When will Reed be placed into the starting lineup?

Delusional.. hes always been the help guy. Amen, Dillon, and Fvv took the tough assignments on the perimeter.
Even Jalen did a better job staying infront of guys.

 

lol whatever you say. He led the team in DefRating and our defense cratered without him last season. But he can’t be our second POA defender next to a more rested Amen. Absolute nonsense.

 

Those ratings don’t have an input for opponent quality and he was on IR during the period we knew was the hell part of schedule from day 1.

great help guy, in POA he frequently gives up a step doesn’t cut his guy off, reliant on recovery blocks and others coming to help and leaving someone else open.

 

Sure. Always excuses with dudes like you.

Yes, Bari has been an excellent help defender. And if his role switched, he’d be fine. He’s incredibly versatile defender.

 

I am tempted to say it doesn't matter. But he definitely creates spaces for Durant/Sengun that no one else does. I feel like the team has lately been stretching leads (or erasing deficits) when he comes in. I don't think he starts until later in the season. We still need DFS to come back and he'll probably start. Can make a decision after that.

 

I don't consider getting switched onto a player at the frequency JSJ did last season to be "often" and the way your post comes off...it sounds like you think JSJ's good defensive rating was based on his POA skills and not his help skills/rebounding.

You are the one who brought up last season about JSJ guarding the best or 2nd best offensive player last season often (when it was occasional) making Eason relevant. Eason, relevant to this situation. getting put on the better offensive player last season is indicative of how the Rockets felt about JSJ at the POA as often Eason was overmatched in these situations (JSJ and Eason are both suited to be mostly guarding the same players, and them playing together usually puts one of them on someone pretty good).

The article you cited discusses rebounding. There are ways to provide defensive value without often guarding at the POA. The guys that rebound a lot are not often on the 1st or 2nd best offensive player. When JSJ went down, the Rockets defense struggled because Jalen Green was put in a help defense role. Brooks and JSJ did a great job at this. Brooks and Green did a horrible job at this as Brooks couldn't rebound like JSJ and Green was often late and small in help.

If you did not mean to imply JSJ is good at POA, my mistake.

 

DFS is not going to start. If Okogie gets hurt, Reed will start. DFS is not a guard. He has played PF/SF than a SF/PF. I still don’t understand why guys want to change our starting lineup. This past game was the only game this season that we didn’t win until the first rotation and that was mostly on Amen, Sengun, and Durant sucking to start the game. Okogie is our second best defender and is still hitting 45.7 from 3. Why change?

 

To get the guys that will be closing against the best teams in the playoffs locked in together.

Theyll get plenty of wins in regular season regardless, should just start and train your best 5 for an OKC series.

 

it doesn't matter if he actually starts. As long as they get him off the bench early and get him good looks.

Reed with a good amount of shot attempts and minutes from the bench >>> less touches as a starter.

Could be like EGO was for us

 

Lol, not even remotely close to being true.

 

The bench is very important in a deep playoff run. Reed, Tari, Adams, and DFS make for an incredible bench and they need to work together as a unit as well. Reed needs either Amen or Okogie to play with him to make up for his poor defense which is still a work in progress. Until either Reed proves he can play decent defense or Okogie falls off dramatically on the offensive side of the ball, changing out the starting rotation is just foolish. You need Reed for his ball handling off the bench unless you plan to always play Amen with him.

 

Hey, remember when you said Fernando should start over Sengun?

 

To be clear, I am not arguing that Bari has, to date, shown he is a good POA defender -- because he hasn't really be asked to do that much. His role has been as a help defender. What I'm saying that he's a good defender, period. If his role shifted to being more of a POA defender because we're starting Sheppard instead of Okogie, I think Bari would handle the change well.

 

He probably thought our bench would be the worst in the league without him, he wouldn’t get the ball enough with the starters, while his usage would be higher and maybe even start training him as a hub of offense with bench units, a 6th man getting more minutes than a starter isn’t unheard of especially on a team purposely tanking for draft picks, he was probably right and your brain was incapable of having a thought deeper than this dude is saying Fernando > Sengun.

 

I am in minority, think Reed and Jabari Smith Jr should be in competition for starting spot.

1 plus POA defender shouldn’t be one of the options.

Sengun, KD, Amen and best of Okogie, DFS, or Tari bunch should be locks. With Reed or Jabari as 5th.

 

I think it’ll be up to Okagie more than anything. If he provides the 3 and D they need then I see no reason to pull him. If the offense out the gate is struggling then I think it would be a good call. I like the idea of having less responsibility on Amen to setup the offense but not sure Reed is ready for that anyways. That’s more of a next year thing.

 

Eddie Johnson faints.

 

There's two different questions here.

1. Right now, does Reed as the 1 + Amen in last season's role make more sense than Amen at the 1? Yes. We're winning minutes with Amen at the 1, but that aspect of the lineup doesn't really "work" offensively, and it forces Amen to do stuff he's mediocre at (running poorly spaced PnRs or creating in iso on the perimeter) instead of the stuff he is amazing at (cutting, high pressure on ball defense, offensive rebounding).

2. Should/will the coaching staff and FO make that change now? No. The NBA is about people and politics just as much basketball. That's the reality. Amen is going to get a long serious opportunity at being an offensive primary. I'm sure Amen wants that opportunity, and the coaches & FO would rather he get the full opportunity to sink or swim before future decisions are made and extension time next summer. Getting aligned on whether Amen is the future primary initiator for this team vs. future elite off ball role player is good for everyone.

As long as we're winning games and Reed still has his own growth areas to work on in his game (he does), they'll stick with Amen as the starting 1 and Reed coming off the bench. I would guess through the first half and maybe until the end of the season and playoffs. Reed would still get lots of minutes and the opportunity to close games is there.

Then, if Reed is solid and FVV heals well - the real question will be who starts between FVV and Reed. I wouldn't be totally shocked if Reed is in a Payton Pritchard-ish role all the way up to his rookie extension summer, assuming he doesn't take a defensive leap.

 

Well, we found @SamFisher 's alt. Similar stuttering and annoying writing style.

Anyone who ever thought Fernando should start over Sengun is brain dead when it comes to basketball. Period.

 

Reed
Durant
Amen
JSJ
Sengun

That lineup is ridiculously talented and balanced. Reed is the only below average defender, 4/5 guys are great shooters. Amen and Sengun are extremely creative and then you have your go to alpha scorer in Durant when you got to have a bucket.

From what I have seen, the offense looks clunky in the first, and then when Reed comes in we tend to sharpen up. More fast breaks, more 3s, etc.