I like Reed Shepard. I think he's going to make 2000+ 3s in a long career. But he's so tiny out there to be a good defender. There's a reason Udoka is playing him minimally including being out of the playoff type game rotation. If we could package him with Whitmore and picks for a Fox or Booker type... I'm selling. We have real opportunity here.
Of course you take the NBA money and run...but he's not wrong about many/multiple/certain players staying in college for another year or 2.
I see Reed getting acclimated and then just going off offensively, like, 15 points is easy kinda thing.
@Snow Villiers I just looked it up and Reed shot 29% from 3 in high school. It feels like he should be a better shooter, but it is a little worrying putting his 29% HS 3p shooting together with his 28% summer league 3p shooting, 2 of 11 pre season 3p shooting, and now his 29% 3p shooting this NBA season
I think from a pure development perspective going to the NBA and ending up with the Rockets is by far better than staying at UK for a couple more years. If he ended up with Washington then yeah I agree it would be better to stay at UK. Ime has to like what he sees in practice to keep him at the NBA level and give him this much game time.
It just kills me every draft season, we used to talk about freshman/soph/jr etc...now there's decimals added to their age: he's 19.3 years old...that kid that's 21.9 years old must suck or else he'd have been in the NBA 2 years ago. Same thing with international baseball...if you're not signed at 15/16 then there's no reason to think you'll ever get better, right? The Stros saw that undervalued area and made a killing (won a few games too, as I recall) by signing the overlooked ~17/18 year olds, especially pitchers. Maybe having a bunch of raw teenagers and early 20's (as opposed to kids who have been on their own at college, away from parents and HS friend/groupies for a couple of years) in the NBA is contributing to the quality of play?
I'm saying he SHOULD have not he WOULD have. The players people are comparing him to stayed in college like FVV, Steve Nash, Steph Curry etc all stayed in college for a couple of years thats why when they got to the NBA they didnt get roasted for being a total scrub.
They stayed because they weren’t projected to be a lotto pick if they came out after their freshman year. Bad comparison. Anyway, it’s almost like you’re happy that he’s being underwhelming so far lol. Yay rockets!
I always felt like Reed would be a slow burn kind of player just because he's so skill based and he has to learn what he can and can't get away with against NBA players and yeah he is small too. I still see a really good skillset for him, just being a rookie is tough, being a rookie on a team that is fighting for playoff position in the top of the west is even tougher. Had he gone to Brooklyn or something he'd be starting every night...but hopefully playing with someone like FVV, also undersized, he might learn a thing or two. I still could see this guy as a long time PG and his shot will come around. The only thing though is that right now he's certainly a trade piece should a star shake free. I still see a lot of potential in him. Ime doesn't have to play him at all and yet he does. Ime spent the past month or so not playing Cam after all.
Lots of truth to this. My friends who like to bet on parlays for players over/under leave the Rockets the hell alone just because you really never know who is going to get their numbers that night. With other teams you know, Jokic is getting his shots up or Giannis or Edwards with the Rockets it's like a roll of a dice who might be high scorer that night. Maybe, hopefully, one night it'll be Reed.
Have to say it’s kinda funny/sad that whenever someone becomes a Rocket they suddenly start shooting worse. Reed, Smith (initially), Bullock, Ryno, Covington, Ariza x 2, Thabo, Shumpert, ISO Joe, Lou Williams, Ty Lawson (forgot how to play), Pablo, Kevin Martin, McGrady … When was the last time someone actually shot better after becoming a Rocket? Shane Battier in his first year?
Nah its a good comparison. You are thinking from Reed Sheppard POV I'm thinking from the Rox POV. From Sheppard POV yeah he takes that guaranteed money so even if he is a bust he is secured. From Rox POV Sheppard should have stayed in college cuz we just wasted a top 3 pick on him. If Sheppard stayed in college he'd have 2-3 yrs of training so when he is drafted he wouldnt got into games as a tital scrjb. Rox invested a top 3 pick they should get some sort of return in the first year like with Green, Jabari or Amen. All those 3 would have been contributors as bench players instead of being unplayable like Sheppard. If Sheppard was gonna be 2 yrs away from 2 yrs awar we should've gotten Castle because Castle has a higher ceiling. The irony is Castle turned out to be better both short and long term. Rox really goofed on this pick even if Sheppard becomes playable after next year.
Something changed in his head after Summer League because he just hasn't been the same since. I really want to say it's just Rookie (youth) exposed to a man's league (hopefully that's it) but of all the guys the Rockets have drafted the past 4 years, he seems to be struggling the most. Ages of players drafted: Cam Whitmore - 18.59 Alperen Sengun - 18.9 Jabari Smith Jr. - 19.10 Usman Garuba - 19.28 Jalen Green - 19.36 Josh Christopher - 19.53 Reed Sheppard - 19.99 Amen Thompson - 20.4 TyTy Washington Jr.- 20.59 Tari Eason - 21.11
I used to see him out all the time. He was always out.on Washington. Pretty cool guy. Drank with him multiple times. Always had good looking women around him.
Reed will put it together eventually. He needs to learn to find a rhythm in short minutes because he is not going to be playing much more this season. The kid is a good shooter, I can't wait until his shots starts falling and we can put this talk of him being a bust behind us. By #3 standards, he is never going to deliver all star production, I think we all recognize this draft was weak, but hopefully he becomes a very good role player.
To play devil's advocate to my own post from earlier this morning, he is shooting 19-64 from 3 for 29.7%. At that volume, the difference between that and an elite 40% shooter is just 7 more made 3's which is almost nothing over the 27 games he's played. If he had just made 7 more threes we would all be having a very different discussion right now.
