The Rockets offense moves at a faster pace when Reed is the primary ballhandler over Amen...the more Reed becomes a better on-ball defender the quicker he'll replace Tari in the starting lineup. If Tari miss any upcoming games, Reed might take his starting spot for good
Reed had a very good game and I hope it continues but I wouldn't go that far. The Rockets lost most of those games by nit being cohesive down the stretch and takes time with new players. However, I do think they would have had a better record at this point.
Man, I would, REED would have been developing at a faster rate, when you have a guy that is THAT good at shooting, passing and has BBall IQ, you lean the hell into him.....instead we leaned into morons....... Jalen Green - Low BBall IQ Jabari Smith - med - BBall IQ Tari Eason - Low BBall IQ Sengun - High offensive Bball IQ - low defensive Amen Thompson - High BBall IQ Reed - High BBall IQ OKC does a great job of leaning into High IQ players and it brings other slower players up....with development time. DD
Charlotte picked 4th, they weren't lucky. IMO, anyone who was drafted top 5 has no reason to complain about how they were evaluated. You expect to find a potential franchise player in that range. Knueppel was mocked that high pretty much everywhere which is very impressive considering he shared the court with the top overall prospect. This is not like the Jokic or Marc Gasol situation, who were selected in the 2nd round because they were slow and fat. Hell, the #1 pick looks a lot like him.
My negative comments about him weren't intended to insinuate that he cannot return to form. Merely that it has not occurred when i saw him in person last night. I doubt this is some sort of bellwether signing etc. It can take some time to come back. i.e. steven adams to a long time and he was terrible for a long time after his return. He turned out quite effective before yet another season ending injury.
yeah but availability is underrated. We had Adams for 2.5 seasons and he’s only been truly healthy for 1. We were already keeping him out of back to backs and limiting minutes. That’s a lot less return on investment than one would hope. Even if DFS comes back at full strength next yr, it’s basically like paying him $28 mil for one season. That’s assuming he returns to form. I really think people are undervaluing availability. Old players coming off injury are a bad bets.
I don't agree that Sheppard can't be a 25+ ppg unless he becomes Steph Curry. Curry, in his prime averaged 32 ppg. That's much different than 25. Let's put it this way. Sheppard, currently, takes around 7 3s a game. Post-KD, IF Sheppard is our leading scorer, I'd expect that number to go up to around 10 (Curry takes around 12). If Sheppard maintains his .4 average from 3, that's basically half of 25 points just on 3s. Add in 2 pt shots and FTs, you hit 25 really fast. With Sheppard, I don't think Sengun and Amen playing together is a problem at all. I've said it before: Sengun should act as a hub around the elbow with Amen in the dunker's spot with movement all around those two. When we do that, it's consistently difficult for defenses to keep up.
..and most 21 year olds don't score 25+ ppg in their peak. I don't think Reed is as bad at decision-making as Jalen Green to give himself the green light Jalen Green took. 25 ppg is not easy. If Reed gets to the point that he's scoring 22-24 ppg, I expect his apg to skyrocket faster than his ppg.
Anyone else find it strange that Reed and KD always seem to play better with either Clint or Adams than they do with Sengun? Maybe it's because Clint and Adams are in the paint mostly and Sengun mostly starts near the 3 point line for some dumb reason? Just a thought... Reed/KD/Sengun (+0.2 net rating/365 mins) Reed/KD/Clint (+17.6 net rating/251 mins) Reed/KD/Adams (+13.1 net rating/235 mins) Stats from NBA.com
I'm a little skeptical that Reed can get up 10 three pointers while still making them >40% of the time. I think he's more likely to shoot around 9 attempts per game as a starter, assuming he plays something like 33 to 35 minutes per game. But even if we grant the 10 at 40%, or if he does shoot 9 at a higher percentage and it works out about the same--that's just 12 points, and still leaves 13 to make up. Reed currently takes around 58% of his shots as three pointers. So let's say he takes 18 shots per game and around 10 of those are threes, just to simplify things a bit. That leaves just 8 two pointers to make up 13 more points. I just don't see it, personally. Now, it's possible that Reed could end up being our leading scorer. But if so, I think it will be pretty narrow, more like 21-22 points per game. Maybe he turns out one or two really hot shooting seasons where he does narrowly break that 25 point barrier, like Jamal Murray is doing right now. In any case, the claim I'm staking is that I do not believe Reed will ever be a true #1 option type of scorer. I've never seen that kind of upside from him, he's too physically limited and not elite enough as a ballhandler. But I could see a world where he's a #2, certainly, and makes some all-star games. Nothing wrong with that at all!
All the advanced stats and eyeball tests say that Sengun is the weak link but the village idiots want Amen benched and traded.
That's true. But, the offensive ratings also go up when they are paired with Clint (116.7) and Adams (116.8) instead of Sengun (112.9)
With Sengun, you have three people who all need the ball in their hands to function optimally. Sub in Clint and Adams, they are just there to support KD and Reed, resulting in better flow.
Piggybacking on your comment... I can't wait for the day that Reed gets to play off a big that's a true scoring roll / lob threat. Clint has given him a few opportunities here and there, but he's not getting any springier or coordinated at his age. I know it's an extreme example, but imagine a defense trying to guard him in a pick 'n' roll with A'mare. Good luck.
It's a matter of volume. Jalen Green scored 22 ppg in his second season shooting 33% from 3. Jalen took 18 shots per game that year, about the same as Durant this year who is averaging 26 points. I'm not sure if Reed will ever take that many shots. If he develops into a 3-level scorer and does not have to defer to anyone, it is not too farfetched that he can average 25 points.
They don't even guard him lol. Is there another way to insult him even more? The guy who gets double/tripled team for 3 years is the weak link. Sure.
