Reed Sheppard is the Rockets’ Franchise Player™

I think many folks like the idea of a Reed+Amen backcourt. That’s triggering for JG believers.

 

Is it triggering for people like you to think of a future Jalen Cam backcourt or Jalen Amen backcourt?

Douse of self awareness man.


If someone said Reed is already better than Sengun would that trigger you?

You don't have "triggers"? If you don't have self awareness then you'd probably think so.

 

I think most people are of the belief that this backcourt is a foregone conclusion. Having two of the smartest players in the league alongside one of the smartest centers in the league seems like a no brainer. Jabari is penciled in at the 4. Take that to the bank. Reed+Amen+Jabari+Sengun is the core. It just works too freaking well and before people huff and puff about Sengun+Amen being non shooters....the Warriors built a dynasty around two non shooters sharing the floor with Klay/Steph.

 

Well let's hope Reed and Bari become two of the greatest shooters of all time.

 

haha exactly.

If we rebuilt this whole thing for years only to end up with 2 non-shooters in the starting lineup, they better fire Stone. If those guys learn to shoot (especially Sengun), Jalen will use the spacing to explode more and won’t get beat out. It’s kind of check mate there.

Plus if you have Sheppard guarding the 1 and Amen guarding the best wing, then you’re going to start a scorer with them at the 3. That scorer is going to be Jalen Green or Cam Whitmore.

I’ll bet anyone that Green will improve his 3PT% before:

Amen and Shepard improve their handles
Amen and Sengun can shoot decently
Cam Whitmore learns to share and play defense

All of these guys will be stars, but people are delusional about how the dominos will fall. Green needs to improve 2% from 3PT range and take 1 fewer midrange shot. That’s pretty much it. I’m not surprised the coaches are confident.

 

It shows that every rookie will bust if some posters are to be believed.

 

Wonder if a trade is a brewin'

 

I still have not written off the possibility of Jalen being among the future core. (It will hopefully clear in the first couple of months of the season.) If that's the case, and assuming both Reed and Amen will pan out, I think Amen can fit at the 3 spot. A panned-out perimeter of Reed-Jalen-Amen can be very potent.

 

Are there any reports recently?

 

There are still so many possibilities. People dead set in a future backcourt and thinking there is no other possibility are irrational.

Player with the highest likely hood being traded now is Jalen mainly because of the contract situation but there still even is a chance that he pans out to be a more SGA type guy who can be used as a primary ball handler and Cam is slotted to the off guard position and Amen is a sf and maybe Reed doesn't pan out.

Or Jalen doesn't pan out and Reed doesn't pan out and it's Amen and Cam in the back court.

 

That has been my dream scenario too

 

I don't disagree, but Jalen would have to substantially improve his 3 shot.

 

Amen would need to improve not more no?

Because while Green's high volume low efficiency three point shooting harms the team's over 3 pt percentages it doesn't harm spacing. Amen's shooting harms spacing.

Both need to improve but Amen needs to improve to a point where teams don't use him as a fulcrum to play off of

 

I have 3 years of evidence that Jalen Green either can't or is unwilling to improve his 3's

 

Sure, but Green is much closer to reaching an acceptable range. Amen has much further to go. Basically, for a Reed-Green-Amen lineup to work, Green needs to be hitting 36%+ on his 3s and Amen needs to get to about .3 at a minimum. I just don't see those three working otherwise.

 

Yeah - I guess I look at it differently than a lot of people, because to me, Green and Reed have a chance to be awesome together. They compliment each other really well. Both are very good in transition and they both can bail each other out on the kick out.

There is nothing that Reed does that is going to impact Green, he either plays more efficient and is the Rockets clear cut number one scorer or he goes elsewhere.

As for ceilings - I understand what Vecenie is saying about ceilings and in a sense I think that he is right - but the truth is that if Green plays close to like he did last March, it won't matter that he doesn't always defend well and do some other things poorly.

Also - ceilings are so dependent on different things. So while I can understand saying Reed has the highest ceiling - that isn't true if Amen learns to pull up and shoot, if he does that, he is a top 5 player in the NBA.... and if Jalen improves his three point shoot to 37-38%, he likely wins a few scoring titles and is a Hall of Famer ...... what is Sengun's ceiling if he becomes a good outside shooter? It is very subjective.

What I will say is that Reed Sheppard showed some attributes that high end point guards have - that is a good thing for all Rockets fans.

 

"Book of Shepherd: Chapter I - Getting A Reed of The Flock"