The entire national media was clowning on Yao. Showing lowlight clips nonstop. Barkley even swore to (and did) kiss Kenny’s ass live on television if Yao scored more than 19 points in a game. People were going all in on Amen here too, talking about how we were fooled by his performances against bad competition. Harden only had to beat about Thabo and couldn’t … but evolved into a much better player … which is what could happen to rookie players like Reed. Like I said, everyone’s jumping the gun. Dude played plenty well in summer league but is now all up in his head. He’ll get better with experience and confidence.
He got benched for Holiday in an important game, one the one hand I was happy to see Ime make the right decision, but on the other hand it's sad that this was the right decision.
It’s difficult for rookies to find playing time on a good team, especially when there’s already a starting-caliber veteran at the same spot. It’s ok that Reed’s starting slow. He's not the reason we’ve lost any games. He will one day be the reason we win many.
If you noticed I said "AFTER" 2 mos! If I recall it was after the Dallas game that Yao Ming started to get it together, certainly before December. And people were going in on Amen because he was unavailable. He was hurt and then when he came back, he was sick, then he went to the G-League. Reed has had ample opportunities, he just has not shown anything for us to say he can at.least do one thing well.
FWIW, I still have faith in Scoot. Its unfortunate that he is in his Silas moment with the coaching over in Portland right now - the worst coach in the league, little veteran leadership on the squad. His ceiling is definitely lower than it was but I still think he can be a solid PG in the league. If he is a buy low candidate, I would be interested in taking a flyer there. It's hard to tell what Porltand's plan is right now - they seem to be struggling with a strategy of what to do with this team post Dame. I feel like Udoka could unlock Scoot's defense....the injuries are the thing that scares me about him more than anything though.
G league. If he isn't our best option to win games then he needs to go there for playing time. It's been said before. Aaron's numbers are great this year (in a small sample size) and he's earned the playing time. I'm afraid that putting Reed in for 10-12 minutes a games is hurting his (Reed's) confidence as he's not playing well. I liked when he was receiving kick outs from Sengun a few days ago and putting up 3's. But he missed them and that's not helping anything.
If he gets exposed in g league he will have 0 trade value. Right now we can trade him as a project. Remember chuck Hayes was like 50ppg in g league and he sucked in the nba. If reed can’t shoot there he losses value as an asset.
Holiday is better because of confidence and experience but not much else. He should be used in place of reed in important mins but I think reed gets more out of 12 nba min vs 30 g-league mins. I trust the coaches to do what’s right. G-league or whatever. Vets eyes light up when they see any rookie on defense and he will be hunted but that is to be expected. He has started shooting more just not making them so it’s coming along. He needs to get loose. I feel like most of the hate is because he was pick #3 but the draft sucked. No one wanted the pick on trade. He was the best player available in a position of need. It weird because some of you seem like you would prefer if we were 6-19 with reed getting 30 min and 10 pts per game . He is a rookie getting rookie mins and making some rookie mistakes. amen came in as a point guard and the ball flies out of his hands out of nowhere still. Before he twisted his ankle he was playing pg mostly and he was pretty poor. People did talk sht because they always do on here. Our guy can be mvp and people will nitpick some part of his game.
I'm not really concerned at this point, given how hyper focused we are on being a playoff team with an elite defense. I think him getting used to the size and speed of the NBA (not summer league or preseason) is the biggest culprit. However, I think the longer that we keep FVV the less Reed will be able to get minutes.
I respect that.....my pet peeve is the bait and switch I get from those telling me they will be great day one. It was told to me on TyTy, Scoot, Amen, and now Reed Sheppard would dominate. Some respect for the NBA level talent needs to be considered when they judge talent. At least more respect than they currently give. Instead of those admitting they were wrong, they instead pretend they said it would take 3 or 4 years.
100% agree with you. People take that "their ceiling could be this" and then everything is confirmation bias about validating what they want to believe - it's bad on this board... the smart people talk in terms of ceilings, floors and what the likely middle ground is and think in terms of risk. I'll chalk it up to the people on this board not being great talent evaluators given Houston has been in "win now" mode and hasn't tried to build value through the draft since 2002. This is a fan base out of practice. ...but totally agree that it's super annoying to hear the 'Sengun will be better than Jokic'/'Reed will be like Steph' comparisons. It really underestimates just how good those players are and how unique they are and how good the competition is in the league.
PG takes time to mature. He is adjusting to NBA speed. He definitely needs to improve on his shooting. A fair comparison would be how long did take PG of similar attributes to mature, Steve Nash, John Stockton. He has shown flash of his passing and decision making ability. I would give me a season or two to get used to the league. I am also ok playing Holiday over him for now to win games.
