KD playing off ball trying to get that shot to surpass MJ was actually good offense. He's automatic with wide open 3. Let Reed initiate with shooters around the perimeter.
It was nice to see Reed as the defacto point running the offense tonight. This is the first game where it didn’t feel like Reed was forcing passes to Durant immediately after getting into the half court. It felt like he had control of the pace and stabilized the team at times. 14 assist and 0 turnovers should end any discussion if he can be the starting point moving forward.
Not that it's a big deal, but I know for a fact Sheppard blocked a Herro 3 point attempt. It's not showing in tonight's box score.
Sometimes I think Ime just takes good offense for granted. Like he think it’s a lot more and less concentrated than playing defense. Like good expects offensive layers are just suppose to go out there and score at will. Those microwave scorers off the bench are typically failed starters( Lou Will, Jamal Crawford, Jordan Clarkson, even Eric Gordon). None of those guys really have the playmaking instincts of it really want to be a playmaker like Reed. They can’t control the flow of the game like Reed. it’s like trying to to compared or make Reed into a player like Gerald Green.
A lot of the posters here owe Rafael Stone an apology even if they won't admit it. "Bad roster construction" "Roster Imbalance" "Didnt sign a guard" "Reed is not a pg" We can clearly see now the vision Stone had thats why he didnt sign a guard and opted for DFS with the MLE. Its not his fault Udoka wouldnt play Reed. If we had a better coach Reed would have been starting long ago and handling the ball instead of KD iso and getting doubled every play. Even Holiday had been getting DNP CD and he just put up 8 pts cold from bench. The ball handlers were there Udoka just doesnt care about the offense he just wants defenders like Okogie and DFS who put up 3 pts in 19 mins.
Udoka is clearly Mark Jackson I checked out Celtics fans they said Udoka just aura farms and it was really Joe M who did the real coaching behind the scenes. When he got fired none of the Celtics fans missed him cuz he didnt do anything except have that affair. Udoka needs some competent assistants who will do the heavy lifting not a bunch of yes men. Fertita is one of the richest owners in sports he should open his wallet a bit more and bring in Malone or someone similar as a consultant or something cuz Udoka is just clueless when it comes to rotations, plays, execution. Even FVV admitted on his podcast he did the real coaching on the court and would run the plays cuz Udoka doesnt know ****. He is supposed to be a defensive tactician but how many times we run zone vs hot shooting 3 pt teams? I am a basketball novice but even I know thats just wrong. We run zone and then expect guys to scramble and run opponents from the 3 pt line no wonder everyone is gassed by 4Q and we collapse and lose the game. SMH!
very interesting KD was throwing the ball to Reed to initiate offense in winning time but reed kept giving the ball back to KD at the top of the key. I need reed to take charge more there because KD has crazy tunnel vision and cant pass for ****..
Another reason why I dont get Rockets fans not liking Reed (more Reed glazing incoming)... Dude was the 3rd pick, coach felt he wasnt good enough to play last year...didnt pout...just kept working... Has played more this year, but still has had a short leash and has not been given a real shot to take the starting spot until now (even with Fred out all year)... Even when he gets in the game he's never made selfish plays. Always plays within the offense. Looks to get others involved. Has mostly seemed to have a good attitude. Has been so unselfish that he's been accused of being too passive and not looking for his shot enough... Even when he's shared the court with guys he's directly competing with minutes for like Holiday and that strange stretch where Idiot Udoka was playing JD Davison over hi-- when he was in the game with them he never looked them off or didnt try to get them involved. You never say "Reed didnt want so and so to shine" or accuse him of being boneheaded and selfish. Compare that to guys like Cam Whitmore (who Iiked) or Cam Thomas....guys who feel they are undervalued and when they get on the court look like they are just trying to get theirs. Even on defense, he has his limitations but you'll never say he's out there loafing or not trying or looks lazy... Add all that on to him growing and showing signs of being really good.... People who have been down on Reed need to take a step back and self reflect, tbh. You dont have to think he's a star in the making, but the constant b****ing about him always been a reflection of the way Udoka has handled him and the way some fans viewed him pre-draft and just wont let their ego get out of the way. If Reed got to have free reign all last season playing with Victor and their backcourt of the future was looking like Reed and Harper Rockets fans would be jumping off buildings.
His defense was mediocre against the Heat. Easy baskets for Davion Mitchell. Reed needs to learn to position himself and use his body better (hello taking charges). Other than that he was great. If he becomes more aggro and keeps developing that floater everything will be okay.
F it, gonna disagree. I think Reed's defense overall was good. There were a couple of bad moments, but again I think people hyper focus on him. Mitchell was the least efficient Miami Heat starter and he only scored 6 of his 15 pts against Reed....and it took him 15 shots to get that. He did beat him going to the rim a couple times, but Reed had the best defensive rating out of all the starters and the only starter to have a lower opp fg% was Amen. Team leading Plus 17 in a one point win isnt happening if Mitchell was often getting free buckets against him. Reeds offense was better than his defense, but I think his defense was still good.
Why should anyone apologize to Stone? He is the one that gave Ime that idiotic extension. He is the one that didn’t sign another guard as depth. He is the one that defers to Ime on roster construction. Squeezing a 1 point game out of team missing 3 of their best players on your home court does not forgive the two Laker games. We’ve all called for Reed to be starting and that’s on Ime, but acting like Stone isn’t partly responsible for this team’s regression is ridiculous. Reed probably would’ve been starting a long time ago, had Stone added a decent pg/combo guard for the bench. Holiday sucks.
Fertita is the one that gave Udoka that extension and also gave him power in the front office. So you want Stone to defy the owner and get fired? LMAO why dont you be reasonable for once and understand there are things out of our control? If Stone added a decent pg Reed will never be the starter. Why do you think adding another guy suddenly gonna give him more playtime? Is Ime saying he'd love to play Reed, but they need a backup pg first? Bruh he literally called Reed a 6th man, said he's a young Lou Williams. Holiday doesnt suck for what he is, the injury only guy. Between FVV, Reed and Amen we already have 55M on just guards, you want yet another quality backup???? Dennis S costs like 9M, so you want 9M for a guy who will cause Reed to not see any PT? Smh
If Fertita is making all the decisions, why do we owe Stone an apology? Reed being our only bench scorer is one reason he hasn’t started sooner. Having another option other than Holiday could have made Ime more comfortable with Reed. Your scenario is just a bunch of speculation. You can’t give a GM credit on positive decisions and then let him off the hook for bad ones just because it suits your narrative. I defended Stone a long time, but once he pulled that “not our year” bs and not getting guard depth at the deadline, I am done. No use having a GM if all he does is genuflect to the coach and owner.
You owe him an apology because you are blaming him for decisions he didnt make. I dont credit Stone for only good things but he shouldnt also be blamed for the extension or FVV injury which is out of his control. Who is blaming Pacers GM for Haliburton achilles tear? Pacers went from Finals to worst team in the league but thats ok. Rox went from 2nd seed to 4rth seed Fire Stone lmao. Your bolded part is wrong because we didnt add anybody all season so if Reed can start now why couldnt he start before? According to you he didnt start because he was the only bench scorer ok he still the only bench scorer but he is starting now? lol The main reason Reed didnt start is because Udoka was only looking at the defensive side and didnt want a bad defender as a starter. If Stone had signed a pg who was defensively better than Reed than Reed would still be on the bench now.
One non shooter is fine. I'd swap out DFS with Amen. The main thing is, KD needs to play off ball. Stop that KD PG thing.
Another stupid metric. Reed wasn’t a sixth man last night, so how does he get a sixth man record. I hate these kind of posts about single games or part seasons. Every once in a while a full season post like this is fun, but still very easy to just create the target stat line to meet a narrative.
