Report from the Warriors game: I’ve got nothing to add to the general acclaim for Reed’s offensive performance: the early 3’s, the later middies, the impressive passes. Mostly I’m happy to see him figuring out his game inside the arc. Every night he seems to get a better feel for the spots he can get to and finish. And Ime’s letting him do it, mistakes included. All good. We’re also seeing some improvement in his handle and movement with the ball. My favorite was his hesitation on a full-court drive in the second quarter, to trick Podziemski into shifting over to cover Amen. Then Reed accelerated to the basket for the layup. But let’s talk about his defense. The main thing I noticed in this game was a marked improvement in Reed’s help rotation to cut off attackers in the lane. At first he didn’t move, and we got scored on without resistance. Then (maybe after a gentle reminder from Ime, LOL) Reed became way more attentive to this job. Big guys, even Post, pulled up and got flustered when Reed suddenly appeared in their path. I can’t imagine it’ll work in most games as well as it did tonight (I have no idea why the Warriors didn’t go at him and abuse him in that position), but it’s way better than the nothing he was doing before. He’s excellent at anticipation, and he’s very fast laterally, so he has a good chance on most of these plays to get there before the attacker. Things to work on: 1. More teams are going to do what the Warriors did tonight: doubling Reed off screens to trap him into a turnover. The first couple of times it happened tonight, he seemed unprepared, and he lost the ball. He needs to expect the double and know his first couple of options to get out of jail. As the game went on, he started to figure it out. Next time he needs to be better prepared going in. 2. On rebounds and loose balls, he’s getting pushed out of the way like he’s not there. The worst incident was the one where Richards threw him aside for a putback. I used to think this was just a matter of Reed being outweighed. But I’m coming around to the suspicion that it’s also personality: He likes finesse, not contact. He has no interest in taking on opponents in any sort of collision. This might be a really hard hangup to get over. Jabari’s been in the league 3 years and still struggles with it.
Report from the Jazz games: Not a lot to add from what this thread has tracked before. The shooting has been sporadic. On the upside, he's trying to be more physical. On one play in the Sunday game, he actually got his weight into Markkanen and pushed him completely off the floor to get him out of position for a rebound, which then fell to us. That's a new level of aggression. Don't know if Reed can keep it up, since it doesn't come naturally to him. But it's interesting that he didn't get called for it. The refs are definitely giving him extra leeway as a small guy, and he's probably learning what he can get away with. My impression so far is that they'll let him face up and push for position, but they're cracking down on the swipes. On the downside, as @WoodDavidWood flagged in another thread, Reed showed signs of fatigue in the Monday game. IMO this was actually visible from the outset of the game, and it crippled his performance. He was a step slow everywhere, particularly on defense, and as we've discussed before, in Reed's case a step slow is fatal. He gets blown by, he ends up chasing, our bigs have to cover for him, and the whole defense is screwed. He was costing us more points on defense than he was creating on offense. To be honest, if I were coaching, I would have pulled him sooner than Ime did. When Reed came back in the second quarter, he played as though somebody had told him he needed to sharpen up. He tried to improve his attention and speed, and it looked a bit better. One of the key signs, when he's on his game, is that he quickly steps up and grabs position against the attacker. We've seen him do that in some previous games, and it makes him both a better defender, in terms of keeping his man in front of him, and also a better predator, in terms of putting him in position for deflections or steals. But he never really got to that level in the Monday game. Basically my takeaway is that if he's not doing that — if he's a step slow with his feet, and if he's hanging back and just hoping to survive the possession — he shouldn't be on the court. He's just too much of a liability. It may not be fair that Amen can get away with this and Reed can't, but it's reality. Reed has very little margin for error. So I hope the coaches will work with him on keeping his energy and focus at the highest level. It'll be a challenge.
Agreed!! I’m sure the NBA lifestyle “grind” playing starter minutes will be an adjustment. Young, one year of college as a bench guy playing a third of the games as you would in the NBA, fresh off the AAU circuit. He’s got good role models on the team to teach him how to prepare and be a pro. Also, I remember an interview where Ben Wallace was on his peak DPOY run and a teammate made the comment that they ran a bunch of plays for Ben early in the game because he was more effective on D when he was getting touches. In a similar fashion, Reed thrives when he gets a few early makes versus the “Blair Witch” sets where he stands in the corner waiting for something to happen. So force feed Reed early, Durant or not.
I agree with most of this, but to the point on not creating enough on offense...they never ran a play for him or tried to get him a single shot in the flow of hte offense The game before almost all his points came on fastbreaks he initiated himself. The jazz were getting what they wanted, I would have played him in the 2nd half since we would at least be able to get points on the other end. Curry , nash etc weren't great defenders but became generational talents. We can incorporate Reed, we just actually have to put in some effort. Thus far the Rockets get a flat F in player development. Too many people come through here and end up regressing significantly and I'm starting to see why
The player development needed is to let them play. Worked with Amen, worked so far with Reed. Let them play. Playing Reed hasn’t cost us any games and frankly has changed the outcome in a few wins.
All I want to see from Reed going forward is: 1). Put on more muscle every year 2). Emulate what Fred does defensively taking space away from opposing players I’m not impressed with the gambling for steals. I appreciate his willingness on recovery but it’s just better if he doesn’t get beat in the first place. No defending on his heels. I want to see him aggressively take space away from players defensively. To do that he needs to continue to work on his feet and his strength. There’s no doubt in my mind he can get there if he works at it. But gambling on steals is a crutch. I want him to become a good defender.
