Calm down. We do this every year. Everyone thought we drafted a role player, now everyone thinks he’s a superstar. Remember summer league Jabari last year? It’s just summer league and he’s only 6’1. Not many players his size go on to become stars, unless you’re Chris Paul and I don’t see him ever reaching that level of stardom.
Calvin, AI, Price, Archibald, Zeke, Stockton, Wilkens, Parker, Cheeks, and Hardaway are just a few notable names that height or shorter. Current players include Paul, Lowry, Curry, Smart, Maxey, Fox, Lillard, Mitchell, Rose, Brunson, Young, Rozier, Sexton, and Conley. You could just as easily say not many players Jabari's size go on to be stars.
IMO 100% intentional, there is no harder test possible in summer league than a back to back with heavy minutes in both games against a fully rested team in the second game who is desperate to get a win. They wanted to see how their guy would handle it while teaching a lesson about the importance of conditioning. Impressively Sheppard handled it better than Cam
You might have thought that, but many of those who actually watched his games thought differently. Also, people who round down from 6'1.75 barefoot to 6'1 really shouldn't be taken seriously at all.
It really was bizarre. I thought we were going to sit Reed/Cam out of the SL or at least just game 3 since the coach had Reed play the entire 2nd half of game 2. Then at the polar opposite you got the Pistons load managing Holland for a B2B.
Yes sir. And there is quite a chance we won’t miss the 9th pick in the 2025 draft and the 12th pick in the 2026 draft.
It's a definite possibility, he's likely to be the future floor general and while guys like Sengun and Amen might have something to say about it, there's no one on the roster guaranteed to be better than Sheppard in his prime.
When I said I might be higher on Reed than I am on Sengun people gasped like that was crazy. People who thought he would be a role player before he was drafted shouldn’t be giving their opinions on him now like they know anything.
Reed is going to be a good player. I believe he is a elite shooter, high IQ, and average defender. His lateral movement on defense is alarming, but I do like his recovery speed and quick hands. He needs to stay in front of the player at all time. I feel very comfortable to say Sengun, Amen and Reed are our players of the future and we need to build around. We have a slasher and elite defender(Amen), elite shooter(Reed) and good big man who have elite passing skills and back to the basket scoring(Sengun) We need to trade Jalen for picks….Jabari needs to shoot 40% from the 3 point line or trade him because he is not a shot blocker. Keep Tari..another great defender and elite rebounder and Cam needs to work on his free throw shooting. He is above average shooter but if he is having a off shooting night, with his size he can always drive to the basket, get fouled and make points from the free throw line. Cam is a good on-ball defender. Cam needs to work on free throw shooting, off-ball defense and needs a team basketball mentality….team first.
It's more like the odds for any given player to become elite in the NBA are incredibly low, so the safer position is always to be more skeptical. Some players have better odds than others, sure, and that's the whole thing with player evaluation, identifying which lottery ticket gives you the best chance. But it's still a lottery ticket. Most players drafted, even near the top of the draft, will become roleplayers (at best).
Some of us have seen the great point guards in the NBA and what "that" looks like. The only player on the roster that has commanded the offense like Reed has done in 3 games so far is FVV. No one else has even come close to what he's done in these games. Not Jalen and not Amen. He's the real deal and anyone that's been around basketball long enough knows what it looks like. It's like when you saw a few games of CJ Stroud or JJ Watt or even Harden and you're like oh ****....he has the thing. Reed is like Sengun in that he doesn't exist in theory quite like Tari/Cam/Amen/Jabari do. He already does a lot of **** incredibly well and none of his negatives are a big deal because of the position he plays. You're out of your mind if you don't think his play hasnt completely thrown a monkey wrench in what the Rockets had planned this season.
I do think you saw qualities in Sheppard that were hidden at Kentucky. Him and Amen will have pg covered. And frankly, I really like Fred so I would be fine trying to extend him at a lower cap hit next summer.
