean he's.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Like And maybe it has a little bit to do
with the offenses they play in and how they're used,
because if I imagine if a men was asked to play
offense like a SAR, he would not be scoring nineteen
points per game because he's They said, this is a
why we's wasting him. He can't shoot. We don't want
him to so and do you know who I'm talking
about yet, Well, I'll fill you in. Both teams say

(01:41):
that one team doesn't want him to touch the ball
on offense, that's Detroit. The other team says, but he's
so good from eight feet in that would be a
waste to not utilize that. And when you're playing guard,
when he was playing point guard. I I'm not a genius,
I promise you I'm not. I thought the injury to
Fred when it was first learned of, and the likelihood

(02:03):
of where they were headed before we'd heard word one
from Houston about what their plans were, I said, I
don't want to see Aman Thompson as a point guard
of this team. That takes him away from the best
thing that he does to help you win. I'm glad
to see that part of his game developed. I'm not
saying that's something that should last forever, but I don't
really want to see a whole lot of that this year,

(02:23):
and for the first part of the year. I don't
know what game you want to pinpoint it at. That's
where he was and that's why his numbers weren't what
they turned out to be at the end of the year.
He clearly has flaws in his game. He would be
the first to acknowledge that, which is why I don't
know how off I can't believe how often he gets
stuck with the grenade at the end of these shot clocks.
I know why the defense wants it, but you shouldn't
let the defense dictate that to you. So, yeah, you

(02:46):
could sit in your meeting and that could come up,
and if you were saying Jalen, you could understand why, Yeah,
Jalen was an exceptionally inconsistent scorer for your number one
scorer in jump shooter. He was not good enough to
be that I'll burn Shangoon and Jabari Smith Junior. We
could run down all the parts of their game that
are not where they probably should be at the time

(03:07):
they reached an agreement on their extensions, let alone where
they should be now. A man in all reality is
no different. He just does so many things well that
it helps you win basketball games even without that, And
I think he's definitely not getting worse. I think everything
else he does for this team and it suggests that
those areas of his game are going to be getting
nothing but better. And on top of that, he's on

(03:31):
the floor more than anybody in the NBA