I agree with most of what you said. It’s not just 3pt shooting with Jalen. He is not just below average everywhere besides within 3 ft he is horrible. He has to shoot better all over the floor to be the guy we want him to be. Yes, becoming a better 3 pt shooter is what needs to happen sooner, but that mid-range is awful and has to improve as well. In the poll, I put somewhat optimistic because I think Ime has convinced him to focus. We will see.
I think we’ve spoken about our different perspectives on midrange a couple of times but in case I’m misremembering… I don’t care about mid range to be honest. I start caring about that when an excellent scorer is in their prime and there’s nothing else to improve but midrange. On Jalen, eliminating one bad midrange attempt as I’ve described brings his % up to acceptable. Basically you’re trying to get rid of one miss, but obviously it doesn’t happen that cleanly. From the FT line, he hits near 50%. He should take more of those and fewer of those insanely difficult ones outside the paint (on the sides usually). If we told him to just cut out midrange while we refine the rest of his game, I’d be happy with that too. Finishing within 3 feet is the most importantly play in all basketball. He’s good enough at that for me to feel confident added muscle and experience will make it elite. His defense, rebounding and passing never stopped improving under Udoka so nothing to worry about there. All about proportion with Jalen. Too much 3’s and midrange. Not enough finishing and kicking out. He ran into a wall last season because you can’t amp up your finishing when the paint is clogged. Luckily Udoka figured this out and has expressed we will play differently moving forward. So I’m looking forward to see the volume of jumpers go down while layups, free throws and assists tick upward. If we have spacing, his finishing becomes devastating to the opponent. Which causes them to back off him on the perimeter. Which makes his 3’s even easier and more efficient. Then his game is working the way it’s supposed to. The initial domino is the drive, and when that’s not available everything gets clogged up. That’s what happened with Silas and Udoka post ASB. As soon as they give him the reins and put him on the floor with complementary players, he seems to take off.
As much as I’m a fan of Greens scoring potential, I do think Sheppard has just as high a ceiling to put up points+assists. Eventually his coach won’t be able to resist giving him 10+ attempts from 3PT range. What if his 3pter is as potent as Ray Allen‘s and his floor general game similar to like a Chauncey Billups? Hell he could become one of the greatest shooters of all time. We really don’t know so I’m neither expecting or denying a high ceiling with him. Tricky to predict with him.
I agree - and that is a big part of why Vecenie said what he said. I guess my point was more that Green was going to get to shoot the basketball about as much as he wants if he plays like he did in March. While I don't agree with some posters that the size of Reed is going to destroy his career - it is going to impact it. We can point to Chris Paul - a guy that is going to finish top 5-10 all time in WS, and his size impacted his game some and why he doesn't usually drop 30 points. Reed is stronger than Paul at the same age, and I actually think more physical - but he isn't likely going to be Archibald in his prime or AI as a pure scorer.
Yep. Going round and round before the season starts is silly. He stays if he plays like he did in March all year. Otherwise, he's probably gone, or replaced as a starter, especially if he plays inconsistently most of the year.
Is Cam considered a pure scorer? Seems to me that he and Reed had amazing chemistry in the SL. As did Amen and Cam.
Cam is a scorer and finished and has a chance to be pretty efficient doing it. I don't think he is a franchise player because he isn't great at the other parts of the game - but he can be really nasty. I think his absolute upside as far as impact is Amare Stoudamire. Not in shot selection, but as far as the ability to impact a game without being well rounded.
I don't know if people remember, but in November-December of last year, Green was benched for Tari Eason in the 4th quarter for many games, especially in games we were winning. I think he would have lost his starting spot to Tari at some point if it weren't for Tari's injury.
I think Reed is going to be a better scorer than FVV at all 3 levels. I think if Sheppard can get to FVV’s defensive level he will be the better player, although the jury is still out whether he will be better at assists.
I think before his injuries FVV was a good finisher for his size. He's kinda built like a bowling ball and he was able to use his body to create space for finishes inside. I haven't seen Reed do that in Summer league, he seems to be more content with beating people and avoiding contact.
Just feels like then that Jalen Green is sort of the archetype that the Rockets need except with better efficiency and decision making. So essentially....Devin Booker. Cam's a weird one in that if he's always going to be this poor decision making bull in a chinashop sort of player then there's no sense in keeping him and Jalen on the roster and packaging them and the Suns picks for "that guy" (Booker or someone of that caliber). I'm a little more bullish on Cam from his dedication. Seems like he does want to improve the parts of his game he struggles with. Whether he does it or not we'll see but I'm holding out hope that he can be the volume scorer we need.
Cam and Jalen are different types of scorer, at least at this point of Cam's career. Cam doesn't show a lot of creating. He seems to do either C&S or getting to the basket and dunk. I was shocked to see that 94% of his 3pt shots and 58% of 2pt shots were assisted. So he seldom create for himself or for others. Jalen creates a lot of his own shots. That's what his supporters keep trying to emphasize. The problem with Jalen is that he doesn't hit the shots he created for himself at a high percentage. The ability to create is good only if one of two things happens: 1. make the self-created shots at high efficiency, or 2. draw the defense and dish to a teammate for high efficiency shots. Jalen doesn't do those two things very well. I would say that if he can do the playmaking significantly better, his inefficient shooting may not matter as much as it is now. Reed seems to be able to see the floor well. If he improves his handles, he will be able to create more for himself and for his teammates. He will be a better C&S scorer than Cam. And hopefully he will also be a good creator.
Jalen and Cam aren't the same archetype. The best version of Cam would be a Jaylen Brown/Melo hybrid type wing. For Jaylen the best case scenario would be if Ja Morant grew a few inches. Jalen as a rookie had the exact same adjusted scoring efficiency as Cam this season but at nearly twice the rate of unassisted fgs made and he didn't average more turnovers than assists like Cam. Cam did not possess anywhere near the same on ball creativity as rookie Green. Rookie Green was already doing stuff like splitting doubles and traps with ball handling.
We might be a little early in determining Sheppard's and Whitmore's "archetype". WRT Whitmore, he was a rookie last year and is now only two years removed from HS, where one should expect many "teaching moments" from the Rockets staff. One would hope between now and say the end of his third year that Whitmore will take many development steps. In particular, Whitmore should be more integrated in the O, where he learns to pass to his teammates, since that is what the play calls for. WRT Sheppard, I don't have a clue what trajectory his career will take. I think Sheppard should see rotational minutes in his rookie year, once he learns the playbook. Sheppard should get open shots, within the Rockets O, which he will get opportunities to show his shooting prowess. We wil see.
