HALE****INGLUEIGH!!!! exactly right...same with Cam.....we aren't winning **** this year, we need to be developing guys still. DD
It's not so much about giving up on him. I never bought into the "he's a bust" talk. It's too soon to make that declaration. But I am concerned about his future here. How can he ever develop if the front office is openly discussing signing Fred to an extension and Ime insists on playing him 35+ minutes a night(even on a bum ankle)?
Even with the L, really fun to see Reed play like this. Same for Cam. If you've really watched him this year without going overboard on the negative even struggling you can see the feel for the game, athleticism, handle, and shooting mechanics that seem like they eventually are going to lead to made 3s. He needs the ball in his hands and he needs a longer leash to ultimately see what he can do in the league. It's just hard to judge these guys vs their peers getting big minutes on mediocre or bad teams. Castle is way ahead in terms of NBA development right now because the Spurs let him play through struggles and continue to get minutes. The Spurs are also 6 games out of the last play-in spot. It's hard to do both things at once.
The Spurs weren't getting two all stars this year, but Cam would've made the Rising Stars game for sure if he'd been getting minutes like Castle on a team like San Antonio.
The problem is that the Rockets was yanking him on both sides and it's really tough on a rookie to handle it. On one hand he's asking to be the backup PG as a rookie who didn't play PG in college. OTOH he's not being allowed to play through stupid rookie mistakes that teams typically let rookies play through. The Rockets front office are treating this season as developmental year, hence zero moves at the deadline to improve the roster. OTOH, Ime is playing like every game matters. So only guys who can contribute now are getting minutes. As a result, Reed Sheppard should be getting way more minutes, especially during FVV's absence, because the Rockets are still in development mode. Yet he's not, because even in development mode, the Rockets are playing every game to win, with heavy minutes from starters and short rotation in most games. And guys like Cam and Reed are getting DNP-CDs as a result.
Ive missed one game this year. I watched them too. Not sure what him not shooting a lot has to do with anything i said though. I said put the ball in his hands and let him run pg. Let him run the offense. That is how hes always had success including tonight. Let him bring the ball up a majority of the time and not just be a corner sitter. Involve him in actions as the primary ball handler. When hes in the game and everyone is healthy he becomes a spot up shooter. Amen and Jalen take over primary ball handling duties when Fred sits. The lineup you mentioned with Reed, Amen and Tari only played in about 25 games together averaging only about 8 mins on the court together for the entire game anyways. That in itself is not "a bunch" and then on top of that Amen was primarily running the show.
Some beautiful basketball by Reed, not only hitting his treys, getting into paint with ease but dimes to the wide open guys who can shoot.
Considering we aren't good enough to win a Championship they should have just traded Dillon and Fred and let Reed run PG as the starter and given more minutes to Cam, Amen and Eason. At least our young guys could have developed more for next season.
Happy for Reed. My biggest concern was if his college shooting happened to be a hot streak at the right time, and if his shooting would translate. This game gives me a sigh of relief.
Great game by Reed. But, the reason they've tried to play him in a spot up shooter role is because that's what the team desperately needs. It doesn't appear to be what showcases his talent the most but, as I've said before, you don't want him penetrating out top only to kick it out to one of our brick layers in the corner. The issues seems to be that he's more of a rhythm player. He wants to handle it a little first. Maybe, he'll never be our Steph/Klay style off ball shooting marksman. So, as this roster evolves next year we'll need to find a mix of players that can play both sides of the ball together. The end of our bench is actually more scorer types so there was more opportunities for him to find guys like Cam or Jeff or Nate instead of guys like Amen/Tari.
