The highlight in Iko’s athletic piece with Stone this morning regarding our potential selections in the draft. Replicating Ime’s “shooting is a premium” phrase and saying we’ll be considering that for “people we draft” If those words mean anything, and they probably don’t, could indicate less interest in non shooters, but given we drafted Amen just last year, I doubt it.
You want to lean into Player X's freshman year in college? I would hope that professional bball scouts would do more due diligence than that. I have no idea what the bust factor is for Castle or Sheppard. I will leave that for the professionals.
I always thought he put effort into defense but would be a poor defender. I think he can be a poor mans Kyrie, and he has the ability to create his own looks probably better than anyone in this draft (that i have seen) but he is short. Not only that he is thin as well, and so i think he could be a 6moy guy but prolly not a #1 or #2 guy. He is still pretty dang good in the PnR. I still like him but... I will be honest, the more i see and read about Reed Sheppard the more I like him. Maybe thats a bit of Hive mind going on as everyone is a fan here. But while he is also short he has a tad more bulk and i trust his defense to be adequate. He doesnt give you the same creation but if he could be used similar to Klay he could become a #3 guy and if he is uber efficient(which is possible i think, his jumper is perfect technique) maybe even a #2. I think his distribution is what needs to improve and its not that bad. At the end of the day I know im a big fat dummy. I will put trust in whoever the Rockets choose.
Russillo: "I heard from 8 teams...I had another guy say it’s like starting the draft at 10th. Then I asked somebody else, give me comps. He was essentially saying this is like Derek Lively or Tobias Harris being the No. 1 pick in the draft.”
Maybe, I read between the lines. It did seem like the question caught him unwares a bit ... like he took a half of sec to figure out what he wanted the press to hear and write.
Rafael Stone on Rockets young core and possible free agents: “We’re comfortable with our team and we think we’re going to improve internally. Because of that, I don’t think we’re likely to be super aggressive…we have very talented players, they’re young.”
If all a scout has is the tape from the freshman year in college *and* a result of 18/25 in a shooting drill...then yeah, I'm pretty sure you'd lean into the former. To your point though, professional scouts will have more data than this. I fully expect these guys to do simulated game drills when they work out for these teams. But you and I do not have access to that data. Even then, I'd still probably weigh the actual college season more than a single workout, though you can possibly take some things out of the workout. I don't think this is that crazy of a take. Also to be clear, this doesn't mean that guys will never improve as shooters too. Castle in particular seems like one of those guys who will work hard to improve his game. But given what we have, I think it is reasonable to have major questions about his ability to shoot moving forward. If there wasn't, he'd probably be the unanimous #1 pick. Gotcha, yeah that's fair enough. I didn't really read it that way given the other things he has said, but I could see that interpretation. He definitely seems intent on repeating his "the combine guys screwed up my vertical measurement" joke to appear humble I guess, so definitely some PR type stuff likely going on in his head which could come across as awkward.
Those who value athleticism and measurables over players actually knowing how to play basketball would draft 8 Amen Thompson variants in a row if they could. It's just how they are wired. Would it make sense? Of course not but outside of Sengun, every first round pick since 2021 has been of that athleticism over skill mold. Kind of hard to think things will change.
This team is in desperate need of shooting and then size. It’s a no brainer… Reed or best big man available.
LOL. Whoops. I have an open argument with my wife about grammar which she believes is incredibly important. I believe communication is more about whether the receiver of the information knows what you are talking about than spelling or grammar.
It's interesting that Dillingham and Sheppard played on the same team that featured three freshman PGs. Dillingham played more minutes but the per 40 min numbers of the two guys are quite similar. What's not similar is usage. It shows that Dillingham is a lot more ball-dominant while Sheppard either shoots or moves the ball much more quickly. So Dillingham is more of the Iverson/Kyrie mode while Sheppard is more of the Curry mode.
