00:01Interesting tie-up between Amon Thompson and C.J. Stroud.
00:07Their contract situations as well, courtesy of the one and only Brandon Scott,
00:13a.k.a. B. Scott. B. Scott, take it away, sir.
00:15Yeah, so this one is real interesting to me because, and honestly,
00:18I heard the guys in the previous show talking about this,
00:22and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, let me get in there because I got a thought on this.
00:26And it was somebody from the audience making this comparison.
00:31Hey, Amon Thompson gets this contract, and he's got a lot to prove.
00:36Why wouldn't C.J. Stroud get a contract, and he's got a lot to prove?
00:40You could maybe even argue that C.J. Stroud, in his position,
00:43has done more than Amon Thompson has so far in his career.
00:47And I understand that argument and thought it was a really fun topic to throw out there.
00:53I heard Chris saying that he didn't really see the comparison because they're different sports,
00:57they're handled differently, the way the salaries work are different, and all that is true.
01:02But I think the crossover helps us with this conversation I was trying to have earlier
01:08about how you view a contract extension and how you talk about a contract extension
01:13because it is based off of what you project a player to be over the life of the contract,
01:21not rewarding them, again, rewarding them for what they've already done,
01:26but projecting what are they going to be worth, again, through the life of this contract.
01:30And so it's a really funny thing when you look at it, Paul,
01:33whereas C.J. Stroud has a much better argument based off of his resume for a contract,
01:40but there is that question of how does this project toward the future,
01:43whereas Amon Thompson has all of these holes in his game where he needs to learn how to shoot
01:48or his handle could be better or just having a reliable offensive bag that he can go to, right?
01:55Like what is his go-to move other than just being more athletic and physically awesome than the next guy?
02:01Doesn't really have one.
02:02You see where he needs all of that, but because he's got all of these traits
02:06and seems to be made of all of the right things, you're able to project that he will be worth
02:12or at least you're making the bet that he will be worth that contract.
02:16So that to me is where this sort of thing is like an interesting dichotomy
02:22because one guy has done more, but there are questions about what is he going to do for you in
02:28the future,
02:29whereas the other guy has done less, has not been an all-star, has not been an all-NBA guy,
02:34was only all defensive one time out of the three years that he's played.
02:39And so like he's literally done nothing, done nothing.
02:43But you watch him and you project, hey, that guy is going to be worth this X amount of dollars
02:49over the course of this five years.
02:51So to me, it looks like there's an imbalance,
02:54but I also think there's an imbalance on how people view contract extensions overall
02:59and what constitutes being worth one.
03:01It's not rewarding somebody for what they've already done.
03:03They've already been paid for what they've already done.
03:06It's trying to project what are they going to be worth over the next four, five, six years, whatever it
03:10is.
03:11Amon Thompson got that five-year, $208 million rookie-scale contract extension
03:15with a 10% trade kicker earlier in the week.
03:18It's very similar to the deal that Alper and Shingun got a few years ago.
03:23I think it's interesting when talking about Amon Thompson,
03:27what is Amon Thompson now?
03:28And to what you were saying, what is Amon Thompson eventually going to be?
03:32One of my favorite basketball follows is at HP Basketball, hardwood, paroxysm.
03:41It's Matt Moore of the Action Network.
03:44Yeah, he used to write at CBS and other places.
03:46Yeah, he's been around a long time.
03:47I used to listen to the podcast that he did with Zach Harper.
03:50I don't know if they're still doing it, but he posted two images,
03:53one of Amon Thompson and one of Stephon Castle, and it's comparing the two.
04:00And when you take a look at the numbers, probably because of how many minutes he plays,
04:06Thompson is north of Castle in just about every single statistical category except for assists.
04:15Thompson is ahead of him in everything except for assists and in three-point percentage
04:20because Thompson, 21.6 from outside.
04:22Yeah.
04:22Castle, 33.2% from outside.
04:25Which is also not great, but the 21% is laughable.
04:28But it makes you feel like, okay, maybe this can get slightly better from outside.
04:33Where with Thompson, that's the real big question because I think there's a case to be made.
04:38He's the most athletic player in the league.
04:40I think there's also a case to be made that he's the best defender in the league.
04:44But is that what you want to tie your entire future to,
04:49especially considering the other guy that your future is tied to that you decided to stick with,
04:53Alperin Chingun.
04:54Both of these guys are limited in terms of range,
04:56and it does kind of create a weird roadblock for your offense.
05:03So the Rockets have fit issues, and we talk about this all the time
05:07when it comes to the Rockets, but they have a fit issue on both ends of the floor
05:12with three of their critical young players.
05:16Whereas Amin Thompson and Alperin Chingun, neither guy can stretch the floor,
05:20and so they are a clunky fit on the offensive end of the floor.
05:24On the defensive end of the floor, Alperin Chingun and Reed Shepard are a bad fit
05:29because neither of those guys is the best one-on-one defender, certainly,
05:35or the best defender, period.
05:37And so they present conflicts on that end.
05:39And so the common threat there is Alperin Chingun, who you could make the case,
05:44is their best young player, despite the fact that he presents these conflicts for them
05:48on both ends of the floor because he can't shoot and doesn't defend great.
05:52So that's a team construction issue, and they're going to have to make decisions
05:57or at least figure out how they're going to build around that, especially in the future,
06:00like after this year, after the Fred VanVleet and Kevin Durant era expires,
06:05and no doubt it will soon enough, they're going to have to figure out
06:08how does this thing actually fit together and make the most of it.
06:11But as far as Amin Thompson goes for himself, a guy that can't shoot, worth a damn,
06:17averaging almost 19 points a game?
06:20Think about how good you have to be to average almost 19 points a game,
06:25and you can't hit the side of a fire station.
06:28It's wild.
06:29The guy can't shoot at all, and he is still this impactful.
06:33If he can just find some kind of pocket, right, some kind of bag,
06:37some kind of repertoire, that's going to go up above 18 points a game.
06:42Like I see him averaging no less than 22 in the future just based off of his
06:47sheer ability alone.
06:48Once he figures out and refines his game, figure out what spots on the floor
06:52am I trying to get to and how do I get there, he's going to be a phenomenal player.
06:55He is B. Scott.
06:56I am Paul Gallant.
