He's gotten better about staying in front. The swipes from the side or behind are whistle bait. If he wasn't learning this from the coaches, he should be learning it from the refs. At this point I'm more curious about the hits he's taking with his shoulder. He's still a half step late to stay in front and take it in the chest, but he's getting away with cutting across the attacker and taking the hit in the shoulder. Would love to know whether the coaches are telling him to keep it up as long as he's not getting called for it.
I know it's the NBA we're talking about here, but...a small guy like Reed needs to eat a few charges. Not flops, but legitimate chest rattling charges. Many won't get called early on, but if he can develop a reputation as a guy who is willing to take them, bigger players will have to think twice before brute forcing their way through him.
Report from the Hornets game: Not a lot new here. Still off on the 3's, and this has been going on for quite a while now. Notable that he's still having this problem in real games after going 4 of 6 in the Rising Stars. Why the difference? One guess is better defense, another is that in the real games he's thinking more about other options, i.e. his teammates, and the shots he ends up with are different. I'm having trouble judging his defense in this game because the Hornets were weak at driving (the ball handler tended to pass it off if Reed got in his way) and also pretty bad at setting screens, so he was often able to go over it and stay on his man. He continues to develop his scoring options inside, but again I'm suspicious about the weak defense, so it's hard to evaluate whether he'd be able to score on some of these plays against better teams. On one play, Amen set a screen for him to curl to the foul line, and Reed, wide open, left his jumper what looked like 2 feet short. The arc was high and he was falling back, like he thought he might get blocked, but I didn't see any defensive touch on the ball. He still seems pretty far from being able to reliably read the pockets where he can get his shot off.
Love to see Reed get the shot going again, but I don't like that everything came from beyond the arc. He's not being fully utilized unless he's getting into the midrange and forcing the defense to make decisions. He's not a special player when he's standing 25+ feet out and living off scraps. Defensively, he had some really silly fouls. Needs to get better at either letting things go or committing to a hard foul. All four of his fouls tonight put guys on the line, and two of those were and-1's.
Atp reed just needs to become an average NBA defender and he’s ready to start he’s smashed the rookie/sophomore wall and is ready. his defense is still an issue tho
Reed is now doing this shoulder turn so routinely on defense that I'd like to hear some of your opinions on it. Basically, he goes with the attacker, turns his shoulder to the guy as he runs with him, and reaches across for the ball, like a tennis backhand. If the play continues, Reed ends up pivoting all the way around so his back is to the attacker as he's running with him. If he doesn't get the ball, he often slows the guy down just by running in front of him. I'm so unfamiliar with this play that I have no idea whether it's legal. He's been getting away with it a lot. But in this game he got called twice. First time was against Markkanen a minute into the 2nd. Then Reed tried it a minute later on Sensabaugh and got away with it. Then at the end of the 3rd he got called for it again. He's been doing it so much that at a minimum, the coaches must be telling him it's OK to keep doing it. Maybe they think it's a way to compensate for his inability to stop these players in other ways? Is it because he's small and the refs normally won't call it? But Markkanen, at 7 feet, went right at Reed when he tried this stunt, extended the contact, and forced the refs to call it. I'm having a hard time believing it's a viable long-term strategy.
Reed was the tale of two cities last night: He shot well overall and pushed the pace. However, by pushing the pace he was part of the TO issue. And he ultimately got pulled in the 4th quarter because his defense was making jesus weep. Glad Ime put Holiday in and was able to play the Reed role well.
he's still a cone on defense and while he shot 50% from 3, his shooting still just ins't what it used to be prior to his 14% 3P% slump.
Reed has had some impressive drives going to the rim... He does a nice job using his body to shield off the defender.... He's making the layups that he was missing the first couple of months of the season. Given his sporadic shooting... i wouldnt call him a 'generational shooter' but his ability to drive and either pop or take it to the rim leaves hope for him. He needs to learn to take a charge - that could further mitigate his defensive shortcomings. Otherwise, I see him 'wandering' on defense occasionally... where hes somewhere between doubling the ball and covering his man - but not really doing either... lol
Seems fun and unconventional. Let’s go with it. It’s a lot like a DB in coverage. Not about the stop but the disruption. The one against Lauri was silly. I was also confused by how many times he was in the paint on Lauri buckets. Does Sengun just NOT try on D anymore?
I didn't count, but it looked to me like this game was the most aggressive hunting of Reed by an opposing team all year? i.e. as a percentage of their possessions when he was on the court?
Of course, the Jazz coach is an Ime buddy and former assistant. He probably did it as a favor to Ime. I hate to say things like that, but it’s definitely on the “wheel of possibilities”.
Purely speculative, but can you imagine playing for a coach that goes out of his way to put you as a player in the WORST possible situation on a nightly basis? Almost like some Full Metal Jacket stuff.
When asked about you starting on the team it’s “no…probably not ever” when talking about one of the most embarrassing offensive collapses in the league this season he blames it on you when you weren’t even in the game and left up 8 pts (ironically Reed playing would have prevented said collapse ) I keep hearing a lot of cover for Ime from some folks saying "no he just really wants him to developppp and blossommm" like seriously comeon
