The thing is he is getting minimal minutes in the 8 to 10 minute range. Gleague isn't a demotion, he is shuttling back and forth between team and Rio Grande V. Workers have commuted, he can do so too...that's multitasking. The normalest thing. My explanation is the Vipers are not as good as it was under Nurse and Finch. As we knew it.
I figured everyone would have learned this one thing about Ime by now: He doesnt make reactionary decisions and he believes in consistency. Jalen was terrible last year for a good chunk of the year and most of us wanted him replaced. Ime stuck with him. Jabari struggled sone this year. He stuck with him. Dillon hasnt been replaced by Tari or Amen. Steven Adams still gets playing time every other game or so even though he hasnt been great. I dont even think Reed has been bad. I think some of whats going on is beyond his control. Hes the last man in the rotation getting like 5 min spurts per half. And when hes on the court hes not running the offense at all. Its hard to show much with what his role is and the minutes hes getting. And yet still, hes shown plenty. I think the conversation is moot and we'll see Ime stick with Reed for the year and next year he'll have an even bigger role. But we'll see i guess...
This. Udoka does trust Holiday and Holiday is quite serviceable. And he also has experimented playing Jalen at the point. And he uses Amen too. But it seems that Udoka wants to get Reed's feet wet. I don't think he would do that if Reed didn't show something in practice.
Reed getting playing time has nothing to do with Ime, imo. I still think the organization was bullied into drafting a so called 3 pt. specialist at #3 when you could have gotten the same player undrafted. That was an absolute and complete waste of a top pick. Now they are stuck having to play him just to save face. Even the most devoted Reedbots are calling for a stint in the league of Gs.
You never fail to have the worst possible take, no matter the topic. It’s stunning how reliably wrong you are.
This situation is more unfair to Reed more than anything. All rookies need loads of playing time and it is currently showing with the majority of this draft class. The more minutes they have gotten the better they have gotten (McCain, Clingan, Edey, Risacher, Castle, Carrington and recently Jaylen Williams). Even Sarr and Dillingham are showing improvement. Reed is being held back by the team just like I said he would be before the draft. They could possibly be unintentionally sabotaging his career by stifling him at a very critical point in his career. Reed needs to play but he was never going to on this win now team. Being picked at #3 may turn out to be a curse for him.
He's a shooter and a shooter needs some rhythm to their minutes and shots. He has to earn his way to that. At the moment he's just trying to get himself to a place where he proves to the coach he's a safe backup PG option that can shoot and defend same or better than Aaron Holiday. We're getting there, he has literally played like 20 games in the NBA with limited minutes. He's played almost 7 whole games if each game is 36 minutes. He would be averaging about 11ppg, 4 assist and 2 TO in those 7 games with continuously improving efficiency and defense. If by mid season he can gives us 12 and 5 with passable defense , taking care of the ball and excellent shooting in 25 minutes, he will have reached a major development milestone and will help the team tremendously. We're still perfectly on course for that. Give the guy more than 20 games of leftover minutes before reducing his potential.
He never struck me as a troll. He seems to be always serious about his takes, always doubling down. He's like a less prolific DD.
The thing is he is getting minimal minutes in the 8 to 10 minute range. Gleague isn'ta demotion, he is shuttling back and forth between team and Rio Grande Valley.
You have no idea how the Stone/Ime relationship works. Ime is not the kind of guy that can be bullied. Do you think he would still be starting Dillon over Amen given all the accolades Amen is getting around the league, if he was being bullied? I would send Reed to the G-League for a stint to build up his confidence, but your comments regarding why he was picked and being played are asinine.
Every one of those players is on a team that isn't trying to compete and has a bad record except Edey. They are all clear negatives on the court, and they are effectively sabotaging their own teams, which is fine by the way, because that's how you develop rookies. The teams are okay with this, but if they were actually focused on winning, all those guys would get no minutes. The only difference with the Rockets is we have decided the trade-off isn't worth it, and we aren't willing to sabotage our own winning chances for the sake of Reed's development.
I am one of Reed's biggest fans. I don't agree that he was "bad" pick that the Rockets are embarrassed about. I would love to see him go to the G League. He has enormous potential, but he has a large window of adjustment. He is VERY young. He also needs to get bigger and stronger which is likely to happen, but he is not exactly a midget. He needs to get a rhythm. He can do that in the minors.
Reed is talented...lt is obvious,but he is small and does not have strength... He has to go to g league to play enough minutes.. Too early to decide...
The G league is a step down in competition from what he saw last season, not just in the talent but in the way they play the game. He's much better served by playing 10-15 minutes a night in the NBA alongside guys like Sengun who also know how to play the game. The biggest hurdle is Ime Udoka who is absolutely awful at managing player rotations. I have hope that Ime can improve, and if that happens, we'll start to get more out of Sheppard. Right now, he's just a guy struggling to get the kind of opportunity that he needs...if he had been drafted elsewhere, he'd have that opportunity and be putting up much better numbers....but I feel like a slower approach is better for his long term development, just not as slow as it has been thus far.
You make some good points, but I am thinking that "some activity" is better than little or no activity.
You are right. It is a step down but there are 3 times the minutes there to exploit that. He can't continue the entire season like this.
