Man, I really hope Reed is going be a star player. I'm still not quite there yet, he's going to have to bring up his assist numbers a lot before I start seeing it (last night was a great step in that direction). But he's almost certainly a starting caliber player at this point, which is already a huge step up from where I saw him coming into this season.
Reed is our franchise player, he is the engine that makes everyone better, and he does UNIQUE things that no one else can do - offensively and defensively. Is he undersized? Yep, but so was Calvin Murphy, Reed is just GREAT basketball player and is only 21, he will be the Points guard for this team for more than a decade, build behind Reed......over everyone else. Reed, Amen, Bari and Sengun are the core. DD
Curry was a horrible defender, they won titles. It’s about finding ways to hide him on defense, and when he is focused, be able and ready to send help and rotate. Reed at least gets enough steals and has good enough hands where he’ll make you pay every now and then. No one thinks he’s a good defender, you just can’t be at that size and strength, or lack there of. But to act like there’s just no way around it isn’t true either.
There are only two ways to get around it. Either Reed has to get better at POA defense or Sengun has to become a rim protector. Other than that if Reed is going to be your starter, Sengun has to go. If Sengun is going to be your starter, Reed will have to be a bench player or traded.
I've noted and posted videos of how Golden State would hide Curry.....trying to switch in space away from Harden and put him on spot shooter like Ariza. In the video i posted you can see Curry running around like a chicken with its head cut running almost across court to find the nearest spot shooter. Problem is you (Rockets) are already trying to hide the poor defender in Sengun by putting him in drop coverage. It's hard to hide two of the worst defenders in the league when you get in the playoffs when teams can sport 5-man out and have 5 decent shooters from 3. More and more teams are producing multiple plus par shooters from three. Rockets are not beating the Thunder unless they have major injuries. Chet and SGA would destroy Reed & Sengun forced into isolation on side of court. Reed can't run across court nowadays when there are so many good shooters with quick release by well balanced teams. This is why I (rooted for Rockets for over 50 years) gave up on this team this year. I noticed what many so-called experts are just now figuring out. Amen can't shoot, Tari can't shoot consistently, DFS may have had decent 3P% but poor quantity, diddo to Okogie, Capela and Adams help poor defender Sengun but they can't space the floor by shooting 3's. Unless the NBA rigs things or have refs call 40 free throws one way... Just free throws on the poor FT shooters on the other side as they have done to teams in the past. Stone and Ime Udoka must go !! Suns are doing it right. My model of a team of 2 to 3 drive and kick initiators, surrounded by 3 & D Wings, rim protector like Mark Williams or Dereck Lively or Kel'el Ware. Now college and highschool are producing more and more rim protectors that can shoot 3's. That's why Ive been saying don't invest too much in Sengun. His prototype will be obsolete in a few years. Udoka and Stone must go !!
Not really a comparable situation, we’re starting from a negative place (our rim protector needs protection). You can’t hide Reed because the PG on this team has to hide Sengun. The Warriors were closing games with a DPOY candidate at C. If we had that, of course we could hide Reed. We have an additional problem now which is that Durant needs to be hidden too at this age in the regular season. Can’t hide everyone. Reed just has to get better at defense and I’m certain he will. Just because he can’t do it well now doesn’t mean he’ll never be able to. Just has to put on muscle and gamble less.
When I said you gotta hide it, finding a rim protector is in that solution. I agree it’s different -now- but it can change if we truly believe he’s someone we see being one of our main 2-3 pieces. I think we just have to either put Sengun at the 4, or bring sengun off the bench as our back up 5.
You're thru cuz you cant make any coherent argument. You're the one who asked the question "how do you know" and then couldnt come up with a reply. I'm not surprised seeing your 6th man rant.
I agree. While I do think Castle is better than Reed in a vacuum Reed would make Wemby and the Spurs unstoppable as his shooting would fill their 3 pt weakness. OTH Reed is the perfect guard alongside Sengun and Amen cuz these two cant shoot they need an elite spacer to keep opponents honest. The other thing with Reed is he isnt just a spot up shooter like say Luke Kennard, he is very active and aggressive running around pin downs and driving inside for floaters or drive and kicks. He has had some Kyrie-like finishes which for a 2nd year is very impressive IMO. Dude will master the pg role in a couple years. His highlight reel so far this season is amazing and shows a high ceiling.
I know you're upset about Reed killing your dream of Amen as a PG bit this take is flat out stupid even given your bias. The person who would suffer most if Reed goes back to the bench or is traded is Amen.
I was glad to see that he's hitting his little 10ft floaters. Those are important for a small guard like him. That and the pull up middie will keep the defense honest in chasing him off the 3pt line or waiting to block him at the rim.
Ive been wanting Holiday or Davison to get some regular minutes so there is another guard in the rotation besides Reed. Starting Reed makes it easier to do that. For all the talk of not having a pg, Ime waited until the end of the season to give the guys best suited for it to have a real shot at it. And I realize Reed had been getting good minutes off the bench, but as a starter I think theres a big difference. When coming off the bench hes been pigeon holed as a gunner...someone to come in and provide a scoring spark....Idiot Udoka compared him to Lou Williams... As a starter he can let the game come to him. Doesnt have to come in and immediately try to do too much. He can take time to get teammates involved (ya know.. like a pg) and not just be told SHOOT!!! Its really been the obvious move all along. Shame it took so long to get here, but I guess Tari had to become one of the worst players in the NBA for a long stretch for Idiot Udoka to finally do something.
really bad night, maybe his worst of the season but its going to happen. All this crap gets magnified because everyone else is so bad at shooting that anytime Reed has a bad game we have no margin for error. He needs to stop on the gambles and swipes period. Its getting annoying. He was pretty good about staying in front os his man for a bit but he is regressing imo. Second, the help defense is NEVER there. I don't understand how this is a good defensive team but when a huge forward or guard is switched on him we never have any help defense from the side. The old rockets use to have this constnatly for harden and everyone else
Reed actually played GREAT overall - just missed shots. BUT, he took only good shots, he just missed them. In the end that is going to happen, as he gets more comfortable and more consistent. DD
