You are the living embodiment of ad hominem. All you do is verbally attack others who disagree with you without any logical argument or rebuttal. Just stfu clown.
Who are the people gloating? At least I as one of the more vocal Reed complainers here am not. As a ROCKET fan I would love it if all the rockets players play great. However as a ROCKET fan it boggles my mind how some posters here are just glorifying Sheppard and saying they are extremely pleased with his play when he has been objectively bad. You see all the empty praises here on the board for a top 3 pick like the bar is so low 6 pts and shooting 20% from 3 is a great game. Pointing that out makes me look like a hater when I'm just being objective. I'm not attached to any player as I have been a fan for over 20 yrs, players come and go. When a dude is playing bad I dont want to see people cream over him and vice versa.
What holes are you even talking about??? You mean Steve Nash??? lmao Bruh look at Steve Nash and Sheppard's efficiency their rookie year it isnt even close. Nash shot 42% Sheppard is now at 32% quarter thru the season and has a true shooting percentage in the 40s. Everyone who says he is having a Nash season are the ones trolling. Nash actually had reason to be on the bench, he had Jason Kidd ahead of him. Sheppard just cant shoot straight thats why he isnt playing more minutes. Key difference there. Nobody has been able to rebut anything I say cuz Reeds performance has been terrible to anybody who isnt biased. All you see here are insults and attacks thrown at me for not drinking the Sheppard kool aid. People here are so deluded they are saying teams are scared of Sheppard or they are extremely happy with Sheppard's performance. Thats just BS. And again I never said Sheppard is a bust, all I'm saying is he sucks ass for the 3rd pick. If he plays great 3 yrs from now all the numbnuts are gonna come after me saying I dont know ball blah blah blah.
What I mean is the latter 4 players are engines of a team. To some extent range between them they need the ball in their hands. The first 3 players are winning players and while also fitting around whoever the Rockets deem to be the “engine.”
he’s been very subpar…if he was another team’s 3rd overall pick, he’d be getting trashed on here instead of pretending like he’s been playing well at least he’s not as afraid to shoot or be aggressive anymore
can't help but feel we've mismanged him so far. he needs g-league burn so badly i wish he would have started there. clearly not a ton of confidence. aaron holiday is a superior player currently.
Ok, I'll bite. First off, I never said anything about Steve Nash. You're projecting based on some of the theoretical discussions other posters have made. Rookie comparisons are for comparison sake only, NO ONE knows how a rookie will develop, especially one as young as Sheppard. He's shooting poorly right now, true. If he's sub 35% for threes at the end of the year I'd be disappointed but I'd never say "he sucked" if he continues to operate well in other areas. Pre-draft you had complaints about him being too short (valid question) unathletic, a huge defensive liability and lacking PG skills. While his height will always put him at a natural disadvantage (just like almost any other PG in the 6-6'3" range) he's proven to be a plus on the defensive side and shown to have promise as a floor general type PG. However you still spout the same tired rhetoric (6-1" with T-Rex arms). I've read that from you so often it should be a drinking game. Now let's talk about this "3rd pick" nonsense. If Reed was picked 14th would you still complain? Because that's about where I think he'd have gone in a normal year. Draft position discussions are absolutely dependent on the overall strength of the draft. Now, if you want to argue that the Rockets should have taken player "X" instead of Sheppard, then sure. State your case. I can see some other options that might have been viable, but comparing other rookie performances to date "apples to apples" just isn't viable. Every team has a different need, scheme, coach preferences and long term plan. Just because a rookie is playing well on another team doesn't mean he'd perform the same on the Rockets. And vice versa. A valid concern might be his early shooting results. I say might because I personally don't think it's an issue. His form is very, VERY good (which is odd because you also complain about his bad "mechanics" which is ridiculous) and good form typically yields good results. His sample size in the NBA is just too small right now to judge based on stats alone. So you have to look deeper. Which is why you hear people say things like "The shot will come around" because they're looking at his shot selection, mechanics, and other things that statistics don't show you. Like how other teams play him. He's being shown respect as a shooter. If you can't see that than this discussion is probably a waste of time. Overall, I think it's waaaaay too early to tell what Reed will be. I see lots of promise in his decision making, defense, and overall basketball IQ. He's operating in a small box right now and for all we know that's exactly what he's being told to do. Ask yourself this, if he's only supposed to be good at one thing (shooting) and he's not good at it now, why is he getting minutes on a contending team? It must be because he's the third pick, or he's white, right? It couldn't be that the coaching staff sees things in practice every day that you and I aren't privy too, yeah?
Agreed he’s been subpar and subpar relative to what I was expecting. That said all the guards in the lotto have been pretty weak. McCain has clearly been the best first round guard but he was always projected late teens. I have watched Castle a bit and I haven’t particularly liked how he’s played. He’s had more impact on the games at times and you can see his size and athleticism but his shot looks busted. Maybe it’s fixable but the touch doesn’t seem there. Reed’s positional defense and defensive hands are better but Reed is also a midget relative to Castle. Size matters. Anyhow I’ll reserve stronger judgement until game 60 or so. I thought it was interesting how Ime ran Reed and Holiday together last night. Ime seems to really want to play Reed but the dude can’t hit shots consistently….none our guys can lol
Th odds are that the #3 pick in any draft is merely a rotation player or worse. In any particular draft there are only between 10-15 who even out up WS over 30 for a career. Typically that means maybe one All-Star trip and/or some very solid starting duties for an extended period of time. The chances a top 10 guy even hits that 30 WS are about 40% I estimate by looking at the past data (feel free to look at the numbers yourself). Keep in mind a WS of 30 is only saying the player was respectable and solid. I arbitrarily picked 30 because it popped out to me, you can mine the data further and look at a WS of 20 and above, as even there are some notable. My point is that Sheppard like Green are more likely to never reach their hype from where they were drafted; and it doesn’t make anyone smart for saying, “you see I told y’all he sucked!” Fellas saying they are pleased with Sheppard are perhaps hopeful because he’s showing positive signs. We all know most NBA rookies are like deer caught in headlights, the speed and strength they have to learn to contend with is on another stratosphere. Remember the odds are not in favor that Reed Sheppard even becomes a 30 WS player, so what is the purpose in being a Debbie downer? The coach is playing him in small spurts and he seems to be getting more comfortable. And ditching the rebuild to pay for high priced free agents doesn’t work, just ask the Knicks, Nets, etc who’ve tried that only to saddle themselves with ridiculous contracts that decimate their team decade at a time. The Clippers lost patience with a rebuild, and traded away SAR for Paul George… They got their vet and now OKC has the best player in the league. The Clippers are reliant on being led by an aging Harden, with Paul George ditching them for the 76’ers. Here look at the drafts WS career cumulatives; https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2024.html
If you go back, you need to go to 2018 before you find a rookie who has accumulated 30 WS for a career. There are actually 7 who’ve accomplished that feat, it is Luka, Trea Young, SAR, Brunson, Bridges, Ayton, and Mitchell’s Robinson (though not a star is 9 pts. 9 reb. 2 blocks, 1 steal). You have to go back to 2014 to find a draft class with more than 10 guys with careers with more than 30 WS. And even then only 2013 and 2011 have more than 10 guys with WS of 30+. The 2008 and 2011 draft classes were outliers where 18 guys reached 30+ WS, guys though not necessarily starts became household names amongst national fans. Many people frown at WS but it’s telling, because it means a coach is willing to feature a player and run a system through said player.
I think that most posters would agree that he has been sub-par so far. However, I remain optimistic about his future because he has already improved his defense and aggressiveness since the start of the season. He is a young, high-iq player that will be very interesting if his shot comes back around, which I believe it will.
Exactly. You can be disappointed that his shot isn't falling, while still believing he has upside and has shown progress for his age and as a rookie. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
If he were on another team, he'd have more opportunity to play and casuals only see PPG so the narrative would be different. In the short term, his PPG stats are harmed by being on this cluster**** of a roster with like 8 guys who think they are the "numero uno" but I think in the long run, he'll be better off having to earn everything....especially once the team dumps some of the selfish, dumb players and the head coach brings in someone that has a clue how to coach offense.....and maybe someone who knows how to run rotations. For players that get all the opportunity in the world, you can make some observations early, but for guys who don't get that opportunity, you just have to wait until they do. A good example, Isaian Hartenstein. When he was here, there were fans ignorant enough to think he was a scrub simply because he never got any playing time and thus his per game stats were low....and less than a week ago we got to see him beating up on the Rockets.
His summer league was great. It's honestly idiotic he wasn't put in the G League to put up 20-30 point nights regularly and to launch it whenever he wanted, get the confidence that he's that guy, and then come into the NBA with that confidence ready to let it fly as soon as the ball touches his hands. For some reason Whitmore is in the doghouse even though - at worst - he'd be doing most of what Reed is doing, offensively at least (credit to Reed, his defensive effort is an A++) But we've kept him out of the G League, let him rot on the bench and turn a .500+ % college shooter into a timid offensive player too scared to do anything 99% of the time. This organisation really leaves a lot to be desired for how they bring along their draft picks (except Jalen, who is literally the one who deserves zero red carpet, but they still roll it out for him to this day).
I love the fact that even in the NBA he's averaging over 1 block PER36 (also almost 2 steals) as a 6'1 guy. The defensive playmaking seems to have translated somewhat. Just want him to get more consistent minutes.
People need to not be overly concerned or be overly optimistic based on what they’ve seen so far. The main point is this- Stay freaking ready and develop off the court like you would over the Summer At some point Reed’s number is going to be called due to injuries to FVV or Jalen and if he’s ready, he’s going to have a chance to play a game or a couple with starters minutes and with the ball in his hands to show the coaches what they have. I know he’s the 3rd pick and you’d imagine teams give a multi season evaluation but you and I know that’s garbage in the NBA. The league makes judgements very early and it is very difficult to gain minutes again if you squander that first big opportunity. To Reed… be ready.
