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Should the Rockets Start Reed Sheppard?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Le$$, Sep 14, 2025.

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Should Reed Sheppard start at SG?

  1. YES

    112 vote(s)
    42.1%
  2. NO

    107 vote(s)
    40.2%
  3. First 10 Games give it a go!

    47 vote(s)
    17.7%
  1. backwardhead

    backwardhead Member

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    I wonder what the conversation was around a young Steph Curry. Were GSW fans upset because he was too short, or too thin? I wonder what his vertical was/is? He's freaking Steph Curry because you can't give him an inch or he will drain a 3 in your face. Drown you in 3s.

    Seems to me like Reed already has Steph beat in everything but shooting at this stage of his career. Can he keep hitting long range 3s in game when the ball finds him will be the real question. Why are we fussing over the verticle? Honestly? The season can't start soon enough.
     
  2. Snow Villiers

    Snow Villiers Member

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  3. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    When Steph Curry was drafted, most Warriors fans were indeed "very upset" because he overlapped with their beloved Monte Ellis, who also made it clear he was not happy. It took them 2-3 years to fully understand the error of their ways.

    If Reed pans out, people here will come around on him. Gotta admit that I wonder why there are some here who just ooze negativity about him. It's almost like they want him to fail even though they won't admit it.
     
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  4. Coastal

    Coastal Member

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    I'd start him at PG, not SG. Probably doesn't matter, though. One or the other.
     
  5. RB713

    RB713 Member

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    [​IMG]
     
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  6. Moahst

    Moahst Member

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    I think he should come off the bench until they figure out how to hide him defensively a little bit better or maybe start him situationally if they are playing a team with scrub guards.
     
  7. Dobbizzle

    Dobbizzle Member

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    I'm not upset at all about his vertical, it's just not 42 inches lol. I just find it hilarious keeping poking the people who are absolutely adamant that there's no way he cheated the test at all. For reference, again just in case anybody has eyes and wants to judge for themselves:

    Reed Sheppard vert 42" (lol)
    Dwight Howard vert 39"
    Zach Lavine (combine, so the same place as Reeds) 41.5"
    Anthony Edwards 41"
    Cam Whitmore 40.5"
    Aaron Gordon 39"
    Blake Griffin 35.5"
    Derrick Rose 40"
    Russell Westbrook 36.5"

    So we all believe these tests are flawless and Reed has more hops than all these players, yeah? Cool. o_O
     
  8. Bobbythegreat

    Bobbythegreat Member
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    Damn you really are a moron aren't you?

    Mugsy Bogues literally had more hops than all of these players AND Reed. Max vert numbers and dunk ability are not the same thing you absolute dipshit.
     
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  9. Buck Turgidson

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    I'm not gonna go back and read the thread so apologies if this has been covered, but can you explain how someone would cheat at a vert test?
     
  10. Dobbizzle

    Dobbizzle Member

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    You'd have to ask Reed, he's admitted it on camera, it's not me who came up with the idea tbh.
     
  11. Bobbythegreat

    Bobbythegreat Member
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    The number is based on taking a standing reach and then having them jump and seeing the difference between where they reach and their standing reach.

    This Mensa member thinks that somehow Reed Sheppard lowered his standing reach by something like 6 inches without anyone noticing so that he could artificially inflate his max vert numbers. This kid is upset because Reed Sheppard's number is higher than other players known for dunks because he's too dumb to know what a max vert number actually means.
     
  12. the11mingdynasty

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    Already went through this with Alpi. Getting too old for for this s***
     
  13. cmoak1982

    cmoak1982 Member
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    There isn’t a way to cheat these tests.
    Reed joked that his coach gave him a tip.
    There’s a standard way of measuring for all athletic testing, you can shrug your shoulders slightly. In reality the most anyone can gain is an inch, maybe two in standing reach.

    That guy thinks his eyes are better than people that test/scout for a living.
     
  14. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    FVV has been great off ball. Incredibly strong so he can switch onto bigger players easily. Really, outside of a few minutes early in the season in which Kuminga outplayed him, very rare for a big guy to overpower FVV. I wouldn’t want FVV on a big guy, but handling a big guy for a few seconds on a switch is something most PGs just can’t do. FVV has enough lateral movement that most players will try a switch to go after a big guy instead of attacking FVV.

    Reed will likely be a much more disruptive force than FVV. I don’t think that disruption will ever match FVV’s value at switching. Without Green, I was really looking forward to the defense which would be able to switch 1-4. I am skeptical that Reed will ever bulk up enough to be able to switch as effectively and maintain offensive skills.

    On POA, Reed has a way to go. FVV was already good. I would not assume a better athlete is going to become a better POA defender than FVV until they are much better at POA in the NBA than Reed has shown.

    I think Reed will be a much better offensive player than FVV. I’m just not sold on him matching FVV’s defnesive skills even though he has a big disruption advantage.
     
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  15. Dobbizzle

    Dobbizzle Member

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    This dude has less hops than Reed at the same height apparently.
     
  16. Bobbythegreat

    Bobbythegreat Member
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    Derrick Rose has an 8'2.5" standing reach....and only 2 inches less on the max vert. That means he can reach 11'6.5" when Reed can only reach 11'3.5".

    Now, no matter what your boyfriend tells you to make you feel better, an extra 3 inches matters.

    On top of that, Rose has 12 inch hands where Reed's hands are only 7.75 inches long. This is why you don't see one handed dunks, which you can get MUCH higher on, from Reed and you see them all the time from Rose. It's a hell of a lot easier to grab a basketball with one hand when your hand is longer than the diameter of the ball.
     
  17. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Steph's biggest issue early was people thought he wouldn't last in the NBA because he was too fragile. He's bulked up since then. Hell, the Warriors almost traded him. The Bucks wanted him in a trade instead of Monta Ellis at one point, but the Bucks' doctors said Curry's ankles wouldn't last, so the Warriors gave the Bucks Monta in the trade.

    The main difference between someone like Curry and Sheppard is that Curry came into the league pretty much knowing he was a lead dog (or at least a lead dog in waiting). About the only thing that Steph worried about was his health. Sheppard didn't come into the league gunning or seemingly confident. He played like a role player, which, to be honest, seems like his mentality - make the right play, make the correct pass, get everyone else involved. Curry was way more aggressive. Instead of the "what's the right play?", he's had more of that "I am the right play" mentality that most alphas in the league have.

    The other thing is to say about the only thing that Steph has Sheppard beat on is shooting. Well, ok. I'm not sure I completely agree it's that simplistic, but when both are mostly known for their shooting, you have to ask why one is an all-time legend and the other is still trying to find his niche in the league. Above all else, both were known for their shooting/scoring. Steph is not just elite at it, he is borderline a 1-of-1 (ok, maybe 2 depending how you look at shooting). So Steph has him beat, but so far it hasn't been close. Maybe this changes.

    The one thing I dislike is when people say Steph and Sheppard aren't really point guards. To an extent, that's true. It's hard to be a volume scorer/shooter and still be a traditional PG. Steph, in the past, has agreed he probably isn't a PG. He also doesn't give a damn. Neither should we when it comes to Sheppard. I'm hoping Ime's vision of everybody being able to handle the ball, have good basketball IQ, make the right plays from any place on the court, etc. ends up being winning ball. Screw the old school labels.
     
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  18. OremLK

    OremLK Member

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    I think you're underestimating a little bit how quick Steph was when he first entered the league. His first step was better than Reed's. Of course, Steph has lost some of that quickness now (but made up for it with even better shooting and better bball IQ). In other categories besides shooting, sure, I'd say Reed is pretty comparable, if not better. Whether we can project him to be anything remotely close to the best jump shooter of all time... yeah, not a limb I'm personally going to go out on.
     
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  19. astrosrule

    astrosrule Member

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    Curry is also maybe the greatest ball handler ever, or at least top 2-3
     
  20. cheke64

    cheke64 Member

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    He's starting to play like ceethreepeeo.
     

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