Reed has shown he belongs in the court with NBA players, something many doubted last season after his pedestrian start to his career. I just wonder why it seems Durant and Sengune hesitate to pass to Reed when he’s wide open? Are they asserting their own alpha scorer mentality? Because Durant and Sengune freely pass to other Rockets players, not named Reed. I just hope Reed starts calling for the ball more, and making himself visible. He had a great 3 point shot that should not be under wraps. If he shoots 15-20 3’s a game; well it’s acceptable!!!! Well that means he’s spotting the team 18-24 points.
I'm very much in the camp that Reed is a rhythm player, needs to be able to play through mistakes, worry about Ime jerking him around too much, and that the lumps are worth it when he struggles because either he needs to be ready for the playoffs or we need to trade for a PG. But objectively, following a 3 game stretch where he lost his spot in the pecking order to Holiday and Davison, he's responded by playing extremely well over the next 3 games. What I really want to see from him is really putting his game off the bounce together. When he gets someone like Gobert switched on to him he needs to put him in a blender. It's in him. That game against OKC last year where he was busting up Cason Wallace and J Will on a few switches is what he ultimately needs to grow into.
I believe he is shooting 40% on pull up 3s. Not sure about his stats running off screens but then again the team doesn't do that much. It's pretty much all spot up or off the dribble. Point being he has been pretty damn good on non spot ups as well
I think that is incorrect. If one of the stat hounds could look it up it would be appreciated. If I’m wrong I’ll admit and, maybe, change my opinion.
That stat is from NBA.com. Granted, most of pullup threes were before Christmas as he's been off ball a lot more lately.
From AI: Reed Sheppard is an exceptionally efficient three-point shooter off the dribble, with early NBA data from the 2025-26 season showing him shooting around 52-56% on pull-up threes, including an impressive stretch where he was 8-of-12 (66.7%) against tight defense, highlighting his improved handling and ability to create space for himself. His Shooting chart: https://3stepsbasket.com/player/isaiah-reed-sheppard/shooting?season=nba26 DD
I got it from NBA.com. He doesn't shoot them at a high volume (1.8 attempts) but regardless 40% isn't bad especially this early in a career. I actually would like them to run him off screens more for movement catch and shoots. Right now it's all spot up or off the dribble. Feels like there is a lot of meat on the bone as far as his shot diet goes https://www.nba.com/stats/players/pullup?PlayerExperience=Sophomore&College=Kentucky
I used to think by my eye test that he's better at pull up than spot up. But someone showed me the stats that said otherwise -- but not by a lot. So I don't think there's a huge gap between his pull up shot and his C&S shots.
Amen is the only one that makes it a prerogative to get him the ball. Sengun has been more selfish with everyone this year. Last couple of games, he has been trying to facilitate more and force less. Durant’s gets his assists, but often ignores Reed although he purports to be one of his greatest supporters. Hopefully, we see more of last night’s Durant going forward. It really is on Ime to get Reed and Durant integrated better into the offense.
I think the problem in Houston is we have largely been locked into the "scorers create for themself and others" paradigm for the last 20ish years. I would love to see more off ball movement and applying pressure to the defense with running guys like Reed off screens to weaponize them and create dissonance with teams choosing on the fly where the help comes from when Reed is actively moving while Amen is driving. This is what made GS dangerous is the defense had to figure out where the help would come to cover Curry in on ball actions while guys like Klay were moving off ball and the defenses were trying to figure out how to help there too. It creates opportunities in the offense that we don't have today.
It’s absolutely what most of us “Ime haters” have been advocating since last year. Clever of you to avoid the “hater” label by not mentioning Ime. There is absolutely no reason why the Rockets haven’t tried more actions to free Reed up, other than either Ime being stubborn, Durant not cooperating, or lack of practice time.
