The Rockets must really believe in Reed. We are the deepest team in the league, but not at G. FVV is inked in at PG (but hopefully we reduce his minutes a little to about 32 a game) and I guess Amen suits up at SG - but all our established role players off the bench (Tari, DFS, Adams…) are either forwards or centers. That leaves us here with Reed, Cam (who they seemingly shop around) and Holiday (who should be more of insurrance). That leaves Reed as the great white hope… last year he was rarily given a chance and often looked overwhelmed and got abused on defense. I still believe in him and I find it strange and gutsy that we semingly have this much trust in him after seemingly having no trust in him at all last season (at least not trusting him enough to play him real minutes). I am rooting for Reed… I could see it something like this now: FVV 32 / Reed 16 Amen 32 / Cam 10 / Reed 6 KD 30 / Tari 18 Jabari 32 / DFS 16 Sengun 32 / Adams 16 Probably with some small ball lineups with Jabari as the C mixed in and of course spot minutes for Holiday and proabably Tate, Green etc. And Adams will still take games off for Capela to play.
Regardless of what your opinion of Sheppard is, from how this offseason has played out it's clear the Rockets have a lot of faith in him as a player. If he doesn't take a big step from last season there is a significant hole on the roster right now.
I think this is about right to start the season. I think they start decreasing FVV’s minutes about mid-year and increase Amen’s and Reed’s minutes, if Reed is playing well. Amen is going to be incredibly important to provide creation and getting to the hoop. Virtually no one else on the team can get to the rim. If Reed doesn’t make a leap or Cam hasn’t had an epiphany , we will make a trade at the deadline.
Amen's minutes are already quite high, third highest on the team behind Fred's and Jalen's. Now that Jalen is gone, I expect that he will have the most minutes. If Fred's PT is reduced, it will mostly go to Reed. It's up to Reed to show he's worthy of those minutes. And hopefully they are going to use him the right way. Looks like the intention is to peg Amen and Reed as the future backcourt running mates. It really doesn't matter how you label them, who's PG, who's SG. If they can both handle the ball and have good playmaking ability, they will complement each other well on both ends of the floor. I don't even care if they see Durant as the SG on offense. He and Fred are just stop gaps win-now cogs before the kids come into their own.
Amen kinda looked awful his first year like Reed and made a tremendous jump in year 2. Reed has the potential to do the same.
I like to go back and watch his highlights against OKC his first start where he dropped like 25. That was very impressive and showed what he could potentially be.
Amen made his jump in January of his first season. Amen had an amazing last 30-40 games or so. Jalen Green's March kind of masked how good Amen was.
That came due to getting opportunity Sheppard never got. If Ime ever lets him play.... and allegedly he is planning on doing so this season, he'll have what people will call a "jump"
Reed must look good in practice. I was high on him for awhile, but when considering the whole package including defense I have not seen it. When was the last time we had a draftee who looked so mediocre who then turned out to be as good as many predict. I sure hope I am wrong.
It's possible my memory will fail me, but I feel like Reed was targeted a lot, but for the most part held his own. Yah, he got dominated many times, but that's expected for rookies first adjusting to the speed differences of NBA offenses. He also had a lot of really good defensive moments. He has very good and quick hands, Chuck Hayes-esque. And he plays the lanes well when helping. As long as he plays hard and hustles, he'll be on Ime's good side and should get steady minutes. Ime is just a no-rookies default coach. Unless you prove yourself doing the basics, you're not playing. Very much like his mentor, Pop.
I doubt it given Ime's FVV infatuation, but sincerely hope those PG minutes flip by the end of the season, even if FVV still starts, or at least be a FVV 24/ Reed 24 split.
