I’m here to eat crow. I thought he was too undersized and the NBA level was too fast and physical for him. Plus his shooting splits were bad last year. I went to a couple games where he dropped 20+ last season but I still didn’t believe
It is dangerous to make calls on 20 year olds......it takes them time, clearly he was drafted 3 for a reason, glad to see Stone was right. DD
I was never fully out on Reed but I also never bought in that he would be able to meet his college level of shooting. He is shooting at a level I don't think I have ever seen a Rocket shoot at before from 3 and that includes greats like EJ. Well, to be fair, Tari is shooting lights out from 3 as well.
And Okogie and Sengun all at 45% or more. So 4 guys hitting over 45% and Durant at 42% and Jabari at 37%. This after one of the worst 3p% in the league last year. It is truly amazing and shows what space does for an offense.
I was trying to think of the same thing, when was the last time the Rockets had a top 10 3-point shooter by percentage. It was supposed to be Brent Price and Glen Rice. Maybe Jon Barry. Walt Williams had a good year, maybe K-mart. Still, I don't think anybody has been top 5 for last 30 years.
We are only getting 1.6 additional wide open 3s ( closest defender 6+ feet away) per game this year over last year. For open 3s ( closest defender 4 to 6 feet away) we are actually getting 5.2 fewer attempts this year. So, overall we are getting fewer open 3s this year than we did last. Getting open looks wasn't really an issue the last few years. We are just hitting shots this year. Having better shooting can create better spacing but that would help on drives and inside play. Our bigest issue is our 3pt volume. We are dead last in the league in 3pt attempts. 12.9 fewer attemprs per game than the league leader. Increasing the 3pt volume would help, even if the percentage goes down some.
These stats are heavily influenced by the two bigs lineup. As we step further away from that we will get more wide open 3’s, even more if Amen starts shooting more in the lane causing the defense to collapse more often. Durant also is not a volume 3 pt shooter like Jalen. He does his damage on middies.
Doesn't really matter why. If our opponents take a bunch more 3s than us, we likely lose the math. We need more attempts. Combine that with the fact that we give up the 2nd most wide open 3s in the league and that's not a good trend.
