AJ in his post game interview with Mark Champion, said that the thing he concentrates on the most when he is the court is his defense.

Got to love it.

Amir = Greatest pre-season player ever.

21 of 25 from the field over the last 2 seasons.


It was very interesting to see he and Blatche out there at the same time (the only other guy I put in Amir's class as far as underrated upside). Amir looked out of it in his first stint but he looked way way better in the 2nd half. Glad they kept his mins down as another injury would be way worse than him having 15mins less preparation for the season.

Now lets hope he can win some minutes during the regular season and deliver.

2007-08 stats through games of Nov 14th

AJ
------------
4 games
31 minutes
12 rebounds

15.5 rebounds per 40 min


Dyess
--------------
30 MPG
9 RPG

12 rebounds per 40 min


Sheed
-------------
34 MPG
7 RPG

8 rebounds per 40 min


Maxey
-------------
21 MPG
5.8 PRG

11 rebounds per 40 min

AJ's rebounding numbers will only get better as he gets more minutes and gets up to 100% game conditioning along with more experience.

Right now he is our best rebounder and I am not basing that on just the 31 minutes that he has played this year but also his past play at lower levels of competition. He will pull away from the pack in rebounds per minute played as the year goes along.

He also probably has the best outlet pass of our big men.

The passing has been the most impressive (and unexpected) thing about Amir so far. He passes into the teeth of the defense better than any big on the team. Probably better than anyone on the team outside of Chauncey. He's got a great sense of timing on when to make the pass.

Not unexpected if you had seen him play before this year.

I have seen him play professional ball as much as anyone outside of Fayeteville or Souix Falls. He has always been unselfish, but he just hasn't been this active passing for scores in half-court sets until now. He had 3 assists in 124 minutes last year, and he's got 4 assists in 30 minutes this year. Even more impressive considering his touches have been extremely limited.

Missing his games in the D league, you missed him showing off his passing skills. As I recall he had a couple of games with double doubles plus seven assists or so.

He got a lot of touches in the post against the Clippers and passed out of all of them. If the guys had not missed open jump shots off his passing he would have had at least 5 assists against the Clippers in 12 minutes rather than just the two that he picked up.

I concur

In real foreseeable potential to steal a baseball term he's a 5 tool player.

How many guys can (either now, or potentially)

score and defend on the block

score and defend on the perimeter

score and defend off the bounce

clean the O and D boards

Pass the ball in tight and long distances


Don't trade him, not even in a package for Kobe.


Yeah, I'll keep him over Bynum as he gives you 90% of the C play that Bynum can provide, and a ton of small man skills and fluidity that Bynum could only dream of.


AND PLAY HIM.

To compare a guy he is either

1. The Guy
2. a "Middle Class"
3. a "Poor Mans"
4. a "Homeless Man's"

For example

1. Bruce Bowen
2. Raja Bell
3. Aaron Afflalo
4. I can't think of a homeless mans' Bruce Bowen in the league.

or

1. Rasheed
2. L. Aldridge
3. Channing Frye
4. Mark Blount


Amir has a chance to be an upper middle class Garnett with Muscle.

How many guys can be faux Tyrus Thomas, faux Bynum, and faux KG, and faux Sheed?

I didn't miss all of the games. But I only saw the ones that were televised (I recall 4 or 5). I too remember those 6-7 assist games from Amir, but he was their best player, so he touched the ball a lot more than he does here. It's not that difficult to rack up some 6-7 assist games if you touch the ball enough. I mean, Max isn't a great passer by any stretch, but even with limited touches he had 5 assists yesterday against Golden State.

Well, this is kind of making my point. He wasn't this active passing the ball in the past. Especially with the big club. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.