Just the normal up and downs from a young player. The potential is still there, if he were having 30 point games every night he'd no longer be a 'potential' guy, he'd just be a guy. He just has to learn when to be aggressive, when not to be, where he fits in this league, and just figure things out. Inconsistency is part of being a a young player.
He had an off shooting night, but he made the team better when he was in the court which is the most important.
Report from the Suns game: Didn’t see anything notable from Sheppard in the Kings game, but there’s a lot to talk about in this one. 1. After a couple of weak defensive games, Reed’s defensive intensity when he came into this game was striking. Much more aggressive in taking space from the ball handler and dictating options, consistently crowding, quicker feet to deny blow-bys, and better balance, footwork, and physicality in the post. Then he repeated all these good things when he came in halfway through the 3rd, and (biggest surprise to me) he continued them through the 4th. I don’t want to conclude too much yet, but there’s a case to be made that Reed generally plays with better intensity when he comes off the bench. And this makes a huge difference to our team defense. 2. The other reason why I’m leaning back toward bringing Reed off the bench is that Okogie is doing so well as part of the starting unit. He’s giving us the deflections and steals we’d be getting from Reed, plus he’s getting blocks Reed wouldn’t get, plus he’s handling post defense in a way Reed never could. Offensively, as an initiator, Josh is showing he can withstand double teams and pass effectively out of them. He lacks Reed’s court vision, but he reliably completes the obvious pass. He shoots decently from 3, and although he doesn’t shoot at Reed’s level, when he’s left alone he also has the wits and athleticism to move and create an easier bucket. He’s reliably giving us what we need from the 5th starter, and he’s way more versatile on the switches. 3. With Senhub unavailable, they gave Reed the ball to quarterback and break down the Suns defense. I love that he took the opportunity (and clearly had a green light from Ime) to work on his penetration game and see what he could create. The nice lob to Capela was a classic case of Reed passing up the 3 to get inside and scramble the defense. It’s super clear that he’s focusing on developing his distribution, not his shot. And while it’s sometimes exasperating to see him try a pass where he should shoot, mostly it’s paying off. Late in the 3rd, I wanted to cry when he had an open 3 and passed it, but the result was an even more open corner 3 for Tate, which went down. 4. Having b****ed about Reed’s defense, I have to say: As a distributor, he’s in a completely different class from any other guard on our team. He doesn’t just have elite court vision, he also has a facilitator’s mindset. Aaron sees the basket; Josh sees the obvious pass; Reed sees the pass that shortcuts the whole possession and delivers a dunk in a flash. And that rebound tap-out to Amen in the 3rd illustrates how Reed is always aware of where his guys are. He’s like the soccer midfielder who doesn’t need to collect the ball to set up his next pass; he breaks the whole defense with one touch. Bottom line: Reed is a point guard. He doesn’t have the handle yet, but this is his natural role. Overall, the video shows Reed played a much better game than the box score indicated. He defended at a consistently high level (for him), he created opportunities for others (though they didn’t always finish), and he shot with good form even when it didn’t quite go down.
B+ game from him. Even if he just dos what he did last game all season we are really elevated idc if he comes off the bench, as long as he’s allowed to participate in the offense like he did because we are so much better for it
Report from the Mavs game: The most notable change from Reed in this game was increased physical aggression in his on-ball defense. Many of us have advocated this, and presumably he did it because the coaches have encouraged it. Unfortunately, it got him in foul trouble and limited his minutes. He started off with the right defensive mentality, taking space from the ball handler and fighting over screens. But he also got more physical above the waist, using his hands and arms. Maybe he was testing to see what the refs would let him get away with. In this game, they called him on it. I think he should still keep trying, because at his size he needs the advantage, and because it puts him in a predator mindset instead of a victim mindset. But if he’s going to do this, he has to dial back his swipes at the ball. At least one of his 5 fouls, I think his 4th, was an ugly swipe, and he kept doing it indiscriminately even after that. He has to cut that out. He has only 6 fouls to work with — fewer, if he doesn’t want to get benched prematurely — and he needs to save them for maintaining position. Also, from a ref’s standpoint, the swipes are way easier to call than the grabbing and pushing. Don’t make it so easy. I played back his disastrous sequence in the 3rd, hoping to figure out what happened. It’s still a mystery to me. I think some of it was unfamiliarity with Capela; first, expecting him to roll to where Adams or Sengun would have been, resulting in a pass to empty space; and then dribbling into Clint’s leg because he didn’t come off that screen the way Reed expected. But a couple of Reed’s other decisions, like the pass over the shoulder that AD ripped off, just looked cavalier. Still, I’m kind of amazed that Ime pulled him off the court in just 2 minutes. That’s a bizarrely short time, especially given how few players we had available. It wasn’t for foul trouble, because it didn’t happen after a foul. And if it was to bring Amen into the game, the next question is why, instead of pulling Sheppard, Ime didn’t pull Davison, who had played like absolute garbage (including poor effort) at the end of the Suns game. All in all, not a terrible game from Reed (he had some great assists, and he’s defended aggressively for 2 games now), but I’d still like to know more about why he melted down in the 3rd. That sequence pretty much killed the game, and he needs to study the tape and think about what went wrong.
Reed has been incredibly frustrating the last couple of games. He's not going to be a steve nash overnight, he needs to shoot the rock and stop overpassing it. Its to the detriment of the team. I know his teammates aren't asking him to do it so idk why. This is the NBA, there aren't a lot of second chances etc. He needs to get his head on straight, we know what he is capable of. He needs a killer mindset instead of trying to be the nice church boy. That **** doesn't win games. Reed gets a D for yesterday maybe even lower People think I am being too hard on Ime, but I was much much harder on Reed the first couple of games, check my posting history to confirm it. The issue I have with Ime and his disastrous coaching / minutes allocation was what you just bolded. That's not the type of person that will ever successfully develop a player. Both Amen, Reed keep taking steps back, Jabari I guess is the same. KD has 1-2 good years left. Ime will be gone in another year or 2 as well (statistically speaking unless he goes deep in the post season), our young guys Amen, Senguin, Reed, Bari are all <24 and need close coaching encouragement and communication
That third quarter sequence looked like Sheppard regressing to the kid who was playing like a chicken with his head cut off. It single handedly sparked the Mavs run and put the game out of reach for a shorthanded team. I think Ime owes it to the team to sit Sheppard when he plays like this. Everyone knows that Sheppard needs to get a longer leash to grow, and Ime has let him play through defensive blow bys way more than I would have thought. But the live ball turnovers were crushing. Now, I did want Ime to get Sheppard back into the game to see if he could get his head out of his ass. But that’s not to say I thought he was wrong for pulling Sheppard.
It was the right thing to do. Sometimes players just don’t have it for a night. With young players you can effect their confidence for multiple games. You can affect their confidence by pulling them and not putting them back in or you can effect their confidence by leaving them in to get obliterated. Ime was bludgeoned for leaving Jalen in too much. He is getting bludgeoned for not leaving Sheppard in. Each player has his own personality. Sengun needed the tough love. Maybe give Ime a bit to figure out how to develop Reed and Amen. He failed with Jalen, but he succeeded with Sengun.
Imo... the key is to pair Reed up with Adams... the two should be joined at the hip... Adams mitigates Reed's lack of d and Reed is a scorer whereas Adams typically is not... The key... is to teach Reed that if he gets blown by, then he needs to rotate over to Adams man... What I see happening, is if Reed gets blown by, Adams leaves his man and cuts off the driver... and Reed tries to recover and block the driver from behind... then the guy Adams was covering gets a dump off pass and an open baseline to the rim... Reed needs to rotate over and cut off the passing lane on the dump off or get in position to draw the charge... I'm sure somebody can pull some assertoric stat that says to the contrary... but thats what im seeing... lol. and really that should go for everybody when Adams is in the game... Adams does a great job of stepping up and helping - but then nobody rotates over to his man... Otherwise, give Reed 25-30 mins a night and deal with growing pains...
If he could just develop the same level of handle as other similarly small white guy Collin Gillespie, he'd be a much better player. Gillespie was drafted a year earlier and didn't get significant playing till this year but right now he's a major breakout piece for the Suns. Unlocking that handle will open up so much for Reed's game.
Gillespie is 5 yrs older than Reed. Reed will prob have a good handle 5 yrs from now. Reed's role was very different in college, he was an off the ball scorer. I agree having a great handle will open up so much for him. This week off will be huge the coaching staff will be able to watch his game tape and work on his skills.
Yeah I also think he can definitely develop over time. I think though, another good lesson from Gillespie is that significant development can happen off the court. He went from nobody to solid starter barely playing real NBA minutes. For Reed, it means that we don't need to force him to be the primary playmaker before he's ready. Bring someone in to let Reed play off ball for now and maybe in a couple years he'll be ready to take the reins full time.
Reed Sheppard may be the worst defender in NBA history. He will be traded soon as no way Udoka puts up with his putrid defense. They are showcasing him in hopes of a trade.
Definitely agree a lot of development occurs off the court, but (this may be what you were getting at) on-ball reps on the court are also needed. I think playing Reed with Sengun and Amen would allow Reed to get on-ball reps, but also get off-ball reps.
We are about at the quarter season mark and I think Reed looks about as good as one would hope with the absence of FVV. Depending on the matchup, Reed maybe overtasked on both ends but that is just part of the process.
We already have those dudes their names are Sengun and KD. There just isnt a spot for that guy to help Reed cuz we have so many guys who need PT. Even Okogie is prob not gonna see any PT once DFS and Tari come back so who is gonna lose PT for that theoretical guard?
