We're doing exactly what we've been doing with Green about Reed now. This cycle will never end. There will always be haters, lovers, and a ruthless war in the age of social media opinions. Someone can play like ass and then play well. It's possible. Best game of his career tonight, looked so much more comfortable on both ends. He still absolutely dies on screens which really needs to be worked on.
If someone has a YouTube or other video of Reed's highlights, this is all I could find on short notice. Great job Reed, keep improving and working on consistency. https://bleacherreport.com/videos/654502-reed-sheppard-scores-16
Not only is it possible, but it is common for there to be no data-driven reason a player makes a material change to their production. And it's not that complicated. We have chemicals and electric currents central to our functions (aka emotions, feelings, thoughts) that can alter any pattern or action. Past data can't capture what was felt so you can't replicate it in projections if that makes sense. In fact what statistical projections can't capture is free will. The moment at which a depressed person understands that his body is simply saying "I won't be this character anymore, it's killing us". They change their life in contrast to 90% of the cases. There are are X number of cases that cannot be predicted in the population and in settings where the most advanced human tech/resources in the world are set up to give you a chance (the NBA), that X seems to be higher than usual. Players improve things all the time. Players make big career jumps in their mid to late 20's all the time. People who could never shoot add 3pt shots. People who practice shooting sometimes even don't improve at all. Everything is possible. Statistical projections are just talking about the X. Reed is our X.
With FVV out, we need him on the roster and he came through tonight. However, I still think he should just be getting as many minutes as possible in the G League.
Hell yeah Reed. Rip that bandaid off even if it's a little messy at first. Shoot that thang even semi-contested over your guy, eyes on the rim. Bring a little more of that 6th man energy you used to bring. Amen Green Sheppard Please let's see it flourish. You guys don't understand if Reed becomes a great shooter, a high asst/to guy and a plus defender, he is the PERFECT player to pair with Amen/Green/Sengun. Would be over for the league if we basically have a Klay Thompson at PG and one at PF. Basically a taller and more athletic Van Vleet with slightly better shooting. Perfect. Would be SO sick as he'll have grown up setting Amen/Green up so there won't be any ego issues there in terms of on/off ball. Things are getting spicy despite us struggling. Cam and Reed may be legit consistent backups for us post ASB.
Nah don't worry man if you look at our history, the front office always values the players more than the message board. I lived through these monkeys making you paranoid about Green being traded all the way up to him signing a $100m contract finally to shut them up now that Stone/Ime put their money where their mouth is. The whole time Udoka was saying "it's fine, just be patient, he will improve, I believe in him". If Udoka believes in him you're good. No one is talking about trading Reed except pundits who want to include a shiny draft asset in their dream proposal. Rather than say "A top 18 protected pick" they get to say "AND REED SHEPPARD". No one is seriously reporting he's available. Even for Durant, I doubt we lose any of Reed/Whitmore because they will imo prefer to get picks given Reed and Whitmore's rocky starts to their career. If we know Cam has had attitude issues, then the Suns will surely know. Reed is obviously struggling, we have faith but other teams will take it as a prospect who's too much of a question mark. They may ask for Jabari - someone who has proven they can start, but I think we can divert that. Let's see. Sheppard is too good a fit for us not to support him and develop him as much as possible. I predicted that he'd be a good bench player in the second half of the season. I was starting to lose hope on that prediction. This flash may be a good sign though and I guess it would have to be when we're multiple players down and exhausted that they finally go like "CAN YOU PLEASE SHOOT WE NEED YOU TO SHOOT JUST SHOOT THERE'S NO ONE LEFT TO PASS TO PLEASE JUST SHOOT OK SHOOT POORLY BUT JUST SHOOT A LOT ONE TIME" lol perfect
The Rockets went wild when Sheppard nailed a first-half 3-pointer at the top of the key and then got a deflection that led to his layup in transition. They celebrated when he stole a Nets inbound pass and scored to set a career high one minute into the second half. And they rushed to help him up after he went sliding into the seats while gambling for a steal in the fourth quarter. “It felt good being able to help the team, and I got to give a lot of credit to them,” Sheppard said. “They put confidence in me since I've been here. So you know, seeing them celebrate over there when I hit the shot or something, and just every timeout, or every time I go in, just them talking to me, it's really cool for me. It means a lot, and it gives me more confidence every time I go out.” Some Rockets fans have questioned why coach Ime Udoka hasn’t sent Sheppard back to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for more playing time in the G League, where he averaged 30.7 points in three games last month. That limited sample size was enough for the NBA league office to select Sheppard to represent the G League in the All-Star Rising Stars event, and enough for Udoka to decide that Sheppard belonged with the Rockets, even if it was mostly on the sidelines. “He's almost too good for the G League,” Udoka said before Tuesday’s game. “It wasn't for a lack of confidence or skill set that he was down there. I think as you go through and kind of navigate your first year in the NBA, it's invaluable for him to be around us and see the NBA game, be in any situation whether he can find some minutes or not, and kind of learn from the vets and watch and learn. And so it's a balance of, does he need a lot of game reps versus going through everything for the first time. And feel like it kind of proved what he could do down there, and needs to be with us for any situation that we need him.” Sheppard concurred. “I think being able to be up here, around the game and around the guys, and in the Stay Ready games, being able to compete against NBA level talent and watching guys like Fred, Aaron, everybody, I can try and learn as much as I can,” Sheppard said, “so when my number is called, I can go in and be ready.” Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet missed his second consecutive game on Tuesday due to an ankle injury. His absence opened more minutes for Sheppard, but how the rookie played stood out more than how long. Sheppard was confident and aggressive. With Amen Thompson and Jalen Green doing most of the ball handling for Houston, Sheppard knocked down catch-and-shoot jumpers and punished Brooklyn’s zone defense. On defense, the area in which he most needed to improve, he dove to the floor multiple times in pursuit of loose balls and roadblocked Nets driving lanes. “I'm 6-2 and don't have long arms, so I have to try and figure out other ways to impact the game on defense,” Sheppard said. “So just trying to be as disruptive as I can.” Sheppard was so impactful that he started the second half over Aaron Holiday and closed the game with the rest of the Rockets’ starters. But that didn’t stop Holiday from being among those celebrating Sheppard’s plays from the bench. “That's what you play for, that type of chemistry,” Holiday said. “You don't want to have a team who doesn't cheer you on when you make a shot. So you know, it's just supporting your teammate, your brother, and just hoping that we can continue that.” The Rockets trailed by six points with eight minutes left in the game. With just under four minutes remaining, center Alperen Şengün passed out of a double team to Sheppard. Sheppard’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to one point and brought the Rockets’ bench, as well as a red-clad section of the Barclays Center crowd, to its feet. “He's always working, always working on his game,” Holiday said. “He's a good dude, good kid, so he's going to be all right. Just has to wait for his opportunity. And he had one tonight.”
Reed was good last night. I hope this is the start of an upward trajectory for him. As for that late three, I don’t have much of an issue with it. There were about 60 seconds left in the game, and the Rockets were up by four when he took the shot. Even if they had held onto the ball and let the shot clock expire twice, the Nets still would have had enough time to get off two possessions (as we saw in 6s lol). It was a good shot because it was wide open, and given that the Rockets’ offense didn’t generate many open looks last night, it wasn't a bad decision.
I didn't get to watch the game yet but I did see the box score plays from Reed (shots, assists, stl, blk, reb). Its clear just from seeing the video of his counting stats that he was far more engaged than at any game before. I think that's been the biggest problem so far is he will spend 5+ minutes out there and hardly registering any impact to the game. It's cool to see Reed calling out that he is shorter with shorter arms, but acknowledge he has to find out how he specifically can be disruptive out there - that lesson is going to serve him well long term on this team. Big picture it seems like Fred being out is exposing some cracks in the team that frankly we need to address. On the positive side of things we have the players on the roster who can fix those things - but they gotta get playing time to work through those issues. Amen turned the ball over a ton and that's a gap for him where he still needs to work on his ball security as a primary ballhandler but this is him working through those in real time so I'll take a few Ls now to make him a more dominant player down the road. Same with Reed - he has to learn to play with confidence and take the shot and he has to learn how to be disruptive at his size - he appears that he was living that learning opportunity tonight and it will make him a better player in the long term.
I've said it before. If they want to develop him to be a future PG, they need to let him play PG when he's on the floor. I know it's hard for Ime to trust a rookie to manage the offense. But that's the risk you have to take especially when Fred is out. I don't think it's much more risky than asking Amen or Jalen to be the PG.
I think last night he got many more of those opportunities and there were some good results when it happened.
If he played 28 minutes a game without having to worry about making mistakes, 15 pts on 13 FGs is what he would average. Jabari was 13 points on 11 FGAs. Consistent with most top rookies that aren't holy phenoms from the start. Unfortunately he was drafted 2 years too late to have that kind of freedom.
