Again, people have it all wrong, they picked out of need and not because he was BPA ...best available. Rockets were in need of a shooter with great stroke, and a ball handler, he provided that. Therefore he is a fake 3rd Pick. Spinning narratives around a fake pick is not going to look good either. They may have overrated his overall talent level too but okay. They thought he was a ready player and he was not, he is still raw.
I think u are right. I don’t believe in drafting for need. You can acquire players that fill needs through trade or free agency. Draft for need over better prospects is incredibly misguided. but it’s important to point out the context: 2024 was a very bad draft. I had Castle as the BPA, but it was clear he didn’t fit a need, and even he isn’t a #3 type prospect. In retrospect, trading out of that draft would have been the wise move. with Reed, I sincerely believe he’ll get a lot better. I do trust his ability to think the game at a high level and work as hard as possible to get better. But it’s the limitations you can’t change that convince me his ceiling is lower than many thought. The size is a real issue. He’s actually not that quick. The ball handling is far behind what I expected. His ability to create turnovers just doesn’t offset his overall defensive liabilities. He’s a pure shooter but I don’t think he’s a good movement shooter. If he’s not set, or if he’s off balance, his shots don’t go down. Yes, all of these things may improve (except for the height and short arms), but as others have said, the road is very narrow for plsyers of Reed’s archetype to be really successful nba players. it’s early, but I can’t deny what I see when I watch him. I think we simply fell in love with the analytics, the good guy attitude, and the need for a backcourt shooter with potential to run the floor.
You dont pick out of need, you go BPA always unless the players are so close it doesnt matter. What sucks is Castle turned out both better from the start and long term too. Reed isnt even reliable at the one thing we wanted him to do (shoot 3s).
Castle is nothing special tho. Amen is a better version of him and Tari is comparable. Frankly don’t really care that we passed on him, as he is mid and we don’t need him. We will see what Reed becomes, but passing on Castle is whatever.
Just cuz Amen is better than Castle doesnt mean Castle is now useless, thats just cope. Castle is averaging 18/6/5 Tari is 9/5/2. How are they comparable? Castle has much better ball handling and playmaking. Castle also doesnt have the health issue and low bball IQ Tari has. If we dont need Castle what about Reed? Reed cant even touch Castle's socks. Even if you end up trading Castle he is valuable and will get you multiple lotto picks unlike Reed.
Never said Castle is useless, said he’s mid, which I stand by. Tari and Castle are extremely comparable if you watch them play. Similar build and skill set. Their numbers through 4 games are not super relevant and don’t factor their roles into account either. If Castle played for us, he would come off the bench like Tari and fill a similar role.
Castle can playmake and handle the ball which Tari cant do. The only thing similar about them they are both elite perimeter defenders.
Eh, okay. He is a better passer and has better feel than Tari. He would player a similar role for us and he is still fundamentally mid. Not gonna get worked up about passing on that dude.
"Mid" as you call it still so much better than wasting the pick on Reed. If 18/6/5 is mid what is Reeds performance so far? Dude only played good against the Nets and played like a scrub against everybody else. Having Castle coming off the bench would be so much better than whatever Reed is doing. Btw Tari is 24 Castle is 20. You are trying to act like they are comparable when Tari is 4 yrs older lol. Thats like rookie and senior.
Reed has been worse than Castle so far. Cool. Congratulations. Castle has also had a much bigger opportunity, a much longer leash, and was playing on a team last year that wasn’t super pressed about winning. The situations differ greatly. We will see what Reed develops into but writing him off after basically a red shirt season and now 4 games seems a bit premature. But you wrote him off before he ever played a minute for the Rox, so that’s not a suprise. Again tho, I do not care that we passed on Castle. He is not particularly good and there is a Castle-type in every single draft.
Touted as the highest floor player of the draft. Then turned out to have a high ceiling that is likely never attainable and a lower floor.
Castle would have affected the game for us immediately. The Rockets screwed this pick up royally. All the signs were there. They just ignored them for some strange reason. Castle would be in the Okogie role now. Sooner or later, Davison is going to start eating into Reeds minutes and you Reedlings are really gonna s*** a brick.
How am I a “Reedling”? Just because I point out that Castle is whatever and has had more of an opportunity? Okay bro. Please point to any post I have ever made wherein I hype Reed up or am a Reed guy. And Castle would be in the role of Okogie? So a dude we got for a minimum deal late in free agency? Oh no, how on earth will we ever recover from passing on a guy whose role we have filled with Okogie? If only we had drafted Devin Carter, right?
That's ridiculous. Castle is tracking as a role player so far. Teams don't just go BPA. Needs definitely play a role. You don't draft players that high to have them be bench players stuck behind a star. Clearly they don't see Castle as a star.
I'm not sure how you can compare given the competition and defense faced. As Freshman, Reed was better. Doesn't mean the finished product will be.
If we’re going to overreact on Reed 4 games into his second season then why isn’t anyone mentioning Castle is going to break James Harden’s turnover record? Man has more turnovers than assists and shoots 30% from 3 playing with Wemby …
The rush to judgment--I've seen enough--takes on Sheppard are over the top. In the war room, it was a bit of a gamble to pick Reed over Castle. To me, Stephon look like a sure thing at UConn: he was a shut down defender with size, growing playmaking skills (in a very niche role), and he was never challenged to develop his jump shot. At the draft I was thinking Castle was a natural fit for our culture and what we needed. But Reed does have a special stroke. He's had to work on his body to add range, durability, and stability to his shot. But he's sees the floor quite well, has strong instincts, game IQ, elite hands/timing, and has respectable athleticism. Let's check back in 30 games and see how much he's improved as an on ball defender and floor stretching threat.
commander shepard got roty in my 2k team. breh's handles is ungood but has srs shooting touch and averaged like 25ppg
