76ciology wrote:Reed Sheppard gambles too much defensively, playing a lot like Robert Covington without Covington’s length to cover for it. He’d be better off tightening up, staying disciplined, and focusing on staying in front of his man and be selective on his gambles, the way Fred Vanvleet does.
He’ll need to keep getting stronger to defend like Fred, but he’s much more athletic and longer than FVV so shouldn’t just be limited to that. But what really works is the combination of unreal hands/eye-hand coordination and BBIQ, so he’s looking to be a disruptive defender while he is not yet a reliable defender, and when he gets minutes he gets stocks.
Everyone knows about his shooting at Kentucky, but less known is that he lead the SEC and was amongst the NCAA leaders in steals despite limited minutes, plus added almost a block per game. I think his ideal role for now would be the roamer/safety role in certain zone and even some extended man defences. But Ime is Ime and his minutes won’t really rise until Ime either thinks he causes enough disruption to offset getting targeted, or becomes more reliable to go along with the disruption. Again, there, Fred can be something of an ideal mentor, but Reed was already quite versant in FVV style from behind blocks before he got to the Rockets.
I think if he gets time and confidence, people will see why the Rockets think he might have the highest offensive upside of their young guys. But with lots of pressure and limited minutes, I’ve noticed if he starts out hitting he tends to keep hitting, but when he starts out cold he both stays kinda cold and gets too aggressive with his shot. Now to be fair the Rockets have been begging him to be more aggressive with his shot since he got to Houston, so when people criticize him for chucking be aware that he is being pressured to shoot a lot. And his perfect form, Curry like range and quick release, unless confidence becomes an ongoing issue, he WILL be an excellent shooter, and solid playmaker.
IF. he does that, added to KD, Jabari and DFS, plus seeming improvement in Tari…the Rockets are going to be pretty damn hard to beat. Shooting, scoring, defending, shot blocking, rebounding, athleticism, length, size, BBIQ, and playmakers…gonna be fun. Even as is they are 5th in blocks and 8th in steals and that’s with their starters mostly sitting the 4th quarter out the past 3 games.
