I have my doubts about this hypothesis, Ime was giving Reed real minutes for much of the first half, it was only when Reed played poorly for a long stretch that he started getting DNP-CDs.
I love Tari, I wanted the team to draft him .... but being honest, he's best suited to the role he has - 6th man type. He's flawed in a couple ways - no left hand and his touch around the rim is awful. He's a wrecking ball that comes in and gives you a burst of energy at 110% for 8-12 minutes a half. He straight up out competes the opponents .... On Jabari, he just isn't a quick twitch athlete that's going to do things 1 on 1. But in the flow of things, he's a very good player on both ends. Never going to be a superstar .... but can contribute to winning at a high level.
. You rarely see 3rd picks penciled in for 12 minutes a night before training camp begins. But that was the reality with FVV and Amen. So no, he was not given opportunities. He never played the point his natural position.
I've been saying that he should be the ball handler rather than waiting for the C&S. He has PG instincts. He's much more comfortable in that role even though he will definitely make mistakes as all rookie PGs do.
I like this thinking though. But even if Ime didn't intend for him to "learn from the bench" Reed as shown growth even learning from the bench. So regardless of whether it's a philosophy of Ime's, Reed learned from the bench it seems. This says a lot about Reed either way.
I would have liked to Reed get more minutes this year, but he was clearly not ready yet and that's fine. Not all players come into the league ready to contribute, especially not on deep teams with playoff aspirations. Even if we played Reed starter's minutes it doesn't mean he would have developed faster. We force fed Jabari playing time his whole rookie season and he was still terribly raw by season's end. Hell, I think putting Jabari in a big role right off the bat probably hurt his development as he made a ton of mistakes and was very hard on himself. Reed looked similar in that when he played poorly he seemed to lose confidence which made him play even worse. I'm just glad Reed's playing more comfortably now. His minutes are still very limited, but he's making much more stuff happen in that time. The days where he just stood on the line and gave up the ball as soon as possible are hopefully in the past.
DD, you can’t blame Ime for Reed having a tough rookie season. That’s crazy. I know u watched the games. Reed couldn’t shoot, he was passing up shots, was getting hunted on defense, was not moving without the ball, like at all. He wasn’t seeing the floor well. Coming from a bench role at KU it’s not surprising that Reed was going to have a significant adjustment period to the nba. Reed had plenty of opportunities to play, but it was clear he wasn’t ready. It’s that simple. regardless he was clearly starting to get more comfortable right before the injury. And Ime rewarded that by getting him on the floor. Reed would have been playing rotational minutes had the injury not occurred. Ime didn’t ghost Reed or sabotage Reed. Not everything is the coaches fault. this time next yr we’ll be talking about Reed as part of the inner core. Adversity makes one stronger.
Well that's false because he got a lot of minutes early in the season and didn't produce, That's why he fell off the rotation in the first place. He started out as the backup of FVV before he started averaging 3 pts on horrendous efficiency thats why he fell out of the lineup. Regardless thats in the past I would rather focus on his good play currently and hope he keeps it up even against good teams.
I’d like to see Reed get some minutes in this 5 game stretch. If he shoots with the same confidence against real competition, he could be helpful in the playoffs.
What a mind blowing experience to end that game. Reed Sheppard comes in late and simply unloads on the Jazz. Not only did he stun Utah, he stunned the home crowd, who went wild. Heck, Reed sure stunned me. More, please!
Reed's archetype is EXACTLY what this team needs if he pans out. Kid has a beautiful release, really enjoy watching him shoot the ball. Kinda Curryesque.
Reed out there looking like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf with the quick trigger. Forget the Mark Price Comps. Be like MA-R…also drafted with the #3 pick, not a true point guard, and took a couple of years to get going.
Ime's philosophy is to play the players that contribute the most to winning period. If a vet or lower potential player is outplaying one of his younger players, he wants the young players to pick up on their habits and efforts that contribute to winning. So, that could be defense, ball security, decision making, consistency, aggressiveness, etc. The idea is that the fire required to beat out a vet leads to an overall better player. Not having to do this may have set guys like Jalen or Jabari back multiple years. Either way, I'm really happy for Reed. As Rocketeer said, he is exactly the type of player this team needs.
It's a shame he didn't get any real opportunity this season, it would have likely made the team a lot better. Hopefully Ime learns his lesson and the opportunity comes next season
Not even the Jazz's best players, in fact. Regardless, it's great to see the kid come alive. Hopefully it's a preview of next year without FVV.
