Was there ever a point when Cam wasn't confident? His problem isn't being confident, it's choosing when to and when not to do things on the basketball court.
I don't think myself nor anybody is HATING. It's just that we want to see some of what we saw in Summer League. And to be honest, he hasn't shown anything since then. Last night he was OK. Hopefully he's starting to adjust.
I guess I see things wrong. Other than some struggles in man defense, I think that Shepherd always comes in and is a positive.
Confident in him becoming a winning player. Perhaps around the 3rd best player on a championship team. His ts% as a guard will be special.
The two areas where Reed struggled a bit in SL were his three point shooting and his turnovers. Obviously it's a small sample size, but so far he's improved his three point shooting from 28% (5 for 18) to 39% (6 for 17), and his assist to turnover ratio has doubled from 1:1 to 2:1. Considering the guy is only getting 12 sporadic minutes per game, I think he's been pretty damn solid. He has a steadiness and quiet confidence about him that I like.
With his shot not being as efficient as it was last yr, something is wrong. Since he got significant playing time last yr and with Amen, whom he came in with getting more playing time this year, I'm sure he's feeling like an outcast. Wouldn't you?
Much of his success last year was in the G-League and against backups. First 28 games : 17.0 mpg, 47.8% FG, 40.3% 3's Last 19 games : 21.3 mpg, 42.5% FG, 30.7% 3's As for him feeling like an outcast, I have no idea - I'm no psychologist. All I know is his production went down last year, not just this year. People are remembering him lighting up the G-League and a couple of cross-court behind-the-back passes that made him look like Magic Johnson's son. For the majority of the time he's been here, he's been basically the same player except his 3 point shot, which he was never really known for from what I recall, collapsing. So far Cam doesn't seem like the type of player for whom team basketball comes naturally or he just isn't grasping it. Amen is getting more playing time because he's a horrific shooter who happens to be a pretty elite man defender even at his young age, and one who can at times guard 5 positions (realistically more like 3 or 4). So, it's a situation where if Amen's shot isn't falling or he isn't scoring, he brings good rebounding, elite defense, good vision, ability to pass, understands team ball, is unselfish, etc. If Cam's shot isn't falling, he hasn't shown he brings too much else. Then you throw in them trying to shoehorn Reed Sheppard into all this, and yes, somebody's going to take a production hit.
He is a power finisher and seems to prefer the old pass me the ball instead of moving the ball around. Carmelo had a post game and was a good 3 point shooter, just could not pass the ball well too.
Hasn’t shown much willingness to shoot when it’s there for him. Looks unsure at times when he has to make a play. Maybe they need to run him open on some screens and curls to get him easy looks.
At this point in the season, Jared McCain looks like the best player in the draft. 34/10 tonight, averaging 26ppg the last 4 games since they started giving him minutes. I don't think any of the other rookies are putting up numbers like this.
The reality is the 9th man won't have a lot plays run for him...especially, when he's been unwilling to take the shots when he's open. Seems like the only way to get him FGA is to pass him the ball with the shot clock running down.
Well I don't agree, I think you have to let him play through the mistakes, Ime has a very short leash with him. DD
He never gets wide open shots like some people (Jabari) and seems worried about getting his shot blocked. Once he figures that out his confidence will soar. It's not like there aren't a ton of other wings bricking a million shots in games so it's not like he thinks he has to be perfect.
Ime's favorite toys are Tari and Amen at the moment, versatile wing creators. Even Cam is not getting anything......coaches and their favorites but in this case Tari and Amen are killing it. With no visible injuries, they are not getting extensive minutes.
I think Sheppard's been doing great. He makes the most out of his time whenever he comes off the bench. He's adapting to the speed of the NBA and he doesn't make a lot of mistakes, even when he's asked to bring up the ball. The only problem is that teams tend to hunt him on the defensive side, but that was expected.
His improvement is misleading S he takes very few attempts. He is now 6/20 so lost 9% in 1 night. Not sure what you are seeing out there if he was confident his shooting wouldnt be so bad afterall he shot 50% in college. Thats why I keep saying he needs a GLeague run to build up his confidence.
In the half court game, he always stands in the opposite corner of where the ball is. He's there only as the bail out shooter if the main guys get into trouble.
