Good post. You among others have changed my mind on picking him 3rd, although I do think there are others with higher ceilings. This draft is a real crap shoot.
I wouldn't be mad. His age is the only setback for that. That's why they might be wanting to trade down. Right now, I know he wont get past #10.
Yes, it ended with Clingan winning the B2B Championships. I'm curious, what makes me asking @maj21 how a 6'2 guard could have made a difference in last night's game? And you compared Reed Sheppard to one of the best guards of all time in Kyrie Irving, which I thought was highly overrated, but that's what fans are FANATICS. I simply ASKED @maj21 what could 6'2 Reed Sheppard have done in last night's game that was different from anyone else? Since he went 1-5 in the most important game of his career to date, a NCAA Tournament Game, what could he have done in the NBA Finals differently?
If you listen to Cal's interviews you'll see why he left to Arkansas. I think he got tired of being beholden to having to play certain recruits. Apparently he had to tell incoming recruits about Sheppard...."don't worry about him, he's a legacy recruit. He won't take your minutes." And then when the chips were down, Rob and Reed were his best players. There certainly was something really weird about the game vs Buffalo. Why wouldn't you run all your actions through them if they're your best chance at winning? He would immediately be our smartest player along with Sengun (offensive talent) and Amen (playmaking talent). So you'd have a high IQ hub. A high IQ playmaker. And a high IQ shooter.
It's more than that, it's his age plus the fact that he's a 6'2 tweener guard who is absolutely not a PG at all.
Oh, I guess I need to explain. I was pointing out that just saying "6'2 guard" says nothing at all about the quality or even type of player you'd be getting. You can have a "6'2 guard" that is Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving, or you can have a "6'2 guard" that is Gary Payton II or Dennis Smith Jr. Now, as to asking what Sheppard could have done, he could have hit 3's to keep Dallas in the game. I get that you want to talk about Kentucky's tournament game that you probably didn't watch, but they ran the coach out of town for how poorly the game plan was. The game plan was to just dump the ball down low and let the big men do their thing rather than setting up a game plan around the team's guards....and that's why Kentucky AND the coach got bounced.
Yeah, I don't doubt that the Kentucky job became really toxic...the fans had sky high expectations every single year....but there's no excuse for how bad he was at game planning.
And as I alluded to, if Kyrie had a difficult time getting his shot off in last night's game, what make you think Reed Sheppard would do any better? Kyrie had several shots blocked and he had to WORK for everything he got in last night's game. There were few if any easy baskets, due to Boston's length. So based upon what you are saying, you think Boston was just going to give Reed Sheppard open 3's?
I think he only played one year in college. So he can hopefully settle in after a short stint or two in the g league with coming off the bench. An Adams, Eason, Cam, Reed bench seems pretty well rounded.
Because they don't play the same style of basketball. Kyrie is an ISO heavy type who relies on his athleticism to create space. He fell into a hero ball trap last night and put in a Jalen Green style performance as a result. Sheppard is more in the Curry style where he relies on his quick release coming off screens or whenever he gets the ball with his man more than a step away. We've seen that work in the playoffs for a decade now, so it's weird you would question it.
You keep throwing around Curry’s name with Sheppard… If Houston does draft him, I just hope people aren’t expecting anything close to the following: 4x NBA Champion (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) 2x NBA MVP (2015, 2016) 1x NBA Finals MVP (2022) 2x NBA scoring leader (2016, 2021) 7x NBA 3-point field goals leader (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022) 9x All-Star Game Selection (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) 1x All-Star Game MVP (2022) 4x All-NBA First Team (2015, 2016, 2019, 2021) 4x All-NBA Second Team (2014, 2017, 2022, 2023) I get that you wanna compare players but let’s be for real here.
It's a stylistic comparison and is meant as a ceiling. You never EXPECT a player to hit their ceiling, it's just awesome if they do.
And the Rockets are clearly not going to hand him the keys to the franchise even if he were 1 third of the player Curry is...... Without the keys, he is not going to win anything as the 1st or 2nd option. Curry actually has some of that Mamba mentality just the Sunshine version of it and not the Dark version......not sure about Sheppard.
You could say the same for Sheppard who is a 6'3 tweener and only averaged 1 more assist than Carter last season.
What could he do differently? Hit shots? Put defensive pressure on the point of attack? I think I get what you are saying - size and length win out in the NBA right now - but if you cannot hit perimeter shots it isn't going to matter.
Now compare their usage numbers and their assist to turnover numbers. Now factor in that Carter was a 3rd year college player and Sheppard was a first year college player. Now factor in who Providence played compared to who Kentucky played. In short, no, you can't say the same for Sheppard. Yes he's a tweener, but he has considerably better PG skills than Carter.
So, you think a college bench player is going to come into the NBA and out preform a 10yr veteran, who has played on an Olympic Team, played in several Playoff games, and won a NBA Championship, soley based upon the fact that he is a catch and shoot player, rather than a player who can get his own shot? Is that what you are saying? I just want to clarify
