I too am tempering my expectations as high as I am on him. The reality is that Reed's presence on the court (if he is what we hope he is) would help everyone. Jalen included. He's literally everything. Dead eye shooter, amazing playmaker, transition demon and ball hawk. You want to give Jalen or Amen space to go 1v1 with Reed and Jabari at the 3 point line? Good luck. He just might be good enough to be given 20 minutes a night. If he's shooting 40% from beyond the arc, he definitely will be. It just depends on how good he is at developing through his rookie year. These aren't college athletes (as he found out with Daishen Nix). He also never had someone like Steven Adams or Sengun setting screens for him either though and didn't really have that in Summer League. This is as committed to watching Pre-Season Rockets ball as I've ever been because I want to see Reed with Jalen/Amen. Reed/Amen/Cam/Adams. Just kinda everything. Regular season I think will largely be what we saw last year unless Ime pulls a fast one and starts Amen over Dillon. Outside of Reed completely throwing up on himself this year, the core starting 4 (next year) will be Reed/Amen/Jabari/Sengun with Cam/Jalen fighting for that SG/SF spot. That's going to be the battle to watch this year. Jalen's speed vs Cam's off ball efficiency.
They are going to have to handcuff Reed to very specific rotations to start the season due to his defensive limitations - that's the reality hot take brochachos miss about the NBA and more specifically about Ime Udoka. As good as he looked offensively in Summer League, he also looked like he might have som serious trouble staying in front of guys in the NBA given how hard of a time he had against a lot of players who likely won't be in the league. The hands, Bball IQ, and disruption capabilities are real as a guy trying to blow up a play but I would imagine some very real struggles for Reed against any guard with any kind of wiggle in an isolation situation if a team wanted to exploit Houston that way. In the aggregate that means maybe you are playing in lineups with Jabari, Adams, Amen guarding the off ball, Brooks, Tari, etc. You have to surround him with flexible guys who can be switchy in schemes and help and in Adams case - defend the rim.
Well that's certainly a take.... Sheppard was overall dominant defensively in Summer League. He'll have the same "defensive liabilities" as CP3, FVV.... or pretty much any actual PG in the league.... while likely being one of the best defensive guards on the roster from day 1.
Given that we currently have FVV as the team's highest paid player and we just drafted Sheppard to be the PG of the future, I don't think there's any real chance of Amen ever being the primary ball handler, but a Draymond Green type role to assist the lead guard IMO could be perfect.
Agreed. But I think 62 games is a wee bit early to declare what Amen can't be. His passing and court vision are already legit PG-level. But it's true, he doesn't have a tight enough handle. Not yet. But he's 22. And 6'7" true PGs are so rare and valuable, I have to imagine the Rockets will give him every chance to make it happen. Ya'll realize FVV started next to Kyle Lowry? And that Shep was primarily off the ball in KY? So... Yeah, sharing ball-handling duties will not be a huge stretch for either of them. Saying Amen can't run the offense is the kind of absolute means-nothing comment to which there just isn't really much of a response. It's a truism that he if can't protect the ball well enough, he can't run the offense. So he needs to improve his ball handling or he won't be able to be a PG. Yeah, sure. We'll see if he can do that. But in all other respects, he's got PG chops; he's maybe the smartest Rockets rookie I can remember in 25 years. He learned so, so damn fast last year. I was way skeptical of drafting this dude out of that bogus league and he converted me so quickly. I think he and Shep are going to be fantastic together.
The point was that Amen has already found a successful role and the Rockets have already locked up the PG position not just now but for the future. Could they force Amen into the PG role just to say they did? Sure... but there no reason why they'd actually do so.
I'm sure Amen will have his playmaking and ball handling opportunities regardless of position, if things work out perfectly, they could have three dudes more than capable of initiating the offense by themselves, we saw what havoc two all-world playmakers can induce in 2017-18.
That's kind of what I'm expecting, a scenario where after this upcoming season they'll have Sheppard, Sengun, and Amen all starting and being able to give opposing defenses a lot of different looks with Sheppard being the starting PG, Sengun trying to be a poor man's Jokic, and Amen trying to be a better version of Draymond Green.
Reed can play off the ball too. I think Amen will get some opportunities as an initiator, but that does not preclude Reed playing. They may even switch back and forth play to play. There's a lot to sort out with these young guys. I wouldn't pigeon hole anyone too early. LeBron would also excel as a Draymond/Shawn Marion type. He clearly.has more to offer.though.
Sure, that's why Sheppard is such a good fit with core guys like Sengun and Amen....if his shooting is anything like what it was in college, then he'll benefit from those off ball looks, but I think most of the time he'll be the on court floor general running the offense even if that leads to him setting other people up and letting them cook.
