When will Reed be placed into the starting lineup?

If Stone had any STONES he would be demanding that Reed start for the good of the franchise.

DD

 

More like when will the team be built around Reed at this point. He makes everyone else better and puts them back into their natural positions.

 

I think game is changing and looking at two recent teams forum we faced showed their problem was lack of threat coming off the bench. If you have player like KD who needs more touches due to high efficiency it’s better to let him lead the lineup who’s out there with him. I think Sengun is better as secondary option to an offense where thinks don’t work just let sengun post up and ask him to make something rather than let him initiate the offense. Reed should be initiating offense when KD is on the bench. Sengun and Amen capable to find the buckets in flow of the offense but both KD and Reed are shooters and opponent do guard those two specifically

 

I prefer Tari in the starting lineup, as that's a very tall, lengthy, and menacing lineup.

Reed is developing nicely and his minutes is increasing as the season goes along. I think the balance of the team works better with Tari starting and Reed coming off the bench.

 

Where he is
Is where he belongs
For now

 

Not true, ironically enough continuing to sputter his minutes and bench him after every little mistake etc has led to game per game regression.

who knew starting someone, leading to 3 good games , then benching after 1 bad shooting game, then changing the lineups and minutes like a crazy person would hinder someone’s development

 

He was slaying dragons earlier in the year, and is now playing scared. Did he suddenly become awful? Or is it the coaching?

On the flip side, Amen continues to clank 3-pointers and kick the ball out of bounds on the break, yet his minutes are never reduced. He is just as big of liability on offense as Reed is on defense, but Ime's faith in him is unwavering. This says more about the coach than either player.

 

Hope my FIFY is wrong.

 

I'm really starting to think we can't even afford to not start Sheppard.

Think about our shooting for a second. We've been in two situations:

1) We take very very few attempts and make a high percentage.
2) We take an average number of attempts and we shoot really poorly.

I really think that it's worth trying to hide Sheppard defensively if we think that's an issue, but the team just needs a high volume of 3's and he seems like our best high volume shooter. Jabari is not efficient at high volume and Durant doesn't like to take a high volume. Amen and Sengun are still developing as shooters. Reed is really the only guy you can give 8-9 attempts and might give you 38-39% efficiency. That would give our playmakers a more fair amount of spacing.

That would significantly improve our overall offense. It opens things up for Amen/Durant/Sengun. We just don't have enough shooting around these 3 guys. Reed is our best shooter. His playmaking can even lessen the pressure on our current playmakers. It's a pretty dire need for us right now.

I'd really start to consider it if we don't gain momentum soon. Sengun, Amen, Durant, Reed and (insert best 3&D option) is what we should be building chemistry with.

 

Why not both? Tari when healthy should start. Reed is better than JSJ. Tari is a better SF than JSJ. Let JSJ be a PF when Durant is out of the game.

 

trade Ime.

DD

 

I do too, but you can't rely on him being available. It's hard to put a guy in your starting lineup full time when you know full well he won't be available a lot of the time.

 

It would make sense, if they alter the offensive schemes away from Durant and Sengun ISO’s and go to a more pick and roll offense with more movement. Last game Durant was a willing and good 3 pt shooter. Only on occasion, were the players just standing around watching. They were using a steady diet of picks to give Reed room to operate. Sengun needs to facilitate more and react more quickly to double teams. It’s worth a look, but the defensive deficiencies will probably rear their head again. We still aren’t going to beat anybody in the playoffs if Durant and Reed are the only 3 point shooters on the team. Jabari’s regression and Tari’s injury is killing any hope we have of a coherent offense and good defense. Minnesota didn’t have Ant, which masked some of our defensive issues we will have with Reed on the floor. I don’t know who it is, but I still think a trade for a SG that shoots well from 3 and plays defense is our best route. Under that circumstance, Reed would be a perfect 6 man.

 

I'm flummoxed by Ime's approach to Reed. He'll start and give playing time to every other player down the bench before Reed. Why?

Most opinions fixate on his defensive vulnerabilities as to why Coach Udoka doesn't play him more and that certainly seems logical. However, this is the NBA and everyone gets beat defensively, our best defenders Amen and Tari are routinely beaten. Hell, he even started Holiday, who was terrible on both ends of the court and now has been sent to the very end of the bench in favor of JD. The rotation has been a game of musical chairs lately as he's seems to be searching for some magical lineup that will win the day.

Some have opined that Ime doesn't understand shooters because he wasn't one. I don't buy that explanation. If you're coaching in the NBA you've seen a variety of players and skill sets in your career; you can see when a shooter is hot and your experience and instincts should scream feed that player until they come back to earth. There is something else going on.

Perhaps Reed is not as coachable as he seems and has been slow to adopt Ime's philosophy. He has definitely quit gambling as much, which personally I liked the increased steals, deflections, and impact that aspect of his game brought to the team. But I understand, Ime doesn't want excitement, he wants you to stay in front of your man and hold your ground.

When he's playing free, Reed's game is dynamic. He'll move the ball to open teammates all over the court. He pull-up and hit 3's at will or drive past a player for a layup. He'll ignite a rally with a steal and pass to a teammate for a easy dunk. He brings an energy to the court that not many players have and that my friends is why I don't understand how any coach/leader would want to harness or inhibit that kind of basketball spirit.

So should he be starting? Absolutely, once FVV was out RS should have been penciled in the lineup and gaining experience/confidence as our floor general. Why we're not doing that and wasting losses on some weird ass rotations that just seem crazy, I cannot explain it. But there is something going on and whatever it is, it is not benefiting our team or the product we're putting on the court.

BTW, there are other issues that can evolve from these decisions. A lot more wear-and-tear on KD who's playing the 3rd most minutes in the league and bringing the ball up way too much. Amen is playing the 2nd most minutes in the league. At some point an injury may force Ime's hand, but until then I guess we have to live with this madness.

 

Sometimes I really wonder if Udoka intentionally wants three non-shooters on the court. It's like: Hmm... I can't find enough non shooters... Tate, you go!

At one time last night, we had only one shooter on the floor, which was Jabari Smith.

 

It's just how he sees the game... he thinks everything is defense. He'd see nothing wrong with 5 non shooters if they were plus defenders.

That's why he's a terrible coach

 

Ime will always be defense first - strangely JD only got 4 minutes also…he didn’t even get a chance

people used to fuss about Silas but Ime is blinded on a whole different level

 

I think too much emphasis is getting put into the starting lineup when you have a full 48 minutes to play. Against the Wolves he was playing those offensive possessions to close the game while Okogie handled the defensive possessions.