Here's my thoughts... I think building a championship team with Amen on it will be easier to do that building a championship team with Sengun on it....For a few reasons... I do think Sengun is the better overall offensive player, but I think that's with a caveat...Sengun is becoming a player who needs to have the ball in his hands to be effective.....He's not a guy who is going to cut...He's not a real spot up threat...He's not a lob threat... Right now, he's mostly providing inefficient low post offense. I believe the offense needs to (Should have been) a Reed centric offense. He needs to initiate at least 85% of the possessions when he's in the game. Sengun too often wants to/needs the ball in his hands and he has regressed as a passer....And as a scorer for that matter. I think Amen is more willing to play off ball. Be a cutter. Catch lobs, be a secondary or tertiary ball handler...Do the dirty work. I think that meshes well with a player like Reed. Amen definitely isn't a pg in the NBA and I think that was doomed from the get go. Defensively, it's not even close. Sengun doesn't provide any weakside shot blocking, he's slow...doesn't cover much ground and too often looks like he's not even giving effort. He's always had defensive limitations, but I think last years team just helped cover them a lot more. Jalen wasn't a great defender but he had decent size and elite quickness to stay with guys. Fred was a very good defender on the perimeter. Amen was more locked in on that end last year and of course Dillon was very good on that end. Then you had Jabari and Tari off the bench. I do think Sengun could have more of an impact as a playmaker if he had a Coach that knew what he was doing offensively...Using him more like Adleman would use bigs....Alpi starting possessions posting from the three point line always makes me want to pour bleach in my eyes. But anyways...I agree with what others have said about the stretch bigs coming into the NBA. I think just a stretch big who could also play some defense and protect the rim would do wonders for this team. Set screens, Catch lobs, Finish, and Shoot. I don't know if Miami would do this, but I'd try to move Sengun and Tari for Ware and Herro. The math works, but Miami would probably want picks...And I'd give it to them. Reed, Herro, Amen, KD, Ware with Fred and Jabari off the bench. Even if that's not possible, I like the idea of adding someone in that mold at the center position because I think it is a better fit with Reed who I think of all the young players we've drafted has the most upside as a star player.
Could still stagger minutes if they both start. CP3 and Harden staggered their minutes so that we always had a playmaker on the floor, but they both started. I think the problem is that Reed doesn't contribute that much defensively so starting him with KD and Sengun would limit his shots while hurting the defense overall. CP3 was an elite defender, shooter, and playmaker so starting him was a plus no matter what. Right now, Reed is like Harden in OKC. Comes off the bench and can light it up but the better defender, Eason, starts the game. Our starting lineup has been struggling lately though.
i agree... i think in order for Reed to be a net positive, he has to be shooting at a high clip... but im certainly not expecting KD to defer shots to him - despite what some on this board may believe... and with the second unit, he can have Clint and other defenders around him...
Did this ever get posted (or maybe someone already shared similar stats)? Basically if you swap out Tari with Reed (which I think many are pushing for), you get a lineup that has performed worse (and overall negative) vs the regular starting group (which is a +9.5). There's more in the video, but based on this data, it seems pretty clear why Reed isn't starting...yet. No idea what it is like if you swap out Amen or Jabari for Reed though. Given how many folks here and on Rockets Twitter seem to love data/analytics, I was a bit surprised to see this. I typically prefer to make data driven decisions vs deciding things based on vibes, and I figured many others were too, so I just assumed the data backed up what people have been clamoring for. I will say it wouldn't surprise me if that lineup data has changed more recently. I do think Reed plays much too passively when he's with those guys vs when he's part of a lineup where he's clearly the lone offensive threat. I think if/when Reed can learn to stay aggressive even when he's out there with 2 all-stars, that might prove to be a good time to start him (though you still likely have lineup balance issues from the bench units). I'd have to rewatch last nights game, but it did seem like Reed did most of his good stuff when he wasn't necessarily sharing the court with the starters (especially late in the game). Of course maybe some of that was playing so many minutes without a break, but I do think this is a big problem for Reed in general. I'm super happy he's showing great development in that area though.
I can't believe we have a coach who has determined that Reed is not good enough to start. Meanwhile, over the past 10 games, Tari has a 35% FG (33-94) and 23% 3-point FG (11-47). I was fine when Tari was placed in the starting lineup, since he was one of the top 3-point shooters in the league, but now he's shooting threes the same as Amen. I don't care if Tari is playing for a contract next year, and he wants to start. His shooting and Reed's performance have shown that he needs to come off the bench.
