Justin Reed

Justin was a 2nd round pick, 40th overall, by the Boston Celtics in the 2004 draft. He was subsequently traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and eventually the Houston Rockets who waived him freeing him up to join the Austin Toros in the D-League.

Reed has a good base and strong upper body which allows him to get and maintain position well on defense. He moves well laterally and rotates quickly to help teammates. On one play he got caught and trapped after dribbling across the half court line and threw the ball away only to run back hard in transition and block the layup attempt. It’s a small thing, but it demonstrates the effort that he plays with night in and night out.

Offensively he can bang inside, but he struggled tonight missing several easy buckets around the rim, and shot only 2 of 11 for the game. He again used his upper body strength to absorb contact and still manage to get the ball towards the rim. Strength does not equate to athleticism, however, and Reed doesn’t quite get up as much as you would expect. He got blocked repeatedly by Chris Alexander and once was badly stuffed by Kasib Powell. He doesn’t always go up as strongly as he should and in the second half did a much better job of being aggressive on his way to the hole.

Justin Reed is an intriguing roleplayer in the NBA because of his strength, lock down defense, and work ethic. However, he needs to work on being more offensively consistent if teams are going to think about bringing him back into the league.