Reed is an Elite Defender - Why do so many people disagree?
- Thread starter aceman509
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Reed has great instincts and the ability to anticipate the other teams ball movement. He gets A+ marks for that. The fact that he gets so many steals shows that he is highly active and has great court awareness.
The issue is when he is one on one with his man. Either with the ball or playing off the ball, Reed has trouble staying in front of his man. One on one is the weakness he has. He will get better.
Sad thing is that defensive scheme would help hide his and others deficiencies but ya know we have a coach who don’t do that.
For a freshman, he is an elite defender…. He is just less lost than other freshman. lol
I suspect the reason Sheppard gave up 3s so much is that his assignment was to help defend the lane. Onyenso doesn't need that so much so Sheppard sticks closer to his man out there.
But none of us here were in the locker room hearing game prep. So we don't know.
But none of us here were in the locker room hearing game prep. So we don't know.
Sheppard is far from an elite defender, not much doubt about that. His steals and blocks make great stats and he is good in both those areas but there is far more to defense than that. He is slow and loses his man easily and often, beaten off the dribble. Terrible at defending the 3 and often jumps at the first fake he sees. Just a few things off the top of my head. We all love Reed and want him back and he is a great college player who can get a lot better if he dies come back fir another year or 2. But, he won't if he's all that high in the draft like some on here think he is.
You're acting like it's this either or.
We have a bad defense. I know that from watching every game this year. If the Metrics suggested our defense is better than you think--but we're still giving up open layups and 3 pointers every single game--I don't let the metrics overrule my eyes.
I'm here for an honest discussion. It feels like you're just trying to play internet "gotcha" by trying to paint me into this corner of "this or that.
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We're in the
"Reed is an Elite Defender" thread. You're not even addressing the point. We can discuss Cal and DJ in any number of the Cal and DJ threads.
Regardless of Cal's usage of Reed and DJ--do you watch the games and think Reed is a good defender? Of course you don't. Because he's not.
I haven't seen any of them stay in front of their man consistently. Part of it is lack of experience. Part of it is the offensive player is allowed to carry the ball. Reed is no worse than DJ and Dillingham on defense and Reed is definitely elite at stealing the ball.
All of these reasons why he is not an elite defender contribute to why he really could use another year in school.
Yes, he can be drafted in the first round, very possibly a lottery pick, with a long shot at top half of the lottery.
But he is not that athletic. More athletic than 99% on this board, yes. As athletic as most D1 guards, probably so, or at least average in that area. But with the NBA you are talking about where less than the top 5% of D1 players make it. And Sheppard's goal shouldn't and probably isn't to make it "to the NBA" it is to "be successful in the NBA". So what he doesn't want is to be drafted high, but clearly is not a year 1 contributor and spend that first hear at the end of the bench not playing any or the G-league. A lot of players who start their career that way, by the time their 2nd contract comes up they are just hoping to get an offer. There are exceptions. He (probably) wants to arrive to a NBA team good enough, ready enough, to contribute year 1. That is how by the time your 2nd contract comes around, that you can maximize your value.
Beyond his defensive limitations, another way you see this is in his scoring. The long spans in games where he doesn't score. I think it's because he can score when he is not "the guy" the defense is focused on. But he can't go get you a bucket the way Rob and Reeves can. You see it a little bit in him, but not quite enough yet. I think he really could be "that guy" with just 1 more year of seasoning, and a summer of strength training.
Yes, he can be drafted in the first round, very possibly a lottery pick, with a long shot at top half of the lottery.
But he is not that athletic. More athletic than 99% on this board, yes. As athletic as most D1 guards, probably so, or at least average in that area. But with the NBA you are talking about where less than the top 5% of D1 players make it. And Sheppard's goal shouldn't and probably isn't to make it "to the NBA" it is to "be successful in the NBA". So what he doesn't want is to be drafted high, but clearly is not a year 1 contributor and spend that first hear at the end of the bench not playing any or the G-league. A lot of players who start their career that way, by the time their 2nd contract comes up they are just hoping to get an offer. There are exceptions. He (probably) wants to arrive to a NBA team good enough, ready enough, to contribute year 1. That is how by the time your 2nd contract comes around, that you can maximize your value.
Beyond his defensive limitations, another way you see this is in his scoring. The long spans in games where he doesn't score. I think it's because he can score when he is not "the guy" the defense is focused on. But he can't go get you a bucket the way Rob and Reeves can. You see it a little bit in him, but not quite enough yet. I think he really could be "that guy" with just 1 more year of seasoning, and a summer of strength training.
He's one of the best I can remember at after turning the ball over getting it back right away. It's happened at least a dozen times this year where he makes up for his mistake within about 3-5 seconds.
Yeah, it's kind of like he takes every turnover personal. Often players put their head down after a TO "damn how did I do that", but Reed is more like "F that, that ball is mine".
There is no reason to have defensive lapses at end game situations. Any Hall of Fame coach would have his team dialed in on end game defensive schemes and assignments.
Reed is having an incredible season, performing far better than anyone could have imagined. He's done very well defensively along with running the offense. However, he has been caught very much out of position many times when he's been on the weak side. His man hit a three down the stretch because Reed was shading on helping in the lane but was too far from his man in the corner. His close out was late. We've seen other times when he has not been in good positions and that led to baskets for the other team. So of that, to be totally fair, is our sometimes very poor team defense, where it's not all his fault.
He’s elite with his hands but he’s atrocious with his feet. His defense rivals that of Dontai Allen, he’s awful.
Exactly. I love the kid and his hands and instincts are elite. However his gambling, his feet and his lateral movement seem that of an ordinary guy.
Please do. I'm serious. There was the one at the end of regulation against Florida where he was sleeping off ball against Clayton. That one was bad. But I think for some reason that sticks out in peoples mind more than anything else and because it confirms this biased narrative that Reed is lazy, or ball watches, that people think it is the norm.
Any other clip you can find is almost certainly not going to be because he was lost on defense or lazy. Its beacuse he is helping off on a drive or digging in the post. If you can find multiple clips of him just getting lost and giving up 3s I would seriously love to see them.
Yes, a lot of the complaints of people saying he is "lost" on defense are because he is on the weak side and either tagging the roll man (which is correct defense) or shading in the lane, which is debatably bad defense, but also partially attributed to coaching scheme (we always shade to the lane in the weakside no matter who it is), and also sometimes good defense because Reed generates a lot of deflections and steals from that position on the floor.
Last 3 or 4 games he's been a lot better with the off the ball awareness stuff and not getting completely blown by.
Reed has a real nose for the ball and is excellent at dislodging steals in traffic. I haven't seen many players at his height better at surreptitious timing and tipping the ball where he wants. He's mature beyond his years in a lot of ways.
I'd still like to see him play less upright on the defensive end and get lower, it would help him keep his man in front. He's gonna have plenty of time to work on it at the next level.
I'd still like to see him play less upright on the defensive end and get lower, it would help him keep his man in front. He's gonna have plenty of time to work on it at the next level.
When he turns the ball over he goes as fast as he can to get it back. If he moved his feet with that kind of urgency when guarding someone behind the arc he’d be a great defender. But he’s usually sizing them up to try and get a stab at the ball which will yield a few steals a game but gives up tons of drives into the lane.
He’d do well to watch tapes of Aaron Craft. He went for steals but his feet were always moving to stay in front of his man.
I actually said he wasn't an elite defender but clearly he's elite at stealing the ball and that is supported by the fact that he's 18 steals away from the school record.
We can have good individual defenders but still be poor overall. Defense is a group activity.
And really, Reed’s steals are one of the few ways we have of ending a possession. Otherwise the opponent dictates, gets a good look, and then has a great chance of getting the offensive rebound if they miss.
Our defense sucks not because of any one or multiple players. It sucks because the coach has become terrible at coaching it.
And really, Reed’s steals are one of the few ways we have of ending a possession. Otherwise the opponent dictates, gets a good look, and then has a great chance of getting the offensive rebound if they miss.
Our defense sucks not because of any one or multiple players. It sucks because the coach has become terrible at coaching it.
In my opinion, he is the most complete fundamentally sound player at Kentucky since Mike Casey. His understanding of the game is phenomenal. He can play defense he anticipates if he couldn’t play defense and anticipate he wouldn’t make the steals and the blocks that he does his recovery after making a mistake and his percentage of turning around and causing a turnover to get the ball back is phenomenal. on offense, he not only anticipates the next play he anticipates the next two. I’ve been watching Kentucky basketball since 1962 and Cotton Nash. Reed is one of the best total players to the wear the uniform.
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