Reed and Tari are our best tradeable assets. If Reed is our future point guard, why cant he stay in the starting lineup? Are we really considering paying Tari Eason $20M+ per year with his continuous injury problems? I think those are valid concerns the Rockets should consider...we know Amen is best playing off the ball and yes if we had FVV back then that would solve that problem...however, we invested a 3rd round pick in Reed and while everyone was overjoyed during his stretch of good games the dust started to settle after teams started to game plan against Reed. His biggest weakness will hinder him from being a full time starter. Trade Reed while his stock is high!!!
If you don't like Reed that's fine but only someone that hasn't watched Coby White play would want to trade for him. I won't act like I've watched all the bulls games over the years but this year I've watched 3-5 games of them and White is awful. Yes he averages 22 points but on 43/30/80 splits with bad defense.
Sorry bud, but Colby is a better defender than Reed and overall better offensive player Reed...in no world Okogie would start over Colby White...for Ime to continue starting Okogie over Reed just shows the coach doesn't trust Reed to be a starter. If FVV was healthy, you think Okogie would be starting over FVV??? Though people on here claiming Reed is better than FVV and still cant beat out Okogie for that starting spot! Lol
If Okogie continues to shoot the three at 35% or above, he should start over Reed or FVV. He is a near-elite defensive player and does not demand the ball. If Reed could get to be an average defender, then there is an argument that his offense would outweigh the difference and he could start, although I think it would hurt our rotations. We need his scoring off the bench.
Okogie is not gonna finish the season shooting 35% from 3, and our offense is still at its best when Amen plays off the ball. We need someone to better initiate our half court offense...once we meet up against a team that we cant get our offensive rebounds we'll look more like pretenders and not contenders
Report from the Clips game: This was Reed’s best defensive game. Nothing flashy, no amazing steals or blocks. Just consistent, aggressive, diligent, smart defending. From the moment he entered the game, he came up right away on the ball handler to take space and dictate options. And he never stopped. Consistently riding Harden’s right hand, clearly under direction from the coaches. Only once did Harden get Reed on his left and sucker him into a foul. The Clips schemed to bring Reed up on screens, and he responded by anticipating the ball handler’s move and taking it away to force a reset. Terrific footwork and balance to maintain position on drives, using his body and keeping his hands out of the play so Harden and Kawhi couldn’t get whistles. More judicious on the swiping. He got the ball on the first one, then got greedy and was called for the second. Overall, a significant reduction in the reckless ones. Consistently crowded Harden at the arc. Even without reach, Reed disrupted him so that Harden missed once and then, in the clutch, didn’t even take the shot. Consistently alert in half-court rotations. Also, in defensive scrambles, terrific recognition and speed to get to the uncovered man and crowd him to take away options. One of my favorite plays: with 4 min left, the Clips in transition advanced the ball to Harden near halfcourt. But Reed, who had come across from the other side of the court, was already in his grill to stall the play. And it was his most consistent game at boxing out. Attentive to his man on every play, even coming in on help defense to make things 1% more difficult for Zubac. I was so happy with Reed’s performance that I questioned my judgment. But then, at 3:22, Ime took out Okogie, put in Reed, and left him there till 0:17. I think that’s unprecedented. That’s a huge vote of confidence from the coach. And given that Reed wasn’t lighting it up offensively or getting a ton of steals, I think those 3 minutes confirm that Reed’s PT, especially in crunch time, will be dictated by his ability to maintain baseline defensive competence. And Reed rewarded the trust. In the last 2 minutes, he was covering all over the place, hustling back to disrupt Harden and get a stop after the Clips stole the ball and looked like they’d get a 2-on-1, then closing out a shooter, then zipping back inside to contest there too. When I ask what he needs to work on next, my first thought is that he needs to cut down the reckless long floated passes. That’s the first time a defensive weakness didn’t come to mind first. Bottom line: I think this game confirmed that (1) mentally, Reed is learning quickly from game situations, video, and coaching, and (2) physically, he’s showing he has the speed and agility to execute on what he needs to do.
I know the Reed sycophants love to follow along with this, but, man, get real. Sheppard was horrible on defense last night. You don’t have an objective bone in your body. Maybe, you are auditioning for a place on ESPN. Reed’s defense has regressed substantially over the last few games. Ime is sticking with the program and trying to give him the minutes he needs, but it’s not because of his defensive performance, and lately, not because of his offensive production. Friggin 90 year-old Batum absolutely shut him down. I hope Reed turns into half the player you project on a game by game basis, and I hope Ime continues to have the patience to run him out there 25 mins. He needs to get it done before Tari and DFS get back or Ime is going to give up.
You are such a knowledable fan of White that you keep calling him "Colby" like he is cheese. Go for a walk.
We must’ve watched a totally different game as I saw Reed get blown by time and again and fouled Harden every time he covered him. Happy to see the offensive improvements, but still a huge liability defensively.
I agree with some of what you said, but for the love of god please stop pretending to be objective. You came into a game thread and crapped on Reed after admitting to not watching the game and claimed amen was doing great and Reed was ok…when it was the opposite. You have a strong predeliction to pinning every defensive woe on Reed. it’s so absurd that you attribute mishaps when he’s on the bench on him. that being said you aren’t completely wrong. I was not happy with his defense. He jumped for the cookie jar , defended 3s from behind (could’ve been an easy foul) and wasn’t as aggressive on offense. I actually wouldn’t have minded if he was benched more. Those mistakes should have been drilled into him and he keeps making them over and over. but you’re of course exaggerating. 4/9 FG 2/5 3, TS 55%. And that was a bad game from him. To say he’s struggled offensively is objectively once again wrong. I can be objective and admit I wasn’t happy with his defense, but please stop with the whole masquerading of being objective or non-biased. You have made it your point to come out and pin whatever issues you can on Reed regardless of if you watch the game or not. You won’t even look at the #s before making your claim. It’s quite ridiculous actually. Being intellectually fraudulent doesn’t fly when objective metrics routinely discredit you. It’s sad that you have to keep doing this and refer to fans of the team that don’t follow emotional narratives as “only fans”. While i disagree with @Will he is a well respected objective and non-biased poster that has infinitely more credibility than you do. He’s hardly a “sycophant.” you need to wake the hell up and find a new hobby. It’s a bad look for you dude
Development is huge part of young talents developing into future stars, have you guys seen Stephon Castle made a huge improvement on his handling within a year under Spurs development. He got the NBA (travel) dribble down and now feeling confident he can drive pass on anybody. I’ve seen cup games and surprises how easily he was get away with traveling now just like how SGA, Giannis, Harden, lillard and etc. having extra step helps out your offense and you either loose by it or join the dark side, no wonder he is thriving where ever other rookies went before him are having trouble developing offensive skill with traditional dribbling. Just go watch highlight of his Cup games and he literally take 4 steps and carry the ball most of his drives without getting caught
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ankings-wemby-ant-flagg-cade-chet-young-stars 25. Reed Sheppard | G | Houston Rockets Age: 21 2025-26 stats: 13.0 PTS | 3.1 AST | 44.6 3P% Last year rank:NR Getting drafted No. 3 by a team that wound up hosting a first-round playoff series meant Sheppard spent the vast majority of last season on the fringes of coach Ime Udoka's rotation. But with Jalen Green traded and Fred VanVleet's unfortunate ACL tear, Sheppard has been forced into a big role in his second season. And after a slow start, he's quickly come on, turning into one of the best high-volume 3-point shooters in the league as a strong complementary player alongside Alperen Sengun, Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson.
Yeah, maybe I just don’t have a clue but reed seems to have regressed a bit lately. Was watching with my son and we both agreed that he was terrible on defense. But okay, what do we know?
Something happened that resulted in him being pulled and benched and he hasn’t been quite as crisp since. Defensively he is very matchup dependent.
