Reed Sheppard is the Rockets’ Franchise Player™

If Reed had a rim protector, he might even be considered a good defender. He really does have good hands and instincts for steals and hops for the occasional block. He just doesn’t fit with Sengun. If we keep Sengun, Reed may find himself a permanent bench fixture or traded. He is not a traditional PG until he can drive and dish successfully, no matter how much BTG wants it to be so. It is a skill set virtually all the good pg’s in today’s NBA possess.

 

I didn’t discredit anything. I simply described how he was used and his skillset.

 

They had reportedly wanted to ship green out for a couple years. If they wanted him out then they needed a SG replacement. Castle can’t shoot 3s but he at least has a 15 ft pullup J. He plays defense, tough in the Udoka mold. It’s about fit.

We see the same lack of foresight with the Durant trade. No SG replacement or backup point. Castle is actually a combo guard. He has everything the Rockets need except a 3 pt shot. My point is you draft the best guy and figure it out. If you have to trade down the line so be it.

 

So then you agree he's not 'simply a shooter' as you said before?

 

Much better game from him. 15 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists to go with 5 stocks

 

Reed is not the franchise carry in year 2 that some around here think he is. Like playing Reed would have been the magic tonic for our issues.

I have very much been in the play Reed more camp all season. From day 1 he's always been a 4 year project that will be inconsistent from game to game the first couple of seasons.

He's showed immense growth this season as a ball handler. While still heavily flawed in that area, the ceiling of true PG looks like it may be there, which I didn't really feel coming into the season.

 

It's kind of another tricky thing about our roster construction. Amen needs a stretch 5. Reed needs a rim protector. Finding those two things in one player is rare. Sengun being neither of them is a particularly bad fit for our weird min/max backcourt, though.

 

It’s just one of the risks of rebuilding through the draft. If you don’t strike gold with a generational superstar you can singularly build around but you do well drafting good players, you still are likely to have good players that have deficiencies. So you will still at some point have to trade some of them to balance the roster and make sure the pieces fit for a cohesive basketball team.

Right now this team doesn’t really work because of the mish mash of deficiencies. It’s not the end of the world but it does require trades at this point. It’s just about being smart to keep the right players and bringing back players that help build a cohesive brand of basketball.

And we as fans need to realize that you cannot get too attached to players in a rebuild. Sengun, Reed, Jabari, and maybe even Amen… you gotta realize some of these guys need to get moved if you want a basketball team and not just a random collection of prospects… which is what rebuilds produce 9 times out of 10.

 

Not to mention KD's weird combination too. He plays guard on offense but can't play guard on defense.

So you need (1) a center who can space floor and block shots, and (2) a PF who can defend guards, to play with Amen and KD.

 

Reed Sheppard it's the kind of player that makes those around him better... far too many guys on the roster do the exact opposite.

 

You notice he’s the only ine consistently running back trying to block someone on a fast break (and he gets hate for even attempting it knowing 90% of the time nobody can stop it), only one that prefers to pass before shoot, only one that consistently dabs everyone

 

Reed will be the guy that makes the team go, he will be our Mark Price, our Steve Nash, he just needs time.

The ball will be in his hands almost exclusively, as he already has the best Assist to turnover ratio out of all the main players.

DD

 

That was one of the reasons I was so high on him in the draft, we already have too many ridiculous ego types on the roster ego put their own interests ahead of the team.

 

Our Drazen. His defense is better than Price but ball handling won't get to Nash levels.

 

Amen and Reed can play very well together. Amen doesn’t necessarily need a stretch 5 - Amen needs either a stretch 5 or 4, or Amen can play the 4 (which is very debatable) and 1-3 can be shooters.

The one thing that is consistent is that the Rockets really need a high level defender at the 5.

 

It is. Supply and demand makes these type of players expensive. Guys laugh at me when I put a higher value on Ware than Sengun. They say Myles Turner has a bad contract at 26, 27, 29m over the next 3 years.I say it is a bargain. We may have to settle for just a rim protector, unless we are willing to gamble on two or three picks for Ware or Turner or are willing to trade Durant for an Albatross contract like KAT. Adebayo would be ideal, but he is a Miami legend at this point and will finish his career there. SA has Wemby. OKC has Chet. Cleveland has Mobley. We should gamble big with our picks and Sengun to try and pry Ware away from Miami. It would be much more palpable than throwing anything away on Giannis.

 

He was a shooter primarily for Kentucky as most of the playmaking and pg duties were Dillingham’s.

 

I would be open to the idea of dealing Sengun to Miami with Ware as the "good young player" coming back, but I don't know if I'd give up first round picks to get him. Ware is obviously a good player with a rare archetype, but right now his interior defense is questionable outside of the shotblocking numbers, similar to Alex Sarr. The value I guess is in the potential there, but he's not a "step in and immediately fix the whole team" guy, he's a developmental project. It's not a bad idea though. Ware and Wiggins, or Ware and Herro. (I don't know if I love the idea of having Herro and Reed on the same team though.)

I wish we could get Ware for KD and hold onto Sengun for a better return though. Maybe then I'd throw in a draft pick.

 

Co-sign this. It is why the moment Adams went down this team was cooked this season. Adams, as their center, is still the Net Rating leader for this team.

 

I wish that as well, but Ware won’t be available for KD and a draft pick in my opinion, but I certainly could be wrong. I think Adebayo would be the ideal frontcourt player with Sengun, so you might could entice Riley to go for Sengun for Ware and Wiggins. I”ve floated that before, but got shot down as not enough for Sengun. I like Sengun a lot, but I don’t think his archetype is highly sought after and his play this season has hurt his trade value. Might be best just to hang onto him and see if he can develop a 3. If he had a three, his offense might out-weight his defensive deficiencies.