While I agree with you the precedent has been set so it would he unfair to deny Reed if other sophomores won since he had one of the most drastic sophomore jumps ever.
The only thing that kept CP3 from being top 10 all time was untimely injuries. He got hurt in almost every playoff run. He coulda been a multi time champion.
He exemplifies th word point guard the rockets in 2017-18 were the best/strongest team to never win a ring. The were better than 80% of championship winning teams and a lot of that has to do with CP
Doesn't make sense for a subpar shooting team to not prioritize a shooter. Reed just wasn't efficient last season and it started game 1. If he shoots better, he gets more minutes. He also struggled defensively more last year. He just wasn't fitting the bill.
I'd like to add that Reed wasn't playing near the minutes of Amen or Alperen, nor was he starting like those two. Here are the numbers for those interested (per 36 in parentheses): Reed: 14-3-3-1.5-0.3 on 63% TS% (21-4-5-2.3-0.4) 2.5 AST/TOV Alperen: 15-9-4-0.9-0.9 on 60% TS% (18-11-5-1.2-1.2) 1.5 AST/TOV Amen: 14-8-4-1.4-1.3 on 60% TS% (16-9-4-1.6-1.4), 1.9 AST/TOV 1st Team All-Defense There's an argument to be made in terms of sheer scoring, and Reed is the more responsible, if limited, playmaker. But Amen was in the running for DPOY, finishing 5th, and Alperen put up his numbers at age 20, while the other two are 21 in their second year. What is clear is that if Reed's performance holds up, he is the 3rd part of the Big 3 the team needs to build around above anyone else, along with Alperen and Amen.
Well the thing is its just 2 mos into Reeds 2nd year. Those Alpi and Amen stats are are the entire year. I think Reed has more improvement in store for this year.
It's just how Ime is, he doesn't trust young players and he was most interested in getting as many regular season wins as possible so he could secure the bag. Give him rookie Lebron and he probably doesn't start him.
Now this is a real rocket fan because too many people will never admit they were wrong about a player and instead just admit they were wrong will root against the player the entire time. It's a lot easier to just admit that. I remember back when I thought the Harden would be a fringe all-star at best and I just hopped off that right away when it was clear he was going to be a great player. Just a future note for other CFans, its a lot easier to just admit you were wrong about a player than spend the rest of your time here hating on one of your own players. Rockets have three great prospects in Amen, Reed, and Sengun...two other interesting prospects in Bari and Tari, so we all have a lot to look forward to moving forward.
After seeing the past few games I came see he has been making steady improvements. The shooting has always been there. It’s impressive how he can get into the midrange. That will save him when the 3 is not going in. Still need to work on his handles. I have high hopes for him. Was down on his defense but he has step up on that as well. He made some beautiful passes that his teammates should have knock down.
Now it becomes circular. A team desperate for shooting is not going to shadow-ban a #3 pick expected to shoot well and play immediately. Introducing LeBron just adds to the lack of logic. Reed was struggling defensively too.
So last year, early in the season, when we dominated the spurs. I got to sit on like the 10th row and I sat next to Reed's mom. I recognized her from a summer league interview. We started chatting and I told her that I could tell he was a great player, pretty much always made the right play etc, but I asked her why he wasn't really shooting much. She said he was still getting used to the speed of the game and didn't want to ruffle feathers basically. She was a really nice lady. It's great to see Reed breaking out like this.
