Rockets' Ime Udoka will Need to Counter How Teams are Defending Amen Thompson

Amen Thompson is a freak of nature, from an athleticism standpoint. He's easily a one percent athlete.

He's a man possessed on the break. There's no stopping him when he has a head full of steam. Or when he's getting downhill. He'll put you on a poster.

We've seen it, a time or two. He can also adjust mid-air for a crafty finish around the cup. He's not a flawless player, however. Not by any stretch.

(No player is). He's not a shooter. By any stretch of the imagination. Not a viable outside shooter. Thompson shoots 19.8 perfect from three on 1.7 attempts per game. Basically, any time he shoots a three, it's a turnover.

A bad shot is a blown possession. Just like a turnover.

Thompson is even shooting dismal from the corners this season, at 21.2 percent. That area of the floor accounts for over half of his outside shots.

Last season, he was shooting nearly 40 percent from the corners.

He's not a good mid-range shooter either.

We've seen a shift in the defensive strategy on Thompson, by opposing teams. Specifically, teams have started putting a center on Thompson, to neutralize him.

We've seen centers sag off into the paint, in order to limit Thompson's ability to attack the lane. In essence, forcing him to beat them with jump shots.

(Which he can't quite do, as noted above). This was first employed by the San Antonio Spurs, who put Victor Wembanyama on Thompson.

Wembanyama is a marvel though, right? Not every team will be able to do that. Right?

The Oklahoma City Thunder also deployed the same defensive strategy, limiting Thompson to 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting, when the two teams faced off in January. In Houston's first game back following the All-Star break, the Charlotte Hornets also pitted their center, Ryan Kalkbrenner, on Thompson.

He had nine points on eight shots. Udoka seemingly wasn't prepared for that alignment. Thompson stood out of the way in many of Houston's early offensive possessions.

Thompson was even asked about the strategy earlier in the season and gave a brief response.

"I welcome it. Teams can do whatever they want."

He's a competitor. Of course he welcomes it. But the onus is on Rockets coach Ime Udoka to establish a counter for the strategy.

The reality is that teams will apply double teams to other Rockets players, if Thompson is essentially not a threat on the offensive possession. The usage of inverted pick-and-roll actions will help to counter this. I.e. using Thompson as a screener.

Udoka went to some of these actions in that same Hornets game. Again, Udoka will have to develop counters for this approach. More teams are going to revert to this defensive strategy.