Really interesting and thoughtful post @aelliott! I enjoyed reading it and you did a nice job of what I mention in an earlier post (we're a very good defensive team and Reed should not be a big negative), but you backed it up with some tangible facts.
Depends if you see guys like Dame as unintelligent or not, but take Brogdon and you see who was more explosive and a better slasher. Both still are or were capable players. Different tiers for sure, one was more of a 6th man.
I don’t put a whole lot of stock in media contender ranking lists. A good portion of them don’t watch the games.
The game is consisting of runs and therefore 1 team is trying to put its players in the best settings and the other team is trying just that and to throw off the plan and put as many players in a bad light (mismatches).... Blowouts happen when 1 team is dominant and can visibly execute all of its plans....but mostly teams win 1,2 or 3 quarters by mere war of attrition and winning the upper hand in just throwing you off in a couple quarters which should be enough in basketball. If Sheppard can be put in the best light for more than 1 Quarter consistently, the Rockets have a decent chance of developing him to new heights.
Reed Sheppard didn't even seem ready for the summer league two months ago. No, he's not going to save our butts here either. But he can slowly develop into the kind of shooter we desperately need over the course of a few more seasons.
It didn't feel like a hostile or loaded question, I expected some rah rah, go team answer .... Not "Next Question." Kinda bewildered by that response ... wondering?
In some ways it could have been a loaded question if FVV said to him something similar to what Carlos Correa said to Jeremy Pena. Any kind of "it's up to you now" type quote could be problematic given how dumb Ime is when it comes to lineups and rotations... hell we could legitimately see a Tate-Holiday PG rotation and it would just be Ime being Ime. That's the kind of thing you talk about after the fact if things work out, not before.
Are people saying Reed has mediocre explosiveness or athleticism? He’s a good NBA athlete. His only knock is he’s not overly long.
He certainly isn't an elite athlete. He doesn't seem to have a quick first step which is important for beating, getting past defender one on one. Some people also think that he lacks lateral quickness for defense. But the same things were said about Sengun, which is in a certain degree true. That doesn't hold him back to be a very good player. That's why I always value intelligence and skills over athleticism.
He can dunk and is actually a decent leaper but his whole game style is not about quickness which is fine but as a 20 year old (really young) you wish him running a lot more. Fast-er n Furious.
He isn’t a mediocre athlete at all either. He is a good NBA athlete. Nothing on tape or testing says mediocre. In fact it says good to great
Depending on how you define mediocre. We can agree to disagree. I'd think he is about average for his size by NBA standard. He's not particularly fast nor a very great leaper. He has quick hands. But some of his steals and blocks are due to his great anticipation rather than physical quickness. He probably needs a lot of screens to operate on offense rather than beating his man in isolation. That's fine. Many great PGs like Stockton, Kidd, and Nash are very adept at using screens. I have a lot of confidence that Reed Shepperd will turn into a good to great PG. He needs to be used the right way, though. I hope our coaching staff knows how to maximize him. He doesn't seem to be the kind of guy that demands the ball and takes over.
Not a great leaper? I suggest you compare him to his position in the combine. He’s a great leaper, quick moving forward and fast in a straight line, specially given his size. Solid laterally for his size. Is Bronny James a mediocre athlete to you? I think people who aren’t in sports training see a certain type of player move a certain way and automatically assume things. Again, style is far different than ability.
Don't want to argue with you. I really hope you are right and I am wrong. While I agree that style and ability are not the same, they are related to a certain extent. Most players play a certain style because of the physical tools they have. When some of them don't, we say that they are wasting their physical gifts.
