Listen to the old heads on this one. He sucks right now. He might be a bust, he might eventually be a star. No one gets to make a claim to being right or wrong about him at this point. If he doesn't play any better into next year, then we can start to have the bust conversation. Reed might well drain 5 threes tonight in the cup game, and that would completely change the vibes around him.
Im hoping he does drain 5, actually more but logically thinking, I'm leaning towards 10 mins playing time, one 2 or 3, he gets picked on again and Ime pulls him out.
I still remember people declaring Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans as the futures of the league after the 09 season. Or how Yao was a bust early in the 02 season. Or even Amen last year … Reed hasn’t played well but people ready to call him a bust this early are jumping the gun. Even the second greatest Rocket of all time came off the bench in his rookie year.
Yes, seems PR sports agencies are controlling many of these scouting reports. I said stay away from Scooter Henderson as well. I had so many individuals so adamant and so sure pre draft that Scooter was money in the bag. But to this date people still wonder if Scooter can make it as PG or undersized SG.
I didn't hate the Reed pick but argued at the time I thought Castle would have been the better pick but that's because I never believed in the Steph Curry upside some on this board were claiming. Reed will be a fine player with time and this is a team that needed shooting so I get it. Worst case he is a 3pt specialist. I think he was a safe pick for a team looking to win sooner rather than later. I thought Castle steps in as a high level defender and can turn into an all star type player if he can work out the shot and he brings other things outside of defense. In my mind, we still don't have a star here so Houston SHOULD have just continued to bet on all star upside and take a little more risk in Castle than what they did with Reed and worst case you have a younger replacement for Dillon Brooks. I think the shocker is that Reed's shooting hasn't translated at all so far this season BUT you can't read too much into these quarter season rookie reviews. I expected he would be bad defensively, and I thought he might get the ball taken from him more on account of him not functioning like a PG and having to learn the role - those two things have proven to be true. The 'redraft' concept changes dramatically year over year though. There was a time early in his career when Benedict Mathurin's redraft stock was top 3 and I'm fairly certain that's not the case anymore. You could say the same about fluctuations on the perception of Josh Giddey and Jalen Suggs(who had a rough start to his career) in 21, Jaime Jaquez in 23 and of course our very own Cam Whitmore.
I worded that wrong. When I say sound analysis. I did not mean right or wrong. I mean it seems like now you extrapolating with too little data entire careers of players. I suppose it’s fair if you think even if Reed ends up as a 40%+ smart player that raises the level of the team around him. In essence a winning player is not a good pick or if they should picked someone else or traded it etc Regardless to me I look at Reed (and Eason/jabari) as winning players. You can’t have every guy scoring 20ppg+ or have to have the ball in their hands. These guys all seem to not be that and professional, smart, eager to win players. It remains to be seen what Cam Amen Sengun and Green are capable of on the other end.
I didn't want Castle because he would play similar role as Amen and the chances of him being better than Amen were not very good.
Maybe I missed it but I don't recall anybody calling Yao and Amen bust after their first 2 months. Yao didn't start out well but he came on during the season. Amen was hurt, so we didn't get a good feel of what he could do. Harden was a scorer, so he was better used as a 6th man/playmaker off the bench
To set up the narrative was Udoka said before the draft, he did not want more raw players that he has to coach up. He had enough babies in the daycare, leaving little to no playing time. 1) People claimed he was ready, draft him without a wait. 2) now the narrative has changed to......well he is ready; but it might take a few years. What the f***? What is the difference of drafting a 19 or 20 year old and investing in time and money for 3 years in that player or Draft the 23 year old ready player in Dalton Knecht who contribute to winning day one? I said one: move back or draft straight up: Knecht, Edey, Kel'el Ware, Devin Carter next bring in Tyus Jones. We had VanVleet......losing Holiday......Amen requires time at PG. You don't bring in a raw player like Reed Sheppard. I said go after Tyus Jones (before free agency & draft). This guy was waiting forever in free agency......nobody was signing him. We could have outbid the Suns who pays him $3M for this one year. Sheppard is $10M this year. Dude is putting up 12.2 pts.....6.8 Asts.....2.6 Rebs.....47.1 (FG%).....41.3 (3P%) With VanVleet, Amen and Tyus Jones we didn't need Reed Sheppard or Holiday. Rockets tried to get too cute and it bit them on the @$$. We'd have more wins. I would have us with Tyus Jones and Dalton Knecht. And before you say minutes; it's positionless basketball. I could play multiple combinations of VanVleet, Tyus Jones, Amen, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Tari, Jabari, Dillon, Jack McVeigh, Dalton Knecht in positions 1-4 (PG, SG, SF, PF). 10 players sharing four positions. 9 if you strike McVeigh from the rotation. Add Small Ball Center Jabari or Amen when needed. 9 to 10 guys sharing 5 spots.
What I want to see from Reed is asserting himself and showing some aggressiveness so he can flash the potential (as of now, this will likely take an injury or injuries ahead of him, or an early blowout one way or another, and him being up for the challenge then, rather than just playing to avoid mistakes). Give us a 20 point game with 6 threes, 6 assists and 2 steals/2 blocks. Then we have some proof of what we can expect once he reaches his potential.
I must insist that we put some context to this statement. We're talking 3-5 consistently? That's prime Steph Curry bro. High volume, high % because you damn sure don't want him taking 20 shots to hit 5. I don't think there's any kind of timeline where Reed Sheppard is on his way to challenge the GOAT period, let alone any time soon. I don't feel like that's a hot take either. And I'll casually mention in this thread once again, even the GOAT did stuff besides shoot. This is the kind of thing we need to not just say. This isn't a fair expectation at all. Chicago game 4/5 from 3. Twas indeed a blowout but he helped and he was hunting. About the only real flash thus far imo. I just need him to keep hunting, the result will follow. He's looked off entirely too many shots.
Reed probably super bummed that the Rockets didn't pick Clingan so that he could be killing in on the Spurs rather than wasting time here.
Holiday took his spot tonight. DNP coaches decision isn't a great look for a number 3 pick. He needs to go to the G League and my guess is that they'll probably announce that pretty soon.
He’s a 20 yr old rookie who was drafted for his upside, on the 2nd best team in the conference, benched in a must win elimination match. Relax buddy
