Rockets' Amen Thompson Listed as Future Star by The Athletic

Amen Thompson has already emerged as one of the game's greatest two-way players. Defensively, he's capable of guarding essentially any position on the floor.

Being 6-foot-7 helps, for sure.

He has the mentality that he can guard any player also. He doesn't get stage fright when going against the league's top stars.

No moment has been too big for him. And he doesn't take possessions off, or labor on that end of the floor.

In other words, he wants the smoke. All of it.

He made the NBA All-Defensive First-Team last season and that feels like that doesn't fully illustrate how good he is on that end.

According to John Hollinger of The Athletic, Thompson is one of the league's future stars, along with Cooper Flagg, Paolo Banchero, and Cade Cunningham.

"Thompson is an electrifying athlete and already one of the best defenders in the game after just his second season at age 22. (He was my Defensive Player of the Year choice last season.)"

The writer noted how the shooting issue could be exacerbated with VanVleet out of commission.

"Alas … will he ever shoot? Thompson only made 27.5 percent from 3 and 68.4 percent from the line in 2024-25, and as a result, defenders ignored him on the perimeter and went miles under screens against him. That issue could become more prominent this season, when the Rockets will likely put the ball in his hands to run the offense now that Fred VanVleet is out with a torn ACL.

He may not ever get there offensively because of the shooting issues, but Thompson checks the other boxes with his size, athleticism and ball skills. He’ll have plentiful chances to show what the high-usage, on-ball version of his game looks like this season, for better or for worse."

As for the shooting (which has been discussed countless times), Thompson has changed his shooting form, which has been evident throughout the preseason. In fact, he made over 60 percent of his triples (we can just ignore the volume, or lack thereof).

To be clear, Thompson doesn't need to develop an elite long-range shooting stroke to be effective on offense. Remember, Ben Simmons was an All-NBA player and he couldn't shoot well (outside of offseason training videos posted on social media).

The difference is that Thompson will take threes, especially if he's open. The Rockets want him to.

If the preseason is to be taken seriously, Thompson will be much better offensively this season.