Reed Sheppard assigned to the GLeague

You mean to say omniscient, not omnipresent. They mean very different things.

My take was based on the idea that Ime would give Sheppard solid backup playing time... he didn't. I overestimated his competence when it comes to rotations and player management.

Perhaps that'll change now. Perhaps not.

When you have to make predictions based on someone who does not make rational merit based decisions, it can be tricky.

That said, it's clear the talent is there and Reed Sheppard brings EXACTLY what this team needs most.

I get that you really want Amen Thompson to be a PG, but don't let that fantasy blind you to reality and force you to make really stupid statements. When you talk about Reed Sheppard's "size and athleticism", you force people to point out the obvious....that the greatest PG of the most recent generation was CP3, a guy who was smaller and less athletic.

 

My take on Reed before the season was that he would not be able to get meaningful minutes in his rookie year. Your take was that he would be our backup PG and threatening to replace FVV. Who had the stupid take? You keep insulting me for being correct. You can make all the excuses about your bad predictions that you want. I also know that you are starting to back off on Jalen to say you were some kind of reasonable person all along if he performs well. We all get you Bobby the disingenuous.

 

Reed not getting minutes is no fault of his, it's a shortcoming of Ime Udoka....one that will hopefully be rectified shortly.

However, even if you look at Amen, he was only averaging 15 minutes per game last season by this point....not playing young guys in favor of lesser players is just something Ime does. The reason for hope is from Jan 13th to the end of the season, Amen averaged a bit over 25 minutes per game. Perhaps he'll follow that path with Reed as well.

If you end up correct for the wrong reason, it's not something you should celebrate.

I've always been a reasonable person, when Jalen played like ****, I said he played like ****, he's played better the last few games, so I say he's playing better. Honestly that shouldn't be confusing to you.

 

We’re deeper now th a last season someone bet on it. Holiday is still the better option

 

You were just as positive about Jalen being bad then and in the future as you are about Reed be good then and in the future. You're not fooling or confusing anyone.

 

No, he's really not.

The cold shooting to start the season is why some have that opinion, but if given the time and leeway to work through that cold shooting, Reed would already be better on both sides of the ball than Holiday.

Holiday is a 28 year old journeyman who is likely to be out of the league entirely in a few years, and to his credit, he started off the season shooting pretty well...but what we've seen thus far is his final form. There's no extra gear for him to shift into.

Sheppard is a 20 year old rookie who started off the season cold due to trying to adjust to the speed of the NBA for the first time and being a bit timid due to knowing he'll get benched if he ever makes a mistake. That got in his head a bit and made things worse. That said, his upside is fairly ridiculous. If he was given the time and leeway to work through the rough shooting to start the season, he'd look a lot different....but that's not how Udoka does things, so he had to go down to RGV to work those things out.

As to the PG position, we're not deeper than we were last season. There's essentially 3 PG's on the roster, FVV, Sheppard, and Holiday. The choice to make Sheppard the backup at PG is an obvious one, and one just about every coach in the NBA would have made....but not ours. Again, he did the same to Amen last season.

So it's really only a question of when Ime changes his mind more so than anything else.

 

Ime already changed his mind and put Jalen and Amen on the ball and sent Reed to RGV.

 

Jalen has been bad....so you're saying I was right. LOL.

Now there's some chance that Jalen turns things around in the second half of his 4th season in the league, which would be awesome if it happens....but that doesn't mean I was wrong about him.

From the start I said he was a streaky rather than good shooter and that he derives 100% of his game from athleticism. That has been the case thus far. When we try to point to high points in his career, it's the few hot shooting streaks he went on. Last year he had an 8 game hot shooting streak, and he's currently on a 4 game hot shooting streak.

Can that change? Sure, and I said so from the start, what I said is that it's highly risky.

I said the same about Scoot Henderson.

It's inherently risky betting on guys that are all athleticism and no skill. Can players develop skill? Of course, but it's just not something I feel comfortable betting on happening. I've said that this 4 game streak by Jalen feels different, so maybe he's finally figured it all out, let's hope that is the case. It doesn't change anything I've ever said about him though.

 

Jalen is still at the 2 and Amen is at the 4. Your wishful thinking clearly blinds your judgement.

 

Nobody on this team other than Sengun is being pigeon holed into a certain position. Amen is playing every position on both sides of the ball. Reed isn't playing any position except end of the bench. Get used to it. It's not changing this year. You've always predicted Jalen was going to suck in the future, own it. Don't try to act like you are pragmatic in your approach to player evaluation. When it comes to Reed you are blaming your miscalculation on the coach, not the fact that Sheppard has played putridly when given minutes. The only surprise for a logical basketball fan is that Reed hasn't been able to shoot better than he has. His inability to earn minutes in his rookie year was highly predictable and accurate.

 

Amen hasn't ever played the PG...you know, because he's not the PG. He's played every other position for the Rockets this season, but not even 1 single minute at the 1.

I'm sorry that your fantasy is on life support, but you have to stop letting that cloud your judgement. Amen is a forward, and a damn good one....why isn't that enough for you? For whatever reason you just have to keep insisting that eventually that square peg is going to go into the round hole and it's just weird.

I guess that's why we just fundamentally disagree, you get hung up on hopes and dreams for individual players, I don't. I just look for what is best for the team. Hopefully you work past that one day.

 

HaHaHaHa. So Amen has never even for one possession been the primary initiator in the half court this season? You have consistently concentrated on Jalen and Reed almost exclusively on this board. What a team player you are! I will give you this, you are entertaining.

 

How do you breathe with your head so far up your own ass?

 

That I agree with. I’m not sure why there’s so much bashing on an extremely successful coach who turned around the Celtics and now the Rockets? If your one gripe on a head coach who brought his team to the 2nd seed in the west is that he’s not playing a rookie who has looked terrible in his minutes in the NBA, then I’m not sure what to tell you.

Reed is talented, and I’m rooting for him. However this team is deep and successful. This isn’t time to pray and experiment with a rookie.

 

He's never for even one possession played the PG. Sorry the basic facts hurt your dreams.

This is about the level of argumentation I've come to expect from CF. Good job kid!

 

You do understand that people can be good at one thing and bad at another.....and that you don't have to ignore areas of weakness simply because there are areas of strength, right?

 

Too early, imo but we'll see.

 

This Sunday callback was always the plan since RGV doesn't play for the next few days.

I suppose it's theoretically possible that Udoka might try Sheppard off the bench against the Grizzlies, but the matchups against veterans like Morant and Bane are terrible. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Sheppard were a DNP-cd.

However, if FVV isn't making shots, we need perimeter shooting. Sheppard has that to offer.

 

The last thing I want them to do is call him up and not play him.

 

Shep's issue is defensively. If he was shooting 50% from 3 or whatever, Ime would be playing him 15 minutes per game. But at the percentages he's at right now, he gives up 2 pts for every 0 pts he provides. I love Shep and think he's FVVs heir apparent but if he can't score he can't play. Not right now.