it’s an interesting point about Amen. I agree, the org is gonna want to eventually run the offense through him, which makes Shepard less of an obvious target, because I think he has to play the point in the nba. This also makes it less likely they’d pick Topic. I won’t be surprised if they take a 2-way shooter like Risacher. Or if they take Clingan as their long term defensive center solution.
the Euros are way overrated. Topic reminds me of Rockets legend Al Shved: thanks, but no thanks Recasner is a very poor man’s Jabari Smith Jr. I’d stick to the NCAA guys: the two KY guards, or the two UConn champions. The old man from Tennessee is OK, too.
He's a tweener in the same way Steph Curry was seen as a tweener once upon a time. He's more of a shooter than a pure point but he's the size of a pure point. That said, he's such an amazing shooter that his gravity leads to open players making life much easier for him. I could be talking about either player when I say that. Now of course, having a tweener guard matters a lot less when you're talking about pairing them with a 6'7 PG and you have a point center on the court as well. On defense, he'd guard the PG spot, on offense he'd play more like a traditional SG.
Hopefully this is the same shooting drill that Mirsad Turkcan, Dan Langhi etc dominated back in the day and that Rashard Lewis simply wasn't good enough at
If Amen can really ultimately play point offensively that's actually all the more reason for drafting Sheppard as a perfect potential long term compliment in a backcourt with Amen. Would cover each other's weaknesses to an extent.
Top Euro players out of the Spanish, Turkish, and French league have done great. Don't let the Adriatic League's location fool you, the top Balkan prospects always play outside the borders of Yugoslavia.
This is something that could actually shake up the top two depending on what Washington is thinking--I've been thinking Topic for them because they just really need a guy like that who you can potentially maybe build your offense around, and even if he doesn't end up being a #1 option at least he is a focal point to start developing something. But if he's hurt maybe they go a different direction?
Love the shooting but is he Steph or JJ Reddick? I don't know. I saw both in college, including Reed. Steph was phenomenal, JJ was great and Reed was good but on a very good team. To me, Reed is hard to gauge.
Solid - thanks for the assist. Still looks like a slow release, but hey, at least he proved he can shoot it on the move a bit. ...not trying to bag on the guy but the size still concerns me. They can probably work on the release - he brings the ball down to his crotch. Obviously that can be worked on with with practice because it's wasted motion in his shot....just a little disappointed with the options available with the 3rd pick. Here we are trying to talk ourselves into drafting a shorter version of the next Garrison Mathews with the 3rd pick(and paying them $8mil/year) when the real Garrison Mathews can be had for $2.5 mil this offseason.
Huh? If Amen is running the point, he is going to need a guy that can screen for him (Sengun), guys that can shoot, guys that can cut, and a guy that can be a secondary ball handler. I don't think the Rockets will be basing the pick on existing fit, but if they were, a guy like Sheppard that could fill both the three point shooter and secondary ball handler roles would be a great fit for the offense with Amen running the show. Even with Amen at point, having Sheppard would allow the Rockets to have a different look to still get some plays with Amen cutting. The only thing that doesn't fit is that Sheppard may not be a good POA defender in the NBA. Now if you want to say Jalen....that's a different story. I don't think the Rockets would want Jalen and Sheppard on the floor together for defensive reasons when POA problem gets magnified and Jalen wouldn't give the same different look when Sheppard has the ball.
