It's not surprising that you misunderstood what I said....it would be almost shocking if you followed along. JJ Redick was a 4 year college player....because he wasn't seen as an NBA prospect until he spent that many years in college despite statistical success. Reed Sheppard was considered by many to be the best prospect in the NBA draft after ONE season in college. Why? Due to skillset. I get that casuals like yourself struggle with concepts like that, so I understand that you'll always need to be one of those who figures it out several years later, and that's fine....but that's also why it's not worth it to argue with you. Give it a few years and maybe you'll start to figure it out...or not. Honestly it doesn't matter one way or the other.
So nothing of value to add and sprinklings of insults as per usual? My mistake for engaging, I'll leave you to it again lmao. Enjoy raging by yourself in the ether, Bobby.
I was caught up in Jalen Green much like others. His biggest issue was that unlike Sheppard, he didn't come in when we had a competent coach at the helm. Silas basically let him do whatever he wanted which was just an extension of the dross that was the G League Ignite. Jalen basically did not get held to any standard from the 6th Grade all the way through Ime's first year. Reed has been held accountable at every level he's ever been at. So his footing is much more sound. Even as I've gotten older I've learned to spot players that are "flash in the pan" types vs those that are actually a worthwhile investment. If anything, Jalen Green helped me learn that even more. Especially nowadays in the age of social media where these kids are learning how to work the social channels at a very early age. Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are two recent examples of players that I simply do not trust. Another was how Shaedon Sharpe finessed his entire Kentucky year and would duck out of anything that would make him look bad.
I’m with you on Harper and Bailey. I think VJ ends up there with Cooper as the jewels of this draft. I think Reed will become a serviceable player in the NBA, but his lack of physicality is going to prevent him from being anything special. I see him as a Steve Kerr type which would be a pretty good outcome from the third pick in a historically crappy draft.
Maybe Kirk Hinrich. But yeah the fact that Dylan Harper and Bailey went to Rutgers gave me a lot of pause. I dont like players that obviously look like they're trying to duck and game the system.
No one is upset about your bad takes kiddo. It's expected. Like I said though, there's no point in talking about this with people who are as bad at player evaluation as you are. We'll just have to wait until it's so plainly obvious that even the slowest among us can see it for you to come around. Keep your head up, you'll get there eventually.
Maloney was no slouch in his rookie year. Played about 30mpg and played every game, yet still averaged over 40% from 3. That said, he had 4 years at Div 1 ball and was 24 years old as a rook. Then he got worse every year for some reason.
Yep Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper were on the same team and couldn't make the NCAA tournament. In fact their team was awful. Doesn't make me feel good about either one of those two guys.
I don't think Bailey will be good. Harper, I think at least one of Castle, Fox, and him needs to go. Caveat: I didn't watch Rutgers much, but Bailey looked like a defense-light JSJ that couldn't make shots.
I wouldn't be surprised if when Dylan Harper's career is over the only thing people will remember about him is his mom on draft night.
Why are there no videos of Reed working out this summer? Why did Fred not trek to Kentucky to work out with him? What the hell is he doing? I bet he's drinking beer and going to Billy Ray Cyrus concerts. He'll show up fatter than fat Luka or fat Harden.
If he comes back country strong and able to hit a 3 at his college clip he can eat all the fried chicken and derby pie he can eat for all i care.
I dont even know how hes supposed to develop with Fox and Castle there. That roster doesnt make sense. And you still have Wemby chucking logo airballs and playing 4 on 5 on offense with Sochan.
Agree that Reed is in a great position with this roster but I think 15-18pts is wildly ambitious for a guy who just shot 36% from the field and 31% from three in summer league and 35% and 33% in the regular season - but happy to be proven wrong. I do think to Reed's credit teams know he can hit shots(even though the percentages so far don't scream "elite" like we had hoped) so they won't leave him open even if Durant has the ball. The "don't leave these guys open" priority in Houston is KD, Reed, and Jabari in that order. Everyone else opposing teams can live with them taking 3s until proven otherwise. The thing that is going to make it difficult for Reed is right now shooting is the only place where he can be valuable on the roster so he HAS to stretch defenses and make shots to justify keeping him in the games because if teams put long defenders on him to prevent him from getting clean looks, he become below league average because his defense, rebounding, and playmaking haven't been on display so far in regular season/summer league. I see the promise and hope he reaches it but let's be clear he has proven very little so far in his short career.
To summarize: In order to be rotation-worthy, Reed must aggressively and accurately shoot the ball when the opportunity presents itself because of his deficiencies on defense. Opponents must be forced to game plan and account for him. IMO, at best, he might average ~10 ppg but let’s see what happens. It really depends on how much playing time he earns. It would be super great if he could force Ime to play him 20 mins/game as the season progresses.
I think you hit the crux of it. There's going to be no real leash to play around with. I think that's the real reason Cam's gone, he's just too unreliable to even give spot minutes too in the hope he breaks out a bit. Reed's at least got that solid head on his shoulders where he's going to at least make the correct offensive read, if he can manage to keep up on the defensive end and hit some shots is the only way he's going to see much court outside of blowouts I'd imagine.
