Wow...that makes him look even better. I know Reed has been good for the team this year but 1st in overall plus/minus and 3rd in net rating is higher than I expected.
Can really pad those numbers by playing against a lot of the bench. The fact of the matter is Reed was the lead guard during those 4th quarter collapses.
No, he actually didn’t play most of those 4th quarters it’s another example of you pulling the numbers out your behind. The most recent game, yes. The Pels the collapse was likely because he wasn’t there Oh wait, “Reed Sheppard hoped on making every shot in the game” so he’s good
We also had a great development thing going in RGV, coaches and players, that has seemingly gone away once Morey left.
Fact of the matter is that the Rockets have had their asses handed to them by at least 8 points in 7 of the 9 losses when Reed was on the bench. Over the last 15 games, the Rockets have routinely been getting their butts kicked with Reed on the bench as if the Rockets were a tanking team without Reed. Whine about Reed padding stats or being a part of collapses all you want, it doesn't change that Rockets have flat out sucked since mid Novemeber with Reed off the court. Also, the leads that collapsed were built with the Rockets with Reed as lead guard while the Rockets were -8 and -18 with him off the court. Maybe the Rockets could handle Reed having a bad half if you know the Rockets padded some stats with him off the court.
It is a testament to the Clunky nature of the Offense and the Playing style that you cannot survive without the game of a Sophomore? Come on, Udoka, you are better than this.....or is he....
No over the last 8 games Reed has been part of the unit that starts losing the 4th quarter lead. In the Pels loss, the Pels wings and forwards overwhelmed Reed while in the Kings lost Reed led with 5 fouls and was often the target of Derozan and Schroeder when he was on the unit losing the lead. With less than a 1/3 of the season, you can use small sample size to corroborate whatever you want. We are 17-9 and have literally gotten worse the more Reed plays for example ( 5-5 in last 10 games with Reed getting more and more minutes). Reed isn't some magical bullet because highly variable +/- numbers in a small sample size say he is. Have you considered that in a 48 minute game you want to spread out the playmaking over 48 minutes? The real issue is the rest of the team trying to fit around Amen and Sengun.
Reed Sheppard has been one of the most positive players for the Rockets all season....if you want to know why games get lost, look no further than KD and Sengun who go into ISO mode trying to pad their stats and they get teams back in the game.....so much so that both are now net negatives when on the court compared to when they are on the bench. Now, I'm not going to completely blame them, it's Ime's fault that he keeps allowing this to happen....but the players should realize that what Ime wants them to do is stupid and just keep doing what works instead of anything Ime says.
Interesting you dismiss data against your narrative as small sample size while using an even smaller sample size as counter argument yourself.
If 300 minutes of +/- data is too small a sample, don't use 12 minutes of it (minutes Reed played in the Kings, Pelicans games) If 15 games is too small a sample size, don't use 10 games. I am not saying Reed is a magical bullet. I'm saying something is wrong with him off the court. 300 minutes of -61 play is absolutely horrible. I don't think Reed is tazzing Rockets from the bench. While I don't think Reed is a magic bullet, what opponents have been manipulating the lack thereof with Reed off the court, is Reed's best skill. Maybe Ime can find a way to adapt to how defenses are sagging off of non-shooters without adding more shooting. Odds are, more shooting is needed in lineups without Reed. Sure, Reed could still be played more minutes, but likely the Rockets need more shooting in whatever time Reed is on the bench.
Seems I was bit too much with the dry sarcasm in regards to the sample size. The real issue is the non-shooting of Amen and Sengun and how many minutes they play, with it being definitely more of the former than latter. Hopefully with Tari and DFS (eventually), that adds some more shooting and balances things out. The roster will be what it is with the limited options we will have until the mid season deadline.
The obvious shooting substitute for Reed is Holiday. Holiday doesn't make passes like Reed does and he doesn't have the same gravity. But he can hit shots if the defense is cheating off of him. Okogie is a poor man's Holiday on offense, His defense is better than either Reed or Holiday but if we need a shooter that keep the defense from sagging, he ain't it.
Reed's +/- is proof that the best defense is a good offense. Even if he's not finishing in the lane, his range warps the court and creates more room for KD, Sengun, and Amen to score inside. And beyond that, when you consistently score it puts pressure on the opposing team to keep up - and vice versa, your inability to consistently score is blood in the water.
On the eye test, it has looked to me like defenders play about 2 feet closer to Sheppard in the corner than they do to Okogie. But maybe that's an illusion? Does anyone measure this? Seems like an easy job for software, now that players' positions can be tracked at all times by video reconfiguration.
NBA tracks it, but the NBA has limited ways of easily sharing the data to the public. Maybe there is a data dump that software guys can get to create custom stats. NBA lumps it into bunches in 2 feet increments for shots, but can't see the data when there isn't a shot or specifically for a corner that I know of. Okogie has taken 3 threes all season with a defender 4-6 feet from him. The rest are 6+ feet. Reed is 36.4% on tightly covered threes (2-4 feet) on 22 attempts, 59 attempts with 4-6, and 79 attempts 6+ feet from the defender. Okogie's man is more limited by the 3-second rule than by a desire to guard Okogie more closely whe n Okogie is in the corner (i.e., Okogie is only shooting if wide open and closeout is slow.)
We’re not built for defense this year. So let’s stop beating a dead horse and spam the hell out of our offense.
Sengun's non shooting is a much bigger issue than Amen's. Its actually this teams biggest issue right now.
