Amen Thompson can’t shoot. Amen Thompson looks lost on defense. Amen Thompson is a bust. Amen Thompson has tuned out Rockets head coach Ime Udoka. 

Well, those are headlines that you might have read during Thompson's rookie season, and maybe the most damaging criticism is Thompson is an athlete, which in the NBA is code for a player who's going to turn into a role player. Generally, a role player is good at one or two things which ultimately limits his minutes on the court.

Flash forward to the second half of his sophomore season and his game has evolved so much that the narrative has shifted—it’s a recognition that his game has elevated so much that he is now widely regarded as one of the NBA’s brightest young talents.

If you will, Thompson is best described as a bad ass on both sides of the court despite the fact that he ironically can’t shoot from beyond the arc. 

So, how bad is Thompson’s three-point shooting? 

Well, it’s bad. He attempted just 1.3 per game and made only 27.5%—a number that’s far from elite but a noticeable improvement from the 13.8% he posted as a rookie. The reality is his three-point shooting will probably always be a work in progress. But that doesn’t matter when people realize that Thompson is a modern-day NBA version of a Swiss Army Knife.

Case in point - check out his regular season stat line: 14.1 points on 55.7% shooting, along with 8.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 32 minutes of game play. 

On the defensive end, Thompson creates total chaos. His combination of length, agility, and instincts makes him one of the few true multi-positional defenders in the association. 

He crashes the glass with intensity, challenges shots at the rim, has quick hands to force steals, and is quickly turning into one of the league’s premier lockdown defenders.

While he probably won’t win the Defensive Player of the Year award this season, his name has made its way into the conversation. 

Even Rockets head coach Ime Udoka recognizes that Thompson has turned into a rising star. Udoka recently told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated that he can be a top 15-level player in the NBA

Udoka, who spent Thompson’s rookie season questioning everything Thompson did, clearly now has a tremendous amount of confidence in Thompson abilities.

THE BOTTOM LINE
While the Rockets don't tend to run plays specifically for Thompson—it's his scrappiness, intensity and willingness to play lockdown defense that sets him apart from other young players in the NBA.

I guess Udoka's tough love coaching style has paid off for Thompson and the Rockets. Grit, toughness and a deep understanding of his role make Thompson a rising star who's diverse capabilities make him one of the most unique young players in the NBA.