Can I ask a question? Why are we always fighting over our own players lol? Why are we even comparing Amen to Reed, we have both? The question shouldn't be if one is going to be better than the other, that is impossible to know, they both have a lot of potential where Amen is this odd utility player that can't shoot and Reed can shoot but lacks size, the question is how can we get these guys to play together so that it benefits the team. I don't know, a lot of conflict on this forum seems to be centered around one of our players against another which is odd to me because we have good prospects at every position. Reed would benefit from having Amen on the floor anyways it would... 1.) Allow Reed to play off ball and get easier shots. 2.) Allow Reed to not have to guard an elite perimeter guard and play freely on defense so that he could go for steals and whatnot. I really don't understand the argument. Both can benefit from the other they are drastically different players, they are not competing against another. Ime is usually only going to play one small player on the floor at one time, so it's either going to be Reed or FVV. That's Reed's main competition right now on this roster.
I think in this instance it happens because fans of one player are worried that if the other guy does well it'll hurt their guy....and for whatever reason they prioritize that one player doing well over the team doing well. In fact, that seems to be the case most of the time. From what I see, the two guys don't play the same position and one doing well only helps the other....but apparently not everyone agrees with me unfortunately.
Thank you, I don't get how people can't see that our biases can hide beneath our arguments. My brain constantly prompts me to put down someone else's favorite rocket during a debate but I always stay away from it. It's a defense mechanism that we don't need as fans of the same team. I find that some people think they are GM's rather than fans of players that play basketball. That's where we get into trouble, acting like we've earned something more than a player trying their best. If they're trying their hardest and failing, I have no problem with them. It's the GM's job to fix that. Doesn't require any disdain.
Yeah, there are dozens of worse examples of the first archetype, and there are many better versions of the second. I do agree that we should be more patient with Reed, but that's mainly because he's a rookie. That said, Jalen seems more Isaiah Rider than Kobe so far.
When people question Sheppard playing PG they compare him to Stockton/Kidd/CP3 as players who racked up dimes as conductors. The fact is, virtually every champion since Magic has had a scoring PG or role player, with playmaking coming from a different position or from multiple players. You don't need a passing maestro, just somebody who knows how to get a group into a set and be smart with the ball. If Sheppard can't do that I will be shocked. If he does become a pure dime dropper that's even better..but he doesn't need to.
No, ideally they are our future backcourt. Most want that outcome just disagree on the role they will play. One option is that Sheppard is the off guard on offense and guard the pg on defense. It’s not wanting one to fail, because of the effect it will have on their favorite player (at least for genuine fans). I am arguing about what I believe is the best way forward for the team not hoping somebody fails for my own ego to be satisfied as a prognosticator. At least for now, Ime seems to agree that he wants Amen to be the PG for the future. He might change his mind if Amen fails at it or if Sheppard absolutely excels at it. Sheppard has more to prove at this point, especially on the defensive side of the court.
I don't think you can take one preseason game as proof of that, when one guy has a year with the team under his belt, and the other one doesn't.
Yeah, I think this was giving the proven player with more seniority preference when the choice was between him and Reed to start the game. When the games count, we'll see his true preference.
Might still be that way initially, but eventually, it will shift over to Reed. It's like one of those things where you can see early on that it is obvious that that is where it will need to end up, but it might take a bit of time. Like it was obvious to most - not all - of us that Alpi should start, not freaking Bruno Fernando (not that the talent differential would be this extreme in the case of Reed/Amen, just the fit for the respective roles).
both high IQ, unselfish, winning. willing to defend professionals reed brings elite shooting, with defense and passing amen brings elite athleticism and defense with passing I think they complement each other just add an efficient, high IQ, and unselfish SG
Again, I hope both excel and play a valuable role on this team. Sheppard has quick hands and will get his share of steals, but he is not a good defender yet and may never be able to handle physical guards that are taller than him. He really relies a lot on the high school trick of letting his guy get by and swatting at the ball from behind. That’s not going to work for long in the NBA. If he is starting, teams will hit the film room and game plan on how to isolate him against bigger players. He is very good at playing passing lanes and his bbiq is through the roof, which may help him to be a decent defensive player some day.
I guess I just don't see those nitpicks being anywhere near as big an issue when it comes to the PG position as a player shooting the basketball like a middle school B team player. Basically your issue, such as I see it, is that Sheppard is a PG sized PG who plays smart defense rather than being 6'7....I just don't see that as a valid complaint. As to Amen playing the 1, I just see that as trying to jam a square peg into a round hole....just to say you did. He's not a natural PG, Sheppard is. Why not just do the obvious and go with the PG at PG and keep the SF at SF?
If Amen can’t get a decent jump shot by the time FVV leaves, you are right. If he can, the opportunity to have a PG at his size with his bbiq, passing ability, and ability to get to the rim is too big of a difference maker for the team to leave at SF where his advantages would be less emphatic. We will see. It is all about potential at this point for both these guys and that is why the Rockets staff continues to give Jalen chances as our offensive focus and will continue to give Amen every opportunity to become a PG. Sheppard will get his chances as well, I just think Sheppard is a much more suited as an off-guard on offense.
Fair enough, i think the odds of Amen ever being a competent shooter are fairly low and zero chance he ever shoots well enough to be a PG. I think he's already found his role as a SF in a dunker role but could expand it to be a secondary ball handler in the future. In that scenario, you can have a competent PG and have Amen thriving in a more natural role for him rather than trying to force him into a PG role just because it would be cool to say you have a 6'7 PG. As you say, time will tell.
Discussion is only to be to be had when people disagree. And people tend to (A) disagree on things they know about and (B) things they care about. If I start a post saying Reed is better than Jaime Jaquez for instance, people would either just ignore the post because they don't care, don't know, or just respond by saying "who care about a Heat player this is a Rockets forum."
My take on Reed is - he has been fine. He's playing within himself and letting the game come to him. I haven't been wildly impressed necessarily but I haven't been disappointed either - he's just a young guy getting his first taste of the NBA and clearly he is out there learning which is what we want. I thought the OKC game was good because he got a little extended run on account of the blowout. He seemed to be a little more aggressive playing the 3rd stringers which was where he got most of his points. At this point he is who I thought he was. A few random observations: - he seems to play slower than I would expect with the ball in his hands. I saw a few defensive closeouts and it's clear he has another gear(real burst and athleticism) but you don't see it when he has the ball in his hands. Not sure if that is because he needs to learn to play with pace a bit or if he is slowing down because his handles aren't quite what they need to be to take advantage of his burst speed. FWIW, Amen seemed to struggle with this a bit earlier last year as well where he tried to burst and the ball didn't quite make the journey with him - I think teams know he can shoot but I don't get the sense we have found out how to use that to create gravity for him off ball. Our offense goes up a notch if we figure out how to harness that to create space both on AND off ball. - Reed IS using his gravity to get shooters to fly by him on closeouts with a pump fake but he is also taking the mid range shots the defense is giving him. At some point he has to find a way to pump and reset his shot because those middys are there largely because every defender in the league is willing to give them. To Reed's credit he is hitting them a lot but you gotta shoot those at absurd percentages for them to be good shots. - Houston seems to be using him as an on ball creator/traditional PG but I would like to see working through screens off ball to open up movement away from the ball. That was how he operated in Kentucky - feels like that would be useful here. Houston's offense is very singularly about using the point of attack to make reads to catch a team in their rotations and particularly while watching OKC, it's clear to see the difference of having a team who has multiple actions within a single play(and having willing passers). I will say - it's tough because A.) that requires timing and B.) we don't have a lot of smart passers necessarily and even more to the point - our best on ball creators(Jalen and Cam) are also our least effective passers. - I feel like Houston's screeners could stand to hold a screen for a beat longer. It feels like they are always in a hurry to dive to the hoop. The difference between a Sengun, Landale, or Bari screen vs an Adams screen was VERY vast. It's one thing if those rolls to the hoop were producing offense but they rarely if ever turn into meaningful plays so let's make the screen count so the player has real space on the other side of it. This isn't necessarily a Reed observation but it would help him find space o the other side of those screens if Houston continues to play traditional pick and roll with him. - I like the Fred comparison but I wonder if we are relying on the idea of how Fred plays as the vision of Reed as our future PG too much. Think about how in the immediate aftermath of James Harden leaving we all wanted Jalen Green to be the next James Harden - and clearly he is NOT that. There is a little bit of that recency bias and I wonder if what works for Fred is not necessarily the best way to take advantage of Reed's gifts. Hence the suggestions above to find ways for him snaking through the defense in off ball screens and open up wrinkles to our offense with slip screens and such to make us a more dynamic team. The one thing the OKC game exposed is that we still have a fairly predictable offense and teams with good defensive communication and length can bury us. - It did seem like Reed had some defensive communication issues many times but also the whole team really struggled there against OKC. A team who is not communicating well would let Reed get isolated defending Chet on multiple possessions...and that's what happened.
I'd say Reed has been flashing an absurb+ mid range jumper. If it is close to as good as he's shown, the league is not going to be able to concede his mid range jumper. I'm more concerned with Reed being able to handle the ball well enough to generate mid range jumper opportunities (or force help to stop it) than I am in worrying about the jumper not being absurb enough to punish defenses if they are willing to give it up.
