In some ways, Reed has impressed me more than expected this season. Other times, he's been bad. A really up-and-down season for him. I was expecting more Payton Pritchard and less Jalen Green in the highs and lows of his play. Maybe, I just don't see Pritchard enough to see the lows. I get the vets other than Durant have failed spectacularly. I get that Reed has improved a lot over last season. It is just hard to be bad at defense and have a lot of inefficient scoring games. Overall, really down on the young guys as a group versus where I was before the season.
He is less hesitant to shoot now, sometimes rushing a bit and that usually means a miss. But shooting consistently is okay as long as the overall average is up there. What he needs to be more consistent is his aggressiveness in dribble penetration. He has the tendency of avoiding contact. That's a bad habit. You have to embrace the contact to be a good scorer and playmaker in the NBA. I hate SGA's pushing off and foul baiting. But Reed needs to watch those guys play. You need to force the refs to make a call. Sometimes he is confidence in driving. A lot of times he is not. He has the ability to hit the pull up midrange. He can slip to the basket for a layup. He has the vision to make the kick out pass. When he does that, he opens up a lot for himself and for the team.
I agree he needs to be more aggressive, but I do think his physical limitations are much more an issue than his confidence in regards to driving. He is successful at driving when teams are not bullying him when he is facilitating early in the shot clock. In the playoffs, he will be bodied up immediately when crossing the half court line. He hasn’t proved he can handle physical pressure. It is his fatal flaw as a pg.
This is great. I will say that compared to the average NBA prospect, Reed is behind in a bunch of areas. I still believe he expected to be at Kentucky 4 years and would get drafted in the first round. I don’t think he ever expected to be a high lottery pick after his freshman year and he’s said as much. I don’t think he was on the same developmental path as a bunch of guys where NBA is the ONLY reason they went to college. Having said that, his ceiling is huge. He’s been thrown into the fire and has performed well against great teams. Ime has done him no favors.
I don't think it is so much about his physical limitations. There are smaller PGs that aren't getting bullied. He needs to improve on his ball handling for sure and it will come. There's no reason why he can't use a screen to get inside. Don't forget the game is tilted to the offensive player. If defenders try to bully him, he can get calls by forcing the action. His problem is that he is easily scared off by pressure, and teams know it. That's mental, confidence.
Maybe in the playoffs teams can grab, hold and bludgeon all over the court without getting a foul call unless you play for one of Silver’s teams.
Silver’s teams. Exactly. There’s a couple of sets of rules currently in the NBA. It’ll shift to San Antonio soon and the NBA will enjoy the fruits of SA and Luka’s Lakers battling for a shot at the Finals each spring. Because you KNOW they’re going to shift some talent to the Lakers. Despite how good the Rockets may or may not be, they’re slightly above a middle tier team when it comes to NBA pecking order. Always a bridesmaid….
Even a decent win he can't get 30 minutes as a starter while every other starter does. Trash. I really don't like this coach.
Perhaps go look at Payton's 3rd season in the NBA game logs, when he was 25 years old and averaging 5 points per game. Maybe some lows of his play would be uncovered.
r****ded coach. Ime "not now, if ever" eating his own words. had to make the change cause his ass in on the firing line. *** him
Don’t know why so many Rocket “fans” hate on one of our youngest players with one of the highest ceilings.
He is going to have become better at on-ball defense or he is going to have to become a truly elite shooter to start on a contending version of this team (if/when that ever happens). If he does both, he's an all-star.
I think theres a lot of over analysis of Reed. Like theres normal dissecting of a player and then theres over the top stuff making indictments about him as a player. But I think its an appeal to authority, with Ime being the Authority. I think defensive (or supposed defensive) first players get preferential view during this era of the Rockets even though basketball is played on both ends. For instance....I love Amen (not as a full time pg). He and Reed are my favorite two young players and Jabari is creeping in there. But Amen has some obvious deficiencies in his game, yet the coaching staff and fan base has been largely been opening to him expanding his role. Playing more on ball. Playing heavy minutes even when spacing has been an issue. Amen is a stud, no doubt...but he is also playing for a coach who's style fits him and enables him. Also, look at a guy like Tari who has been struggling forever. Doing all kinds of crazy things on the court. Ime kept playing him and even with him off the bench he subbed in earlier than ime normally subs guys. Hes the last guy Ime has given a shot at being a regular starter at the tail end of the season. He even set a time limit on it. Reed is pigeonholed as a shooter and on a team that needs ball handling and passing, him being one of the better guys at it is an afterthought for some reason. Hes Not given as much opportunity to expand his game like sone others have been. Again, I love Amen. Here are Reed and Amen's 21 year old seasons side by side: https://ibb.co/RGSKXC8t https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/p9tGM Essentially both their first times getting real nba playing time. Amen was viewed as a foundation piece, potential star... Some question whether Reed is even a starter on a good team. Hell some wonder if hes even a rotation player and want him traded. This goes back to my first point. I think if you had a more balanced coach or someone who leaned heavy offense and enabled Reed (and Sengun) like some of the defensive first players we have the perception would be different. I dont want a Dantoni type guy because Amen might be viewed on the other end of the spectrum like Reed is. There's two sides to the court. Need more balance from the coaching staff. Not just defense, rebounds and ball control.
