Reed Sheppard is the Rockets’ Franchise Player™

Ime might or might not need to go at some point but he aint staying or going because of Reed Sheppard's playing time folks.

I do think Reed needs to play a bit more, and maybe even start. Been saying that since the pre-season, but it's not the end all be all people think it is. The turnovers and inability to get a feasible offense started is on him though. FVV being out doesn't mean much of anything because teams would still be pressuring our ball handler regardless and making KD and Sengun create everything super late in the shot clock.

THAT is what will get Ime fired, or at least get him someone like D'Antoni sitting on the bench next to him looking over his shoulder. There's no excuse for how bad his offensive system (or lackthereof) is.

 

Udoka definitively wanted the players that the Rockets got - and he deserves some blame for that. My point is firing Udoka will solve some issues, but a lot of the problems will remain because of how this team is put together.

 

I would say Steph Curry is actually a very similar "shooting guard" to Kevin Durant even though he guards the PG position. He also has issues with turnovers as well.

However the Warriors aren't a team where every NBA analyst is saying "well if they just had a point guard....".... No... In the NBA with good coaching you really don't need that traditional point guard. There are so very few teams that have a ball dominant lead/point guard like James Harden. Yet nobody says this about all of those non-Harden teams.

Knicks.... Brunson IMO is a shooting guard.

Nuggets.... still win without Murray and Murray... kind of a shooting guard as well.

TWolves.... DiVencenzo is not a true PG... he's a floor spacing SG imo.

Etc. etc. You catch my drift.

Yes I think they should play Reed and maybe start him.... but the reason why we are all worked up about Reed isn't because of Reed.... or FVV... it's Ime's terrible offense... and what to me looks like a lack of .... dare I say.... PRACTICE.

 

That is why it is called an average, it will go up and down over time....and it will settle where it should be....

DD

 

Of course starting Sheppard means our defense gets worse, but we're not on the hunt for just defense or just offense.

The question is, which one has a better net output:

1) Improved offense and regressed defense with Sheppard.
2) Improved defense and regressed offense without him.

I'd wager a good amount of money that the domino effect his offense brings would outweigh the defensive regression. His offense is not just about his individual production but also the knock on effects for Amen, Sengun and KD. His offense directly addresses this teams unique offensive problems. Nevermind the spacing, we don't get enough 3's up to not get wiped out by high volume shooting teams.

Shepard's not a big or rim protector. So while small guards can't make a large volume of defensive impact, it's also the case that they can't collapse an entire defense like a negative rim protector would.

I really think we might drop 2 spots in defensive rating (still top 10) but climb 4-5 spots in offensive rating. The thing with Ime is he's so obsessed with defense that I'm not sure he's even willing to give it a try and that's capping our options. He might get depressed if we have the #3 offense and the #9 defense but that might be the best mix we can achieve in these circumstances.

 

For sure... This is a very natural thing to do when you rebuild through the draft. Every team goes through this where you have a couple seasons to let the talent permeate.... you see if anyone blossoms into a superstar... and then you make changes based on fit around that superstar to maximize their chances at post season success.

The big issue with the Rockets is we've drafted some really good role players that could fit in any lineup (Jabari, and Tari), one what looks like a specialist (Reed), and you have two definite All-Star caliber players .... However those two all-star caliber talents right now at least look like oil and water. Neither of them look like super duper stars so it's not an incredibly obvious decision if you decide to split them up.

I'm not a prophet so I don't exactly know how the remainder of the season will go, but if I was Stone, and it was this Summer, and I wasn't seeing alot of faith from staff that either will develop a shot.... I know what I would probably look to do... but I wouldn't make a deal unless there was something really good coming back that made sense with the future direction of the team, and the good news is we have time to wait and see what happens the next few months anyways.

 

Not that big a problem, right?

Mazula/Stevens just dumped his two favorites (Smart and Williams) plus picks for Porzingis and Holiday. We can do similar things. Roster construction can be fixed with 1 or 2 intelligent chess moves. In our case I think you can do it in one move. I'm not sure we have the chess player for it though.

Like this Celtics fan was saying the other day...

 

Reed wasn't drafted to be our star, he was picked up to prevent the Spurs from drafting him to be their star

 

I don't think the ingredients are that bad, we just have a chef that doesn't know how to use them or how they are best used.

A beef tender is a terrible ingredient if the chef tries to make a cake with it.

 

Silas might be a better tactical coach than Udoka. But he is very bad at holding the team together, controlling the culture as a leader. That's diabolically ruinous for a team full of young guys learning to be professional. Adding to that, Stone empowered KPJ as the head honcho, and you can see how chaotic that was.

He might be able to do a better job with a talented veteran team. But given his weak personality, he is more suited to be an assistant than a head coach.

 

If we’re being honest, good teams are getting whatever they want against the Rockets regardless if Reed is in the game or not.

 

Nah, we have the 5th best defensive rating, hard to fake that like with rebounds/offense.

 

The funniest (saddest) thing about the whole Reed situation is that Ime refuses to play Reed because he's afraid he'll get targeted on defense yet allows Brunson and Alvarado to play together because he doesn't know how to target them on offense. So he acknowledges the effectiveness of targeting weak defenders but is incapable of doing so himself.

 

My take is that Ime is running the show. Get rid of him and then re-make the roster, not vice-versa.

 

If Udoka goes - then Stone needs to go.

I don't think it should be a one or the other.

 

Agreed. Maybe Pat as well. Tito should find a different hobby for his boy.

 

I dont understand the reed hype. Im just not bought on him. I think we can get good trade value on him, someone out there will buy high on him and take a risk. I dont think we have the time to sit around for 2-3 years and wait for him to develop.

 

Check my math on this, but using opponents FG% isn’t the difference between the 5th best and 20th best team ~1 made FG per quarter? And in the case of Reed on or off the floor, to save that ~1 made FG what do we sacrifice on the offensive end? My gut says it’s not an even swap. The eye test says Brunson still took over a game with all our (allegedly) best defensive players on the floor and we struggled mightily to score.