Ball-control experiments, the Thompson brothers’ different explorations

In their rookie year, they shocked the NBA with their superhuman talents. The twin brothers Osar and Amen, who were born less than a minute apart, continued to improve in the second year and will take on more responsibilities in the third year of their careers.

My elder brother Amen plays for the Rockets, ranking second in the Western Conference and advancing to the playoffs last season; his younger brother Osar plays for the Pistons, and his growth progress is slightly behind. However, the team's wins tripled last season, and they returned to the playoffs from the last train in the league. Although both teams lost in the first round, it does not seem to affect their value to the team.

The Thompson brothers have the advantage of strong physical strength. The elder brother Amen has more advantages in athletic ability, dribbling and passing, and has better overall development potential. He also entered the NBA with an early pick in the draft; while the younger brother Osar has better shooting ability, but other than that, his other abilities are slightly inferior to his elder brother.

After two seasons, Amen's growth progress is slightly ahead. After becoming the starter in 2025, he handed over 15.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists, coupled with 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks, which is a very good report card. In the playoffs, he faced the Warriors in seven games, and his data declined slightly, but he still maintained at 15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks.

Optimistically, even if Amen's three-point shot was targeted, he still contributed several high data outputs of over 20 points in several games.

In the new season, because the only qualified point guard in the team, Van Jordan, will be reimbursed, Amen will take on a heavier responsibility. The Rockets are also unable to strengthen the team due to the triggering of the hard cap. The second-year prospect Sheppard was not a rotation candidate last season. It is still too difficult to fully shoulder the starting point control task in the new season. In the end, Amen was chosen to be the starting point guard.

It is not uncommon for a striker with excellent physical fitness, obvious breakthrough and destructive power, and a passing vision but poor outside line to serve as the main ball carrier. When Kidd coached the Bucks, Antetokounmpo was used as the ball handler. During the Pelicans period, Zion was also positioned as the ball handler by Van Gundy, and both of them also performed well after taking over the ball handler.

The logic is not difficult to understand. Strikers with first-class physical fitness but lack of projection cannot open up space. After the ball leaves them, the offensive destructive power is greatly reduced, even causing teammates to lack offensive space and unable to exert their offensive value.

But this type of striker is usually the team's leader. Since they can't be in charge without the ball, just give them the ball directly.

In the last stage of last season, Amen has begun to occasionally substitute as a point guard. Even though his dribbling ability is not at the top level, his physical fitness is too good, and he also has passing vision and organizational skills, so he can be regarded as a decent point guard.

Another advantage of the Rockets is that Shen Jing inside has excellent vision and obvious advantages in high and low support. Amen does not need to do all the ball control work. Looking at the partnership of the two, they complement each other in the combination of ball control tasks.

From this perspective, letting Amen take charge in the new season is basically a stopgap measure that the Rockets have to choose. However, from the perspective of the Pistons, it is a bit strange to let his younger brother Osar serve as the ball carrier.

Currently, the Pistons' number one ball-handler is undoubtedly Cunningham. After a career year last season, Cunningham's mistakes are still obvious. However, he averaged more than 9 assists per game last season, making him one of the league's top ball-handlers.

The Pistons' problem is that they can't find the second ball-holding point after Cunningham. Finding Schroeder in the second half of last season solved an urgent need, but this problem still exists in the new season.

Reinforce LeVert and Dunro during the offseason. Both of them have certain passing abilities, but they are far from enough by the standards of the second team leader in the playoffs. Before the injury, Jaden Ivey was also quite good at holding the ball, but he had to start over in the new season after being reimbursed for the season. After the knee surgery, he is expected to be out for a period of time, and even if he returns later, it will take some time to adjust.

With these in mind, it is a good choice to let Osar try to control the ball in advance. It's just that many times when Osar and Cunningham are on the court together, the Pistons choose to let Osar take charge with the ball, while Cunningham plays off the ball instead.

Cunningham has shooting and movement value. Playing without the ball can reduce physical energy consumption and cover up his shortcomings in explosive power. Letting Osar hold the ball is also a somewhat helpless choice. After all, the Pistons really can't find anyone else at this stage.

But at present, Osar does not have the ability to serve as a main control player. The most obvious problem is that the center of gravity of dribbling is too high, and his ability to control dribbling with his non-dominant hand is particularly poor. Not only small-scale dribbling under high pressure, but even large-scale dribbling in open spaces is unstable.

What's more, Osar's poor outside ability does not seem to have made much progress at present. Not only is he unable to make three-pointers, he even has no mid-range ability at all. After a breakthrough, he can only fight all the way to the end, or collect the ball in advance outside the paint area to find a connection point. Small throws are only limited to the near frame. The offensive mode is very easy to predict, and the defender is relatively easy to handle.

So, instead of letting Osar handle the ball, it is better to free up more time for Danis Jenkins, who has a two-way contract. From the current point of view, this defender at least has defensive problems and is good at breaking through. Although the outside line is also not ideal, he is at least better than Osar. His height of 193cm is not a disadvantage for a point guard.

For most teams, having a large ball holder is an advantage, but there have been many failures before when tall forwards with passing vision are switched to ball control.

The most recent example is Spurs Sohan.

The forward performed well in his rookie season, with excellent physical condition and a qualified wing body with some passing vision. Apart from the sluggish outside, he basically had no major problems. As a result, he switched to point guard in the second year. In a later interview, Sohan said that this was the first time in his life to play point guard, and this role really affected him and even caused him to lose a lot of confidence..

This Sohan point guard experiment ended in less than two months, but Sohan seems to be getting further and further away from the all-around forward and wing he was originally. His outside ability has not been developed. He knows all skills except rebounding, but he is not up to the top level. He is about to enter the fourth season of his career. He still cannot see a clear role in the Spurs, and his contract renewal has not yet been completed.

Returning to the Pistons, after Ivey was injured, letting Osar play a guest role in ball control may be a must-have option. However, from a long-term perspective, playing a high-intensity ball-controlling role in the regular season is indeed a bit of a waste of time. At this stage, Osar still needs more time to develop basic skills and needs to take his time step by step.

However, there are also many optimistic voices saying that he was limited by blood clots last season and did not invest in training. This off-season has gone through a complete rest period. This is good news. Many people are even optimistic that he is the favorite to improve the fastest this season. However, with a lack of movement control ability and insufficient outside shooting, forcing him to put him in a ball-controlling position seems to be a risky move.

Having said that, the Thompson brothers have indeed made significant progress in the past few years. Maybe after the two focus on possession of the ball, they can soar into the sky.

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