Why is Reed Sheppard still not starting?

The dude is a steals and blocking machine for a guard. He isn't going to body up on dudes, he's gotta be scrapping, and play the lanes, and he is already good at that - he can be great.

 

Eh, dunno why you single out Jabari, at least teams defend and close out on him, he's shooting above "league average" from 3 and quite a bit over the power forward average from 3. Teams aren't leaving him to double elsewhere. The doubles come from Amen's defender.

He gets a lot of unnecessary (I'll use the in-vogue word here) "hate" (I hate that word choice) because he didn't develop into a superstar .... but he's a solid player that would fit on just about any roster in the league, he can defend every position accept center reasonably well and is a consistent rebounder.
He's still young and there's room for growth - really he just needs to learn to attack close outs and get to the rim bit more .

As for Reed's gravity - it's legit. You put him on the court with KD and Jabari it does create better spacing - with one exception - Amen.

Amen's defender doesn't really defend him directly, he's just defending the space between Amen and the rim while hedging towards the paint (or hedging towards the wing shooter) - that's really all he has to defend is Amen at the rim. Amen takes any other shot and teams consider that a winning possession. His total shooting percentage on all other shots (that's beyond 3 feet) is 36% teams will take that all day and twice on Sunday.

If Sengun is setting up in the paint, the result is a crowded paint and easy double team. That's a huge part of why Apli is the 3rd most double teamed player in the entire league.

The problem with the offense isn't KD, Jabari or even the lack of Reed, it's Amen's zero gravity off ball.

 

I would much rather he consistently stay in front of his man every possession than gamble to get a couple stocks a game.

 

Ridiculous….he used to score same amount of points as minutes played! Ackerman used to joke about how he was a point a minute. You are way wrong!!!

 

Easy answer…. Alperen Sengun.

 

Ime is frustrated with how bad Sengun has been at defending the paint this season that he feels he cannot afford to have two bad defenders on at the same time or he needs to have 4 good defensive players on to start the game to set the tone.

If you want to see Reed start you probably should be rooting for that Giannis trade.

 

Personally am not expecting superstardom or validating draft position from Jabari.

I just believe we need better than an average shooter at that spot. Good for Jabari that he's improved his shooting a bit.

I do not agree at all that he's not left open. 80% of his shots are open or wide open. That's extremely far from Reed who gets run off the line. He's not better than KD. Tari has fairly and squarely out-shot him this season and is also an equal or better defender.

I just want our 3 best shooters on the season to be on the floor around Sengun and Amen. A 6'11 average shooter who wants to develop his drive/middy game is exactly what we need from a 6th man.

I don't understand why this is contentious. No matter which one of these guys is on the bench, we'll have a good young player on the bench who can start on many teams. We're a very good team. These are choices we have to make.

 

Reed is a philosophy difference between the coaching staff and the fans. He is a square peg and Ime is a round hole. Out scoring is not good defense. Defense will win most of the time but every team that out scored their opponent wins. Coaches choose defense because it consistently wins and is controls the flow of the game. Other coaches have sets and sets that play off of sets (system). Successful coaches look at the team then determine what they can do to get THIS group of people to work together to make a TEAM.

Reeds pace KILLS a grinding defense. The defense and offense have to work together. The time of possession matters. The slower the offense the less time on defense. The better the defense the more time on offense.

Winning teams goal is quick stops on defense, Rebound Rebound Rebounds and use the shot clock on offense. Rebound rebounds and rebounds. Shot as many times as possible.

 

Defense does not need you to have uber talent or uber skillz.....it only needs you to have a smart mind, good positioning, and willingness to communicate with others and be hard working.

• That is the reason they call defensive players without much offensive talent - Blue Collar guys.
• Ime Udoka is a blue collar Coach.
• Reed is a weapon and should be weaponized accordingly.

 

Tell that to the pacers the last two years. They’re all offense. You need a balance between the two but defense does not win out all the time. That’s evident with this year with the rockets and previous rockets teams

 

I agree

I agree but I am not the coach

 

Alperen Sengun, Reed Sheppard and Picks, Pick Swaps for a 30 year old Giannis.

I say No way and would rather continue to add better young talent. Replace Ime Udoka with a better Coach with IQ, drawing up offense and defense plays will really boost the Team offense.

 

Simple
We have no bench if he starts

 

Indiana was 6th in team defense last year and their perimeter defense was outstanding, especially in the playoffs. Stats are pretty overwhelming when it comes to championships. You need a top 10 offense and defense and at least one superstar. I don’t know how to find it, but I’m curious how our offense ranks through the first 3 quarters and where it ranks in the 4th quarter. My contention is that Ime’s main issue is rotations and a general laziness when it comes to offense. This personnel may lend itself to isolation sets, but it is obvious to me that Udoka never has any kind of plan B. He is consistently outcoached, because of his inability to adjust and his lack of attention in coming up with mulitple offensive sets that could be deployed as the situation is dictated at game time. We are past the participation trophy phase of our re-build and need to progress to the contention phase. Can Ime lead that graduation?

 

The Rockets' offense is in the 8oth percentile with Reed (garbage time players excluded). It is in the 72nd percentile with Reed and with Amen. It is in the 89th percentile with Reed, Amen, and without a second non-shooter. Granted, this is a small sample, but eyeball test says the offense works fine with Reed and 1 non-shooter regardless of the non-shooter, but the defense has been absolutely horrible.

To me, this looks like the offense is better with Reed, but the problem is 2 non-shooters and not Amen specifically. Please note that the Reed + 3 other shooter lineups have really struggled on defense. Specifically, when one of Amen or Okogie is off the court, the Rockets have issues guarding guards when Reed is on the court.

I like Tari more than most, but the defense just craters when Reed and he are on the court together. I suspect it is because both players gamble, doubling the risk, but not doubling the reward. Also, Tari is playing a lot of primary POA defender on the best guard which is not his best matchup when playing with Reed.

 

Never understood this point of view. If that was the case, if they're so worried about Reed holding up the bench, then when a starter goes down why not throw in somebody like dfs or okogie and keep Reed on the bench... So he can keep that bench unit propped up that they are so worried about?

Also, most competent coaches would stagger minutes...like every other nba team does. Theres no rule saying you gotta have all bench players in the game together.

And lastly, If Reed starts more than likely Tari would go to the bench....which would bolster the bench unit. Tari is a classic bench player anyways. High energy streaky numbskull that can sometimes flip a game.

 

https://databallr.com/wowy/HOU/2026/2026/regular/high/5man

We're so much better with Okogie/Tari though. Okogie is our best perimeter defender, you need *that guy* starting. Bring in Reed off the bench to play against the other team's reserves is lower risk

 

I don't care too much either way at this point.

But I do have a slight preference for him continuing to come off the bench. There's just a different mentality as a 6th man. There's more freedom to play aggressively as opposed to deferring, you've already got a feel for how the game is being played that night, you might have noted weaknesses you can exploit, etc.

There's undeniable value in Reed creating space for the starters, but he's clearly at his best with the ball in his hands, so whatever can maximize that is what I want.

 

I'd say Amen, JSJ, Durant, and Sengun have been better with Tari and Okogie than Reed for the season. Those lineups have had some great moments but have also suffered devastating collapses. The Reed lineups in general sucked in January and early February because Reed's shooting was off.

Short term, Amen, JSJ, Durant, and Sengun will likely be better with Tari and Okogie than Reed overall as those lineups have chemistry, but those lineups will have sporadic issues when defenses sag off the non-shooters. I expect teams will sag off non-shooters in the playoffs. Long term, I expect that Reed lineups will perform better as chemistry develops between the starters and Reed. The Reed-Sengun PnR should be a great play, but it has not been so far.

 

The problem is just as much Sengun's as it is Amen's. You could replace Alpi for Amen in every statement above. The issue everyone continues to point to is these players can't coexist - very few teams can be a long term contender with two non shooters sharing the floor in heavy minutes against a contending team's defense - it's just amplified when one of those non shooters gets the bulk of our shots on the roster.

Having an all star playmaker is definitely a goal but Domatas Sabonis was also an All Star playmaker at some point and people freak out when you insinuate Alpi and him have similar ceilings (albeit they are different players). My point is - Alpi likely has more value around the league as a hub but I think him being a one level scorer puts him in a lower tier where he can't be a #1 option like Durant and I would argue he might not be a fitting #2 either if he just wants to score and is less interested in passing. Unless he is able to sustain defensive excellence(hasnt happened yet) or open up as a scorer across many levels(score more than just in the paint), he is too limited to "build around".

In short you can't give a guy most of your salary cap money if you have to surround him with both defensive specialists and shooters to cover for his limitations because those positions don't come cheaply. Take Giannis - it only works if he has shooters around him and the team continues to not be able to afford secondary stars around him because surrounding him with shooters is also expensive. Now imagine if along with being a poor shooter, Giannis wasn't a great defender either - it looks even worse. Its like - Sabonis is a good player, Julius Randle is a good player, KAT is a good player - but all those guys are limited and thats why each has had a hard time being "the man" on their respective teams because it requires very specific players to surround them to make it work. That's why I think Sengun has more value to us as a trade chip than as a player to "build around".

Amen also can't shoot - but he is a great passer, great rebounder, elite defender, strong finisher in the paint - he is much closer to Giannis as a complete player than Sengun is.