I agree with most of what you're saying, but this is definitely not true for anyone who played high level basketball. The longer your leash, the more you're allowed to find a rhythm and play freely, which helps a lot. When you know you're going to get pulled early, it makes you play scared and we all saw that with Reed early in the season. If he was on a tanking team with a long leash like Jalen in his first season, I do believe you'd see a different outcome. Not saying he's better than Jalen, just showing how a longer leash affords you more time to work through the issues.
The other guys you’re referring to were rookies on tanking teams, so letting them play through their mistakes was more likely to give us the losses we were needing. That changed last year when Ime arrived and things quickly got serious. Amen got minutes because he showed early on that he was a plus, despite his early mistakes. Cam’s season last year vs this year proves that Ime doesn’t mind playing rookies when they’re playing well. This year, Cam has shown zero growth and is shooting poorly, so his ass is stuck on the bench. Same for Sheppard; his bad shooting and poor defense showed Ime he couldn’t be trusted. He’s begun to turn that around now, but I still think Ime will turn to Holiday in the playoffs because he knows exactly what he’s getting (the good and the bad). That said, I remain optimistic that Reed will be a key in the rotation next year and might possibly get the starting PG spot.
That summarized it.....Ime is a serious individual.....and things got serious quickly from Day 1 and Training Camp.
If Reed can show his ability to shoot effectly from 3 the next 5 games...there's a chance he'll make appearances in the playoffs.
His highlight reel from this season is going to look amazing. It will only be from about three games, bit it will look phenomenal.
I wonder if a lineup of Holiday/Reed/Jalen/Dillon/Jabari could work. The spacing for Jalen would be amazing.
At this point the only two players I’d feel okay about letting go of are Fred and Cam. But I’m still convinced Cam is going to be a stud (just don’t think he’ll get the opportunity on this team), and I’d resign Fred back on Dillon money. And as far as Dillon, I’d only be willing to trade him as part of a package for a true star; he was by far our best shooter this season. To me, you hold onto Reed. Even with all the problems in the backcourt, going into next season with Fred, Reed and Amen as your point guards is not all that bad as long as Reed takes a step and Amen cuts down his turnovers. I think both those things are realistic and even probable. I just don’t doubt that Reed and Amen will work hard in the offseason to improve the deficiencies in their games. So if a an exceptional trade opportunity doesn’t present itself, the fallback of continuing to focus on the guys we have (adding additional shooting notwithstanding) is a pretty good one. Reed figures big into that equation for me.
This is only true if the only thing you are looking at is his shooting. He definitely had a cold shooting streak, but that makes it more impressive that he managed as a rookie to make up for it elsewhere in nearly every game he played.... which is why his overall numbers are still positive despite the cold shooting streak and the fact he was dicked around in and out of the rotation that made it harder to get past it. Most of his "abysmal" games were when he got less than 7 minutes... often broken up into 2 tiny shifts. No rookie plays well under those circumstances. The one time he got a start, he was amazing. He's performed well nearly every time he's gotten legitimate minutes.
The issue is he was drafted to shoot. That was supposed to be his strength and is what we needed. He isn't doing his job. I get his minutes have been inconsistent but I'm disappointed.
His defense was atrocious, his only saving grace being exceptionally quick hands. Continually failed to stay between his man and the basket. You're not a serious person. Go sit at the kids' table while the adults talk.
That is one of his strengths... despite being mismanaged about as much as a player can be mismanaged, he's still showing why he was considered by many to be the best prospect in last year's draft class.
I just need Reed to keep that kind of confidence and swagger, along with putting in the work, and he'll be a very nasty offensive player. It's all mental. Once he has it consistently, along with others hitting potential, we can start destroying teams for years.
Pretty weak draft class if we're being honest. I'm obviously rooting for him but his shot being so off is a problem. It could be mental and that's worrisome
I’m pro-Reed, but this is true. Great hands, but the feet haven’t kept up. Ryan Anderson could shoot but had to be pulled off the court because opponents routinely targeted him on defense. Reed has to solve that problem if he wants Ime to leave him in the game.
No I wasnt. Jalen was terrible for most of last season and started and played a ton of minutes. He got benched in multiple games but the very next game he was given another chance. Eventually he came out of that funk towards the end of the season. Fred has been a disaster in many games this season and still gets 40 minutes. But im not saying i dont understand why Ime has done what hes done. I do think some things could have been done differently, but I never said none of this is on Reed....I just dont believe it is ALL on Reed. Despite this being a competitive team I do think he could have been given a bit more of a leash and also been empowered to run the offense more. But it is what it is. In the long run I think he'll be fine.
I understand the eye test, but I think folks hyper focus on certain players while giving the benefit of the doubt to other guys. By every defensive metric Reed has been a better and more impactful defender than Holiday. Fred also gets targeted A TON.
Reed didnt have a short leash at the start of the season but he still played bad from his first game. He wasnt getting pulled early till he started scrubbing it up. Sure, if the Rockets were tanking Reed would have gotten to play 30 mins anyway, but lots of rookies still arent great even after playing lots of minutes so thats not a guarantee. What I'm objecting is people are saying Reed always played great when given a long leash and thats not true at all.
