I think he can absolutely learn to play pg. He might not collapse and kick like prime Westbrook. He might not finish as well either. But Reed can get inside, hopefully hit the middy and initiate a smart offense while providing elite spacing. He needs reps and time. I am definitely team Ime BUT I do think there is some reason to be concerned about the offense. But I still think that less experienced coaches should be treated like less experience players with the opportunity to get better. Hopefully there is structure somewhere in the organization that feeds Constructive criticism. I am fairly certain that him and Durant will have a good dialogue about what works and what doesn’t work. Ultimately read might still be a year or so away, and we can always bring in somebody at some point. I’m not shocked that we lost our first couple games, considering a change the team is going through and I am still extremely optimistic. In my eyes, we got Durant for essentially nothing. I definitely rather would’ve come away with Cunningham, Holmgren, Banchero, Victor or Mobley BUT Hindsight is 2020 and is pretty much pointless. Not to mention if we come away with those guys maybe we don’t have some of the great players that we do now specifically looking at Thompson and Sengun Has tremendous building blocks for the future. I think some patience is warranted, but I would love to see read start and be given a long leash.
Yes, they did, or they would have gotten a better vet PG to backup FVV. They did not think he was ready to be a starter. But they clearly expected him to be the first guard off the bench and play rotation minutes. They wanted to groom him to be the future starting back court with Amen. Both Stone and Udoka alluded to it. If Udoka abandons the double big as his starting lineup, Reed might start, although Okogie seems to have earned a serious consideration too.
Is his bball IQ all that great? I see someone that gambles for steals a lot, which puts him in a position to get cooked. He hardly passes, let alone makes the right pass, I dunno, I just don't see much of a player there. Would be happy to be proven wrong though
No I haven't given up on Reed. He can still shoot the ball but he is not being put in a situation to win.
He isnt a winning player right now. Gets destroyed in D and misses shots that arent wide open on O. He needs lots of PT to realize he isnt the man anymore like he was in college, he needs to be humbled again and again to know how limited he is now. He missed out on FVV the most as he could have modeled his game to FVV and be his understudy for the year now he is being asked to do something he isnt prepared for.
He is not my case because I was never fixated on him so I would not even claim him if he became a star. I am being honest. Just give credit where credit is due, so there is no giving up, I have not even picked him up yet.
I think he is developing just fine. Reed looks a lot better than last year. If he were a Rookie getting these minutes the board would be pretty optimistic about his future. The shots he missed in the lane will start falling at a decent clip. I am mostly worried about his on ball defense. He definitely bulked up off season, but like many, many, many, many posters have said he needs to be a pest on ball and learn to position his body like FVV - restrict the movement of the other player instead of reacting or gambling. I expect Ime will give him 15-20 games to figure it out on defense before going more with Okogie and DFS.
The Rockets have a separate player development team of coaches and Josh Bostic an assistant now was a former PD coach. Garrett jackson also has experience developing players.
This is my big sticking point tbh, and the bit I'm struggling to cosign him over. He's supposed to be an elite shooter, and by the numbers he just isn't at all. It genuinely seems like the only year in his basketball life he WAS an elite shooter is his one year in college. He wasn't even that much of a standout in highschool. I'd love for him at least to be a 65/38/85 shooter, because then he might have enough to justify playing him with the defense the way he is. I just genuinely don't understand why anybody would want to play him big minutes when we're supposed to be competing for a ring.
A couple? He was 0-8 on layups. He forces himself into the paint with blinders on and just throws up wild shots. It’s baffling to me what he does out there. Very selfish Basketball. He likely has been directed by coaching staff and Durant to be more aggressive but seems like he’s overcompensating and not there yet in terms of knowing when to drive or shoot and when not to. One play he looked everyone off and decided to dribble left into a corner then pulled up for a J and got blocked. It was a foul but a terrible read and decision. He’s not good enough to take things in his own hands. He should only drive or shoot when open or if he has an angle and not try to create.
Coach FVV was at practice working with him after the OKC game. FVV has been mentoring him since day one.
It's perfectly reasonable to be critical, but you don't have to be so disingenuous. The majority of them weren't "layups". They were more difficult runners. Also, I'm pretty sure the coaching staff has told him to be more aggressive finding his shot. I suspect he's following their direction. The result was undoubtedly bad, but he's trying to figure out the way they want him to play.
Honestly, with some of them, I feel like they aren't being disingenuous, they just don't know any better. With the rest, if they weren't being dishonest, they wouldn't be able to say anything at all.
