When they are HUNTING him and focusing on him, SOMEONE else is wide open. And yes, Reed is shooting near 40% from 3 - some games better than others - but we win the math game with him shooting, hell,.....KD is being played wrong too - he should be shooting 20 3pt shots a game. DD
Well said @Easy! Given Ime was raised by Popovich I'm disappointed to see this happening. Pop is an AF Academy grad and I have a friend that he mentors. Pop builds deep relationships with his players, because it allows him to push them harder and for them to reach their potential. Very similar to what good leaders do in the military and if they're smart the civilian world as well. As a guy who teaches leadership now (my dream retirement gig), I thought this observation of Pop's coaching was interesting... My only push back is I don't think that coaching style is well suited at ANY level of basketball.
Thats not true...like at all Truth is, Its been a mixed bag...which one should expect from a guy just getting consistent NBA mins. If you look at his TS% or Net rtg and sort it, a lot of his best games have come against playoff teams. Some against teams people would consider title contenders like Denver and San Antonio. Then there was also the game where he killed GS in GS earlier in the season and then Ime failed to build on that and immediately went away from him. He even had a really good game against okc this year the only time we beat them (a game he started btw). Granted they didnt have Shai but we didnt have Amen. They still had all those other "good fast" defenders though.
I have, I see it as predominant with a small few exceptions. I don’t love winning % and seeding it doesn’t account for all the variance with top players sitting out. I like using Allstars on the court against. They come from good winning teams and a lot of them play the isolation hunting style you would worry about with Reed. And then we’ve all seen the need to get Reed out moments, he gets cooked a few times, his head goes down, he disappears from the offense. It’s okay to acknowledge it, it’s happened to Sengun too. I’m not making a statement about Reed long term or not wanting him to play. The smug intellectual superior stat boys that can’t understand a basic concept as opponent quality and make grand declarations while ignoring it need lower minutes and usage, not Reed.
Ime seems to have vision issues. It’s his way of thinking or not all. He seems to place people around him that just agree with him. No change or growth for Ime. Just his opinion is all that matters.
That’s because we couldn’t score at the end of the game. The opposing team had more energy because they didn’t have play that much defense in the 4th.
The Rockets have scored over 125 points in regulation 10 other times this year Their record in those games: 10 - 0 The Rockets have given up 126 in regulation (including last night, their second worst total surrendered of the whole year). Their record in those games: 0-7 Rockets gave up 136, scored 132 on 60% shooting & this guy is out here saying Nothing is wrong with the defense...we struggle offensively You can't make this stuff up man. Posters be crazy
Last year's team had great chemistry and for the most part tended not to fall completely apart at the end of games. On the contrary, I remember the feeling that we were seldom really out of games late in Q4 -- as opposed to this year's team, where no lead is safe at that point. What's the biggest difference? I'd argue that much of it is that last year, FVV, Jalen, Dillon, Jabari and Alpi knew they would be starting every game. Amen, Tari and Reed knew they'd be among the first off the bench. The starting five was consistent until Amen replaced Jabari mid-season, and then it was also consistent after that. Adams and Landale knew they'd be subbed in for Alpi in specific games. No guessing. And it worked very well. This year? No consistency at all. Okogie, Sheppard, Tari have each started quite a few games, with no rhyme nor reason as to why. Amen's playing the point... no, Alpi's the point... no, let KD initiate things... no, Reed's the point... and all those comeback losses and tough wins against bad teams speak for themselves.
When Reed has started only one team has scored that much on us. It’s a more balanced team when he starts. I think Reed is more of a pure point guard than Amen only because he can shoot.
defense is always the key. You can score a million points but if you can’t stop the other team it is worthless. However, you also can’t play only defensive players which give you very little offensively every 4th quarter. You need to keep playing, keep scoring. Udoka does not seem to understand this. He plays to not lose the game.
Simple.....He loves 6'7-6'11 Forwards......He played 6'7 Defensive Small Forward himself at Portland, Spurs etc.... Reed ain't that. He should be canned just for that alone that he cannot develop guards. We do not need a Coach with Agenda. Hell.
Man you just won't give up on the Starting being outcome determinative. What is your precise theory? Is it the high fiving? The mental effect? For real, tell me Anyway Thank you for pointing out that Reed starting ended in the Rockets biggest defensive beat down of the season - giving up 140 to the Spurs. You inspired me to look at other recent Reed starts. The results are illuminating: PHX - 37 points in the first period - 148 ppg pace GSW - 31 points in the first - 124 ppg pace UTH - 22 points - 88 ppg pace MIL - 20 points -80 ppg pace NO - 29 points - 116 ppg pace MEM - 30 points - 120 ppg pace MIN - 23 points - 92 ppg pace CHI - 41 (!!!) points - 164 ppg pace MIA - 29 points -116 ppg pace Seems to ME that Reed Sheppard starts appear to correlate with the Rockets getting the **** kicked out of them on defense in the first period by most/all serious teams at full strength (minn had no ant) and by about half the teams that are intentionally trying to lose Anyway seems like this is something you should dig deeper on - here you go: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2026_games.html On some level I'm glad I did this research and it's pretty obvious to me why Ime decided to experiment with Okogie again after getting the doors blown off. I honestly did not realize this until just now.
This is silly. You can also hold a team to 70 points, but if you can’t score at least 71, it’s worthless. It’s very simple: You have to outscore the opposition. Teams with a good balance of offense and defense seem to do that more often. But if you suck on either side, it makes everything harder.
@SamFisher is the most intellectually dishonest poster on this board. Arguing using an N = 1 sample size to make a point and then cherry picking numbers to make it seem like the goal of every game is to win the defensive numbers and not outscore the opponent. I pity anybody that engages with him tbh Yup. But tell that to the guy above. He spent a decade in here arguing in bad faith stating that we should spam 100 3s a game and have no midrange. Ironically enough, he's never pushed that point again, but seems to be parroting a different FO talking point now. Now he's ok with 4 3s a game and walking home with defensive rating trophies.
You seem to waste a lot of time doing research on topics you don't understand...at all. So far: you’ve parroted statistics, but don't understand sample size (N = 1 is a case report, not a comparison), and also don't understand applying a control to questions you put forward. Sheppard didn't start vs Minny and we gave up 70+ points in the first half. Maybe your crusade isn’t telling the story? If you don't want to make it obvious you push an agenda, perhaps you should also post the full games in question or what the outcomes were. If you want to win the "defensive rating trophy" then go make your own forum or sport to go win at that. 2 decades of spending so much time arguing in bad faith.. This might be a better use of your time: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/statistics-probability
Too many people are missing the larger point by debating if the team is good when Reed is on the court or in the starting lineup or whatever. The only real question is whether you think the Rockets can contend either this year, or in the near future, without Reed being a big part of the team. If you think the answer is yes, then you should support Ime, who is treating Reed like a Matt Maloney or Rafer Alston. Because that's really more or less his role on this team. But if you don't think the Rockets can contend without Reed being better, then regardless of whether you think he's been a positive or negative, you should want the coach to play him. Because playing him and letting him fail in real NBA games allows him to grow faster. Or in worst case scenario where this is his ceiling, let you figure out quicker that he's not the one. In which case allow the team to move him or find his replacement sooner rather than later. Either way, it's more important for the Rockets long term success that they find out whether Reed is the true deal or not sooner rather than later. Than it is for them to win 1-2 potential extra regular season games by limiting his minutes. And I say potential because honestly, it's not like starting Okogie has done much for the team outside his incredible 3pt shooting streak at the beginning of the year.
