I don't know how to evaluate his PnR skill because I didn't see much in these SL games. I don't see any decent picks, let alone pick and rolls. He is clearly not an ISO player. But it remains to be seen how effective he is with NBA level screens and roll men who know what they're doing. To me, Reed clearly has good court vision. That's why I've been saying that he should be used as an on-ball PG and not a spot up SG. I'm worried that our offensive sets don't use enough of the players' passing abilities. Sengun's passing game was systematically neutered last season, making him constantly trying to drive into the paint and score over a crowd.
I understand people rejecting the "he played with scrubs, so ignore his bad play" narrative. I don't particularly care for it either (i.e., Reed should have played better regardless). But I do think SL is a special environment that is not very similar to regular NBA ball. I don't even think some of these guys are scrubs per se. The real problem is these guys have probably only spent like a week or whatever practicing together (and they'll all go their separate ways in about another week or so). In order to do some of these complex actions and whatnot...it kinda helps if everyone is on the same page and has good chemistry. Some of the times I saw Reed pass to....nobody standing in the corner (or things like that), it really felt like you could chalk some of that up to lack of chemistry. I'm sure there are dozens of other things you can point at as well. Given that Reed excelled playing with some of these same scrubs (or similar scrubs) during an actual NBA game, it makes it hard for me to really value the things we saw in summer league. Having said that, it was kinda bad that the Wizards looked so bad (at least in the first game, I didn't follow up past that). They seemed to have most of their NBA guys (including guys who played together last year), and they still looked pretty rough.
If there are struggles in the Summer League, you know there will be struggles in the NBA with the upgrade in talent.
The upgrade in talent goes both ways, though. I know Reed would struggle if defenses are allowed to key on him like they did versus Detroit (nail gave a lot of help, and low man basically was free to help). I don't think Reed is going to be the primary concern of the defenses.
Of course, when all your posts about Reed have been negative from the start, it is impossible to be objective even when the evidence is there. First of all, Detroit knew that Reed was the only one in the Rockets that they had to stop, and they did throw multiple guards at him most of the time. You might as well just keep copying and pasting all of your posts about Reed because they are all uniformly negative, regardless of how he played or plays in the future. These are similar to the JOF, who was called a "black only fan" by another poster.
Missed Reed in SL but I'll start getting concerned around mid season. As others have mentioned, it's been his hesitation and lack of assertiveness on court. He is a small NBA player and isn't thicc like FVV. He wasn't going to get his NBA body over an offseason but hopefully he added some good muscle. Did Reed look stronger and better able to hold his own physically or more of the same?
I have noticed increased upper body mass from last yr. He says he’s been in the weight room. I think he’ll continue to get stronger. The thing I want to see improve the most is the handles, and to your point, his assertiveness.
I give Sheppard a C in Summer League. Started out with a great game but then **** the bed the next game and got shut down. Ended SL with: 36.4% FG 32% 3 pt 70% FT For a 2nd year against non-NBA level competition that is just terribad. Yeah he had a ton of steals, blocks and should have had more asts if his teammates werent ass but all those are secondary to his scoring. If we just wanted defense Stone can just sign GP2. Reed has to be a sniper from 3 otherwise everything else he does is meaningless. 35% from 3 last year if he still sucks from 3 this year lets shelve all that god shooter talk.
A friend made a point a while ago, thought it was smart: much of the time he hears about a guy lacking assertiveness/aggressiveness, it means he doesn't have the handle to get to the rim. Interesting case in point, perhaps. He still has a dozen weeks before the season. He'll get in a few reps.
