LOL, right. Sitting and watching Fred throw brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick was the smart strategy.
I think a lot of his fear was he would be yanked if he made a mistake which is exactly what happened. That caused him to play not to make a mistake rather than just going out and playing. In his starts it was already set he would not be coming out so he played very well. If they use him in this series due to Fred not being able to throw it in the ocean, and I 100% believe they should, they should let Reed know he will be allowed to play through any mistakes up to a point as long as he is being effective.
If the goal is to win games in this series, Holiday should take some of FVV's minutes. He's the best 3pt shooter on the team and he's a veteran. If the goal is to take a look at all the young guys how they fair in playoffs situations and to determine their future with the team, then they should play all of them at least some meaningful minutes. My guess is, at this point, we try to win games. That's fine. I think we should too. But if we lose Game 2, I'd say just screw it and shift to the second goal. What do we have to lose?
Totally agree. My fear with Sheppard is that any edge he'd give you on offense over FVV would be negated by watching the Warriors slice him up on defense. There's much more to playing effective D than quick hands. Then again, the Warriors probably didn't game plan at all for Sheppard. I doubt they bothered to look at any film on him, seeing as how it's pretty much a guarantee that Ime won't play him. Still, he'd have to be hitting 3s at a high clip with limited TOs in order to offset his defensive liabilities.
Right. Again, if the goal is to win games, I don't advocate playing Reed, not a lot anyway. He is bound to make rookie mistakes and Fred is clearly better at defense. But if we going on to lose the second game, we are in a deep hole. There's really no reason to stick with the original game plan. Time to take a fresh look at the younglings.
You'd rather watch Ree Sheppar run around scared and get taken advantage of? Because that's what would happen. I told yall from day one that it was not a good idea to draft Ree because he would not get PT and would end up in the way. Now all the other rookies have gotten plenty of PT and some are even getting PT in the playoffs.
Im a big Reed supporter, but last night i would have gone to Holiday. Hes shot very well all year and your starting back court couldnt hit anything. Hes a vet and Ime trusts him to be ready and not shrink.
I get it. You are speaking to the need to have a meritocracy essentially right? If a player is stinking it up... next man up (assuming next man up has proved he deserves minutes of course). I don't disagree with you, but in the NBA I just don't believe it works that way. Veterans with egos have to be managed. Player contracts weight how much playing time you get, etc. etc. Sure there are times where a coach can pull his main guys every once in awhile for stretches when they are pooping the bed, but the coach usually doesn't make the decision to bench a player like FVV with the contract he's on, with the understanding he has about his role when he was signed, when he's performing poorly in games regularly for a rookie unless that decision is made with the GM, and front office knowing that's going to happen so they can inevitably be prepared for that type of player to sic his agent on the front office, cause issues in the locker room, and potentially ask for a trade that becomes a distraction for the team. If I had to guess, I do think with Fred, there's a human dynamic and un-official position of leadership reason why his minutes just simply aren't going to be transferred or borrowed to Reed Sheppard under most any circumstances short of Reed shooting like 60%, and being a DPOTY shoe in. I personally agree with you that Reed should have been in the rotation, and Fred's role should have been reduced this season, but I'm also not the one managing the relationships, personalities, and agreements made from the GM, player, agent, etc. prior. Going into this offseason, assuming we get bounced in the first round, and FVV doesn't perform at an all-star level the rest of the playoffs, I would assume that Ime, Stone, Fred, and his agent will have some sort of meeting where they talk about his pathway, his contract, and his role on the team moving forward in order to pave a pathway forward for Reed to have a real role moving forward, and for Fred to take a step back... along with his pay.... AND that will likely lead to Fred and his agent believing the best path forward is to move him to another team..... ... at least that's my prediction, and take on the situation as an outsider. Thoughts?
if there are players who priorize their ego over winning you need to dump them unless they are a star... how many stars do the Rockets have? Maybe 1?
I also assume that when the Rockets learned they got the #3 pick, and that pick would likely be Reed Sheppard, that they essentially had two pathways forward - -Call a meeting with Fred, let him know they were thinking about taking Reed at #3, that they would plan on playing him heavy minutes because they believe he is a star worthy of the #3 pick, and has for Fred to take him under his wing, and maybe play off the ball some, etc. (this path has the risk of Fred saying no-can-do, and asking for a trade FYI). -Take Reed at 3 knowing that there was a log jam at guard. Not really address the log jam because you knew FVV was likely only going to be a Rocket another year, or another year, and then moved to a reduced role on a reduced contract. Maybe there are injuries that gives him PT, but more than likely it will be a #3 pick that is essentially a red-shirt freshman. I think the Rockets obviously chose the second pathway, and the gameplan was always to red-shirt Reed, and play out Fred's final year in their assessment as the lead dog and point guard. I don't believe there was ever a likely third option that somehow allowed for both Fred, Jalen, and Reed Sheppard to have big roles this season. Reed was probably from the get go assumed to be a red shirt freshman.
Did he run around scared against the Lakers and Clippers this month when he got big minutes? Nope, he was 10/18 from behind the arc, had 4 steals, 9 assists and a block in those two games.
Reed isn't ready to play and yes, that is due to him not playing for most of the year, but it's too late to throw him in there now. Hopefully next year he will have a bigger role on the team.
Even in that scenario I think they should have put him for at least the third quarter or more when Fred was struggling so bad at making shots. It's not like that was a rarity. He had 5 horrible games like that out his 12 games in March. Keeping him in all those games over 34 minutes didn't pull him out of the funk in any of those games. I guess I just find it hard to justify stroking egos and pacifying veterans who are laying bricks left and right unless the game is meaningless.
Sorry but thats just not accurate. Reed started off the year as a backup guard and a part of the rotation. I even talked about this early in the year but Ime was going so far as to try to get Reed and Fred on the floor together so that he'd have minutes for him. What happened was Ime didnt have enough patience for a rookie who wasnt immediately lighting it up in a reserve role where he was expected to be a knock down spot up shooter.
LOL, yet ready for playoffs Fred chucked brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick after brick.
