Denver's head coach even said they couldn't double KD because of Reed's presence. The youngster has some serious gravity when he plays, and it's only going to get better with more experience. If Reed continues to work in the off-season, he is going to be a star by the "ripe" age of 24.
We should build around this young man. Sengun (who I love) and Amen have me doubting them for the first time as franchise cornerstones.
The 11 points (three 3-pointers + 2 FTs) in the last 90 seconds to close the 3rd quarter were straight-up Curry. Plus, he shredded their defense with his passing. This is why he's such a special player.
Last night’s game was a statement game for Reed. Reed sent a very clear message to Udoka: in FVV’s absence, I am this team’s point guard. The debate over whether Amen should run the offense or whether Şengün should be used as a point center is now over (at least for the regular season). We need to keep Reed on the floor, both on his good nights and his bad ones. Yes, he still has rookie-level mistakes in his game. Last night’s outstanding shooting performance covered up some of those flaws. But if we don’t keep Reed on the floor, how is he ever supposed to work through those growing pains? Instead of the “Amen as point guard” model or the “Şengün as point center” model, the team should continue investing in Reed.
He's growing pretty quickly as a facilitator. One thing he's really not great at right now is using picks. He often takes too wide a route and gives the defender space to fight through. Its part of his general aversion to contact that he needs to get over. Honestly it's my biggest complaint with him right now. It gives too much room to people he's attacking and defending. Issues aside, I think he's gonna be a stud. Rome wasn't built in a day. Even if Udoka plays him 35 every night there's gonna be some nasty bumps.
I’ll eat my crow for this man. Imagine where’d he be if we focused on development last year. Hopefully Ime takes this as he should be playing 30min a night and finishing the game with the starters
He's still working on ballhandling which is the hang up getting to the pick to use it. That said, he uses picks a lot, and when he successfully gets to one, he uses it well as it is incredibly tough on the defense as they have to help to deny his three and mid range game, and help to stop roller to the basket. Defenses really focus on not letting him get to the pick. It would seem like it would be easier for Reed with better players on the court as opposing team would have to choose on who to put their best POA defenders on. I'd guess Reed is lower on the threat level than Durant. So far, offense just hasn't been noticeably better with Reed and Durant in the game together if not worse.
Everyone saw who Reed looked like last night. It sounds so crazy and homerish, but we all took notice last night. After the 11-0 spurt in the third, you should all go watch the screen action they started running for Reed in the 4th and what it was doing to Denver's defense. Multiple guys jumping over the screen while Reed was off ball to prevent him getting the ball leaving the roller wide open. Rockets will take the next leap when they finally give Reed the most USG% on the team as the primary ball handler. I would spam PNR all night long with Reed/Sengun/Durant. Offense will come easy.
Yup. I can’t tell how much of this is personality (some guys just shy away from contact) and how much is lack of confidence in his handle (on offense) or his footwork (on defense). If it’s the latter, he should be able to improve on it with experience. I’m guessing it’s the latter because he seems very comfortable crowding guys defensively.
At some point I think the Rockets need to have some uncomfortable conversations about their player hagiarchy, by quite a few metrics, Reed Sheppard is a top 2 or 3 player on the roster when it comes to quality. Far too often he's an afterthought in favor of pushing lesser performing players who don't have the skillset to be handling the ball.
