Sengun does not have good size for his position. His combination of being 6-9 (hopefully taller now but he's shorter than Jabari) and slow foot speed had a lot of jackals in here wanting him traded for some run of the mill centers. Ultimately there are things you can't teach and when you dominate a league (or in Reed's case, the Kentucky basketball team) at such a young age when you arent supposed to....those players usually don't fail. My single reservation with Reed is that he lacks moxie that Sengun has in spades. If he was just a smidgen more arrogant he would be so much further along because the kid is just so naturally gifted at so many things. Most of these prospects fail because all they can do is shoot (Duncan Robinson) or pass (Josh Giddey). Reed can do both and he has a propensity for steals. He just needs reps and time. But he does need to get more confident. He's twice as talented as someone like Castle but he's half as confident. I don't care when he misses shots. That doesn't bother me. He's not Jalen Green or Tari Eason who were just bad shooters coming in. I care more about how he approaches defense and whether or not he made the right read on offense or not. People really need to chill with him. He's going to be more than fine.
I think the measurements in the NBA are faulty, he looks 6'10 ish.......for some reason they measure some guys bigger and some guys smaller than they really are. Some with shoes and some without shoes. From what we have seen, Sengün is not a prototypical Center, he is more mobile than 90% of Centers. In the Hakeem era, 6'10 was good size to dominate...... in comparison Durant looks like 6'10 and 3/4.
I think we've seen the vision this year on how he can be a great player in this offense. #1 comes down to confidence. When he plays with zero hesitation and just plays ball he's looked really good. #2 is role. When he's played as a secondary ballhandler/playmaker like what we saw against Brooklyn it's also been night and day. He's looked good when he's flying around the offense trying to get open and has shown an ability (obv) to shoot at a high-level off the catch but also make quick passes/dribble move/etc. He's struggled a lot trying to be the primary ball, initiating the offense and forcing some really tough shots. When he gets a rhythm on offense it also seems to feed into his defense - has been at his best when he's similarly playing loose in a ball-hawk/pest role and just flying around trying to be disruptive, has looked really bad when he's visibly nervous. Unfortunately we have no guard depth so he kind of needs to develop into a more PG-oriented role for this offense. Which I think he can, but we'll probably need to be a bit more patient, and get a bit more creative with the offense. It's a tough balance to strike when we're also trying to compete and Aaron Holiday is probably a more consistent bet at this point in time. Not giving up, I've seen enough flashes to think Reed can be a special player, but hope he starts picking it up soon.
I got that. I was joking, too. Two posters, seemingly unable to get their humor across from one to the other... in the ClutchFans Twilight Zone.
Castle has no other choice than to be good, the Spurs and OKC and probably Miami have the best developmental programs I can think of in the league. Maybe a couple of other teams. Castle is also closer to 6'7, that is a whole new level of body type......I am not going there..... Reed has my sympathies, not many Havard looking students since Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow.
That's your biggest gripe? He looked off KD multiple times midway through the 4th, he gambled and got beat multiple times again on the perimeter, and he dribbled the ball off himself and out of bounds on a fastbreak amid several other ball handling blunders (although the latter seemed to be contagious to be fair). I don't need Reed taking covered floaters with 20 secs left on the clock and KD wide open in a close game. Never please. I'm baffled that your focus is on passing up a shot. It's like that old line in an interview where you say your biggest flaw is "I work or try too hard sometimes. It can be difficult for me to delegate as my ethos is to take ownership and accountability when I'm part of a task or project. I can at times be a little slow to pass on tasks and extract synergy from the group as a result"....meanwhile you walked in to the interview w/ no pants, pink hair, some cocaine on your nostrils, and police sirens chasing you. Reed passing up shots last night was not even in my frame of reference to evaluate b/c he was so egregiously awful w/ ball-handling, perimeter turn-style, and not feeding Durant.
Its interesting to see the divide on Reed. He clearly has a place in the league - I dont think that much is debated BUT I think the fundamental question is on the spectrum of player outcomes, where do you think he sits today and where might he sit 3 years from now with development? - Likely HOFer(Wemby, Luka) - maybe HOFer but certainly a several time all star and all NBA player (think guys like Jalen Brunson, Jimmy Butler, Joel Embid, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker, etc) - may make a handful of all star games or all NBA player (Pascal Siakam, Lauri Markkanen, Bam Adebyo, Julius Randle, KAT) - solid NBA starter (Derrick White, Jarret Allen, Mikal Bridges, etc) - lower tier NBA starter or maybe 6th/7th man on some teams (Jalen Green, Zach Lavine, RJ Barrett, Kuminga, etc) - useful NBA bench rotational player - think guys like Clint Capela, Divencenzo, Bobby Portis, etc - NBA bench depth - think guys who are good and can shine with opportunity but typically are only in rotations when injuries force it - think guys like Tate or KJ Martin. - 10 day contract/last guy on the roster/fringe of the NBA - the Daishen Nix types. I personally see Reed as currently an NBA bench depth guy forced to play because of the Fred injury who has potential to be Lower tier NBA starter/6th/7th man. I don't see a higher ceiling than that. The skills package with Reed is impressive but he is likely a disaster on any team that can't similarly trot out a 4 man tall switchable lineup around him. In short, his defense looks more acceptable around a very strong defensive team like what we have but that doesn't travel well to other teams not as versatile and long as us. I realize he is still learning but I think that learning tops him out at either a bad starting PG or more likely as a rotational guy. The skills do translate but he has to shoot the ball from three like 40%+ and get several assists to make his offensive value offset the lack of size that causes him problems on defense. I dont even think Reed gets to JJ Reddick level - he may be able to shoot it, but he is far less useful defensively.
EXACTLY what REED needs too. He just needs time to make mistakes and figure it out, and he is....he will have good and bad games, just like Kevin Durant did.....last night. He just needs to play. DD
I don't really see a strong correlation this year between his shooting and the quality of opponent, but it is early. It is possible that trend becomes a reality as the season progresses,
Reed needs to remember that he has five fouls. Needs to start putting his nose in there and start hacking away. That was a good foul on the PJ breakaway since he blew the free throws.
Max Christi has pretty good upside, why he was drafted with mediocre success prior to the NBA. Christi is in his 4th season - and is at this point pretty good, but it is early. I think that Reed has pretty high upside because of his skill set and shooting potential --- but the chance of him reaching that high level is not as high as some other prospects because of his size. Sheppard wasn't in a very good draft - but I still think there is a decent chance that he becomes a 15 point a game 6th man type player and there is a slimmer but real chance he becomes more than that.
That's about how I see Reed too. Outside chance he's a bit better than that, but I see very little chance he's ever a perennial all-star. Prime Seth Curry, not Steph, is a likely positive outcome here. That may not be the absolute best-case scenario. Low-odds best case scenario is that he gradually gets his defense and point guard skills up to spec and follows something like FVV's career arc, but with better shooting numbers. But the Seth Curry outcome is good enough that you're okay with it if that's what happens, given he came out of such a meager draft class. His fit on this team is good if he gets to around that level, so I'm not giving him up for nothing right now. However, if it starts to look like he's going to take a long time to even be a solid rotation player off the bench, I'm fine with trading him away at this year's trade deadline for an upgrade in the backcourt. We don't have much reason to spend a ton of minutes developing a guy whose likely outcome is just "really good bench player / fringey starter".
Nash was a master of mastering every kind of shot: floaters bilateral either hand, 2 feet and 1 feet, running 1 legged shots, hook shots, scoop shots, bank shots I haven't seen Reed make a left hand layup. His bag and dribbling are very limited.
“I don’t know if the 6’2 and under guard is at a premium no more as a starter. Maybe as a backup. You can’t get picked on defense. We’re playing the pick on game. They will literally, if you can’t guard, they will bring you up every play. If you’re not a bulldog like Davion Mitchell, Jrue Holiday on the defensive side or offensively a flat out savant like Kyrie, I just can’t see it.” — Rockets Legend™ Kevin Durant Spoiler TRADE BAIT!
That's subjective and I disagree. Personally I think he did cost us opening night at OKC. Also, we're a young team in general but a few key contributors are old. Reed's second half was the difference b/n that being a 13-15 pt game and a 5-7 pt game midway through the 4th. That's the difference b/n KD playing 32 min vs 38 min. Alpi 34 min vs 40 min. etc etc etc It adds up. And it matters.
This is why Reed should be a complete bulldog psycho on defense. It's the only way he can become a plus defender with his size. Be a pest, be persistent, just be annoying. He can't sit back squared up like Amen, Amen can do that because the length of his arms and the strength he has prevents you from going past him... Reed...like bro, get under these guys. The main reason a player isn't up close is because they are scared of getting blown past but he gets blown by any ways, just be pesky and annoying. They just need to have him watch tapes of Rockets Legend Pat Beverly. In fact, Beverly was also 6'2, probably weighed about the same. You can be small and have a plus impact on defense as a guard but not with a passive mentality because you don't have size to take the first punch, you have to give the first punch, be physical and pesky.
Its not that I dont want to give him a chance I dont think he is worth it. Herro would be great but I dont think Reed can be Herro because Herro is a lot taller and is a movement shooter even back in college. Like I dont see why we are developing him and losing games if he will just be a low/mid tier role player.
The highlighted sequence inspired me to post last night. He missed 2 shots as he looked off KD on both and in b/n he dribbled the ball out of bounds on a fastbreak when he had Tari streaking opposite the defender and KD as the trailer. KD clearly said something to him on the fastbreak TO and rightfully so b/c it was truly bad. After those 3 straight possessions of Reed subterfuge the lead went from 7 + ball back down to 2. That was the last time Reed saw the floor last night. I wanted to add some context w/ the above, but the primary reason I replied is I do not think Holiday is short-sighted. We can win the chip w/ the way Holiday played last night. We can not with the way Reed has played this year. You don't need a ceiling raiser at guard for this team...if you have competent play there the ceiling is already Championship level.
I don't think it's really the quality of the opponent that matters here, but instead how many three pointers each team allows per game. For example, Reed's best games from 3 were against Boston (4/5), Brooklyn (3/7), and Detroit (3/4), and these teams allow more threes per game. Brooklyn allows the fifth most threes per game, and Boston allows the twelfth most. Detroit is in the middle of the pack at sixteenth most. However, his worst games came against teams that allow the fewest threes per game. Dallas allows the fewest threes per game, and Toronto allows the eighth fewest.
