In 2012 and before I was new to the draft game and was still falling for the draft hype like a lot of you are doing now. Over the past few drafts, I was right about Jalen. I was right about Jabari. I was wrong about Amen.
No one is right about any of these players until they get to their second contract. Your hubris of believing you are right about 22 and 21 year olds shows your lack of understanding of player development.
This is what I’m saying. I just want shooting. The plus is Sheppard can play defense and secondary playmake
I'm sure you'll start saying "you can't tell anything about a player until their 3rd contract if your guy ends up getting a second contact.
If Reed will be the BEST SHOOTER on the Rockets and one of the BEST TEAM'S DEFENDERS from day 1.....That would make him our BEST PLAYER, correct? The Reed Sheppard hype is at an ALL TIME HIGH
It wouldn't be that surprising if he was one of the best players from day 1...I mean, right now FVV and Alpren Sengun are the 2 best players on the team.... an undersized guard who went undrafted and an undersized center who was drafted 16th in 2021. On a team with no stars, it doesn't take much to be a top player.
I think fans are excited about adding some of the ingredients missing from our current roster and luck appears to have positioned us to add that player. Rationally we all know he'll likely be 10th man on the totem pole and he'll have to earn his place in the rotation. However, if he can shoot over 40% from 3pt range, I'll bet Ime will find minutes for him. After that, it will be up to Shep to prove he belongs or deserves more time.
Not really, there's a big difference between a shooter and a scorer. Kyle Korver was a shooter, JJ Redick was a shooter, this year the best 3 point shooter in the league was Grayson Allen. None of these guys were scorers though, nor could they ever be the best player on a team. Sheppherd looks closer to those 3 guys than he does to someone like Steph Curry.
Jumping to 3 to add Reed Sheppard is like the luck of the Irish, only I'm not Irish, so you figure it out!
Anyone follow Sheppard in high school? How did he change as a player? From my understanding he shot about 33% from three in high school, so was his year in Kentucky a fluke?
Kyle Korver: 1.9 steals/0.7 blocks/3.3 assists per40 in college. JJ Redick: 1.3 steals/0.1 blocks/2.6 assists per40 in college. Grayson Allen: 1.9 steals/0.1 blocks/4.4 assists per40 in college. Reed Sheppard: 3.4 steals/1.0 blocks/6.2 assists per40 in college. Steph Curry: 2.6 steals/0.3 blocks/4.6 assists per40 in college. The steals+blocks+assists that Reed was collecting in college while shooting 54-52-83, was nothing short of legendary work. Any argument against Reed has to begin and end with the eyeball test because he was completely dominant when he was on the floor statistically. The problem is, the eyeball test looks pretty damn good too. The passing reads he makes can be qualified as special. Damn difficult to pass on this guy. I don't see it happening.
From what I can tell, most of the arguments against him are from people who never watched him play either entirely basing their opinion on his height and wingspan or on things they read from others who did the same.
He should be a better passer/shot creator and defender (steals/blocks) than any of these guys though, and just as good a shooter. At least the first few years, his overall scoring output will probably be like 10-15 points per game.
They’re also basing their opinion on race. If his name was Reshad Sheppard they’d love him as much as Jalen
I'm sure some are, but I think for most it's just an addiction to flashy above the rim athleticism and circus freak measurables. If that's all you look for in a basketball player, you wouldn't think much of Sheppard.
We gotta be careful crowning this guy as the next Steph Curry. Those high school numbers are concerning. Maybe his stats are being exaggerated because he was a backup at Kentucky. Clingan or Edey may be the safer pick, because you can’t make as much a 7’3” error as much as a 6’1” error. Gotta remember that Reed wasn’t a top 20 high school player and has only played one season as a reserve for Kentucky. Disappeared when needed in NCAA Tournament. Clingan has only lost two games in his career as a starter (High School and College) and was clearly a top 20 5 star recruit (Sheppard was 4 star). I like a lot about Sheppard, just feel he is s 7-9 pick and maybe not enough background for a top 3 pick.
