Sheppard exceeded Holiday's contributions in a little more than 1/3 the playing time.... and did so without having to take 4 shots.
And the team worst +/-. Thought you liked to use the single game +/- bs? Or is it only useful if it makes Reed look good?
I remember some saying, "we need to draft Reed so that the Spurs and Wemby can't use that spacing that Reed provides." Currently: (24/25): 3P% Castle: 27.7% Reed: 27.5%
I think this pretty much says it all! And they said Castle was a HORRIBLE shooter, well guess who's right there with him?
Feel like Reed should've spent the year the in the G League instead of with the main team. Feels like he comes in and is scared to make a mistake whereas in the G League he would've been able to work through those mistakes with not as many consequences. Curious to see what the Rockets plans are for him moving forward because this development style seems dubious.
I really like Castle. I don't watch non-Rockets NBA games all that much but of what I've watched this season I think he has the highest semi-plausible upside of this rookie class right now. But he absolutely would not be getting any kind of regular minutes if he was on this Rockets team and even though they have near identical 3pt % right now he is definitely not a better shooter than Reed. That's just crazy. Just watch how teams guard both guys at the 3pt line. Castle is also shooting 73% from the FT line.
He should of stayed in college but then he would prob be exposed - he simply played the stat geeks… does he have talent (yes) is it 50% from 3 talent (no)
Reed Sheppard is looking like 1 of the biggest draft scams in recent history How do u play 6 minutes of garbage time and don’t even record a field goal attempt? y’all can keep coping that Castle wouldn’t get any PT here
If Castle has a consistent shot, he will be an all star level player. He has always been a very good and very talented defender - this year he has honestly not been good defensively, but it is because he is over his head some on offense. The defense will be there.
They had to see what they had in him, but it should have been obvious pretty quickly that he's simply not NBA ready. The G League is exactly where he should have been. Why the organization is so reluctant to put him where he belongs is crazy to me.
100% agree here(especially how Reed is guarded at the 3pt line different from Castle). I was high on Reed pre-draft and thought it came down to whether Stone thought we had enough upside already on the roster and could start drafting for need(shooting). I personally haven't been as high on Sengun and Green as franchise guys although they are clearly the best two on this roster - I thought we needed to take another swing for upside and Castle should have been that pick. That being said - I think you are spot on that Castle would similarly struggle to find consistent minutes on this roster. All these young guys from this draft aren't high floor guys compared to previous drafts so they all need to grind a bit more to see the results. I'll say this so that even the people in the back of the room can hear it: The biggest barrier to consistent minutes for Reed(or any young guy we would have drafted), is that we are a competitive team this year. 100% Reed will get better this offseason with more focused training now that he knows what obstacles NBA level players are to his game and Reed will likely get more minutes next year and he will be a useful player for this team at some point....but this is likely a 3 or 4 year plan for Reed as long as Houston is competitive because right now, Houston is basically giving opponents a points advantage in minutes Reed plays in - yet he needs those minutes to develop so they have to bring him along slower so that his minutes don't tank the team because frankly his likely upside isn't high enough to be worth the investment.
Yes - I don't think either of them have had a really strong rookie season, but Castle has had a better rookie season and in a redraft I don't think Reed would fall a lot, but Castle would go before Reed. It is really simple - Reed has to shoot better than Castle to be better than Castle. We will see what happens in the future - I would like to see Sheppard contributing more, as he started the season promising but not so much now.
I feel there are two issues. One is that he played too quickly. The other is that the Rockets are forcing him to be a PG from the beginning. They did this with Amen too last year iirc and neither player really responded well. If there's anything in how the team plays with and without FVV, it's clear the rest of the team isn't experienced enough to handle a PG who also is learning on the go. This isn't a Mario Chalmers starting alongside the big 3 situation, where all he did was bring up the ball and hang out at the 3pt line. The Rockets wanted Reed to initiate plays and stuff and he clearly wasn't ready. Personally I've always been critical of how Stone has handled the PG situation, and I feel it has negatively affected the Rockets young players' development. Just look at Amen. At first started as a PG and really did not play well. Then the Rockets put him in a lesser role as a PF where he spent a lot of time with reduced duties and more relying on his athleticism. Then this year after more experience, he got more and more ball handling roles and is now looking like a future star. Compare that with KPJ, Jalen, Reed, where they just come and was told to make plays. And while Reed still have time, Jalen and KPJ have basically floundered. I do wonder if the Rockets had brought in a CP3/Conley type, if he'd have grown in a much more consistent player.
He looked fine to start the season, and actually at one point was improving but then had a couple poor shooting games and it has snow balled from there. They sent him down for a short period of time to see if it would help his confidence and it didn't really. The reason he hasn't been sent down and stayed down is because he has done exceptionally well in practice - at least that is what I was told when I asked about it.
I was guessing that's the reason why he was in the rotation (because he sure wasn't doing anything much positive on the court, but almost hte exact opposite). If you do exceptionally well in practice and continue to do so, it will sooner or later translate.
It seems like he's really a rhythm player, even though he came off the bench at Kentucky. I think most of his struggles this season boil down to that he needs to see some shots go down and it's hard for him to get an opportunity to do that. Though to stick around long term in the league he's going to either have to get good enough to play the kind of minutes to get in a rhythm or he's going to have to be able to be effective in spot minutes. You can take a glass half full view on some other things. In that abomination of basketball the Rockets played in the last 4-5 minutes last night, Reed was light years ahead of the rest of the lineup in terms of handling the rock, making good decisions, and generally taking care of the ball other than getting caught in that trap by Castle. He should be fine if his shot ever comes around but it's not a given that will happen.
Like our other rookies, let's not give up on a 20 year old first year player. He may need a few years like some rookies, also we're very talented so there is depth and some more experienced players who are better right now. He needs to shore up his weaknesses, staying in front of his man/lateral quickness, etc. But also making his strengths dominant, be a dead-eye catch and shoot three-point shooter flat out. Develop a killer instinct to make things happen and always be in attack mode for playmaking, rebounding, and defense.
