It depends on what you mean by that. Sheppard can get his own shot off any time he wants and would kill teams with simple DHO's or essentially anything from the old Warriors playbook. He's also amazing when it comes to creating for teammates in transition as a result of his incredibly high BBIQ. Now he's not going to dribble the ball for 20 seconds then create with his athleticism the way some others would do, but that's not what he's ever been asked to do, and frankly, it's not what I'd want him to do. We have more than enough players who want to dominate the ball all the time as is, we don't need another. Honestly that's what I like about him the most, he's a super selfless player who gets his in the flow of the offense and only takes what is given to him and if he doesn't think he has a good look, he tries to get a better look for someone else by keeping the ball moving. There's plenty of plays where he's showcased his accurate passing with anticipation so that's not really a concern I have. Now I won't be upset if we end up with Risacher, I just don't like his fit with the team or upside quite as much as I like Sheppard's.....but we all know how much of a crapshoot player projections are.
yes Stauskus had out of this world advanced metrics across the board as a freshman!! Oh wait… nvm he didn’t. Reed has better ORtg, better DRtg, nearly twice the assists per possession, over 4x the steals per possession, nearly 3x the block per possession, better 3pt%, better efficiency overall, etc, etc, etc nvm that this is just lazy analysis. Shorter white guy that can shoot 3s - let’s compare them!
Risacher is actually a pretty good passer, just didn't get many chances to show it because they mainly used him off the ball. Both of them have that in their bag. As far as creating their own shots, I think there are some questions about both of them in that area at this stage. Reed because of his lack of height and good-but-not-great quickness, Risacher because he just doesn't seem that comfortable shooting off the dribble at this stage.
This is hilarious to see. The same thing happens to black players in Australia’s football league. Every black player entering the draft/coming via trade is by default a speedy “crafty” pressure player with good “feel” for the game - and will be compared to other black players on the team/throughout the team’s history.
Comparing and contrasting both of them, I think Sheppard is probably the better shooter and passer, but neither of those is guaranteed because of context and sample size issues. Risacher obviously has a massive advantage in height and length and I think will probably be the more-valuable defensive player as a result, but it's not guaranteed because Sheppard does have great stock numbers and appears very disruptive despite his size. On athleticism and basketball IQ it appears to me to be pretty much a draw, or hard to choose a winner. Athleticism is one I had in Risacher's favor until the combine--he's actually pretty athletic and can play above the rim--but Sheppard's excellent vert and pretty good other tests show he's a better athlete than I perceived based on the tape I had watched of both of them. As far as fit on the team, I suppose I can see the argument for Sheppard. In terms of our young core, we are thinner at point guard than we are at small forward. However, I don't see a major problem with getting a small forward. If Amen can basically play 3-4 positions including point guard, Cam is a wing, and Tari is a combo forward, then there are a variety of lineups we can put together once FVV and Dillon depart, with either of these two prospects. Two of our young core are going to have to come off the bench, but that would be the case regardless. The only small thing in Sheppard's favor is that, sure, we currently only have one young guy who can potentially play point guard (Amen), so there's no backup point guard position locked down long-term. However, I'm not that concerned about drafting to fill one specific bench role. We can always get somebody with the MLE or via trade as needed. Or just bring Fred back on a less-costly contract with the understanding that he might have to move to the bench sooner or later, if he's up for it.
While I’m still interested in trading this pick, under the new CBA, you almost have to have an annual draft roster funneling strategy. Churning through rookie scale contracts; buying yourself 4yrs of great production cheap (if you draft well) that ultimately supports your high-paid players. Gotta draft guys. It’s okay to skip a year if you have a ton of youth like we do, but that was the one thing I didn’t like about Morey. He ignored the draft. The new kings of the CBA will be the teams that preserve draft picks and draft well.
Man, this thread blew up. I like Sheppard but fear he may be getting a little bit overrated and may be an excellent player or a very good role player depending on his floor/ceiling, but he has athleticism, special shooting, good passing, and defensive effort. But I just wonder if he shies from contact with a low free throw rate and Dillingham has a better bag (but very bad defense at times) and had a larger offensive role on the same team. Clingan is a safe pick IMO, and he can contribute right away, we can go with a huge lineup of Clingan, Sengun, and Jabari for other giant lineups line Minnesota or rotate bodies on Jokic. But I think you can find that guy in free agency and we have Adams who will likely be better barring health in the beginning. He'll be a solid double-double with defense or a 20-25 mpg backup center possibly if health isn't that great. People are really sleeping on Cody Williams IMO, he injured his ankle to end the year and it affected his numbers. His bag and efficiency were great at that point. He's taller than his brother Jalen and has better numbers at that age, he is a sleeper for sure and I would be glad to pick him up or trade to get him if he slips. I want Sarr in this draft as he'd be great long-term for this team, but I'd be okay with others like Sheppard, Topic might become a star depending on his shot and how well he adjusts to the NBA. Matas could develop as well if he puts it together and is an upside guy. This draft is a bigger crap shoot than others already are. I need more info about Risacher as I don't know if he's soft mentally, but he has the tools to be successful.
No offense ATW, but I always kind of dislike these kinds of comparisons. (You've also posted these with Alpi and Jokic.) I do appreciate the work you put in to go grab the data and post it in a digestible way, but there are so many confounding factors at play. Growth is not always linear--different players grow in different ways, and some of them don't grow noticeably at all, or even regress; comparing between different periods changes the scoring context; and, in college, different conferences can be wildly different in many ways. As far as this specific example, Nash wasn't the Nash we think of when he first stepped into the league. He nearly doubled his assist average per possession going from his first four seasons to his peak years. He displayed tremendous, unusual amounts of growth over the course of his career. I don't think we can assume the same for Sheppard. Scouting and watching the tape plays such a huge role in prospect evaluation precisely for the reasons I mentioned--there are too many confounding factors to be able to simply rely on the stats.
Nash was largely the same player at Dallas as he was at Phoenix, the difference was D’Antoni’s system and having the perfect complimentary players in STAT, Marion, Bell, Barbs, Johnson etc .. Prime young STAT was the best offensive big in the league. If STAT wasn’t injury prone or suspended for the Spurs series the Suns would have a couple of rings.
Overrated or not he is the picture perfect player to fit in with the Rockets. He and Jabari both can hit shots and don’t need the ball. You have to have those guys to maximize Amen. The synergy is there 100 %. I also think he would help Sengun and Green creating space helping convert the passes. Imagine a different look with a lineup with: Amen Reed Cam Eason Jabari -or- Amen Reed Cam Jabari/Eason Adams After subbing off Brooks/FVV/Green/Sengun It’s a young bench but it has shooting for days.
We need players that can shoot, play defense, and don't need to dominate the ball to contribute. In short, we need Sheppard.
I don’t think he was saying Sheppard is Steph Curry. He was asked for an example of someone that is smaller, a great shooter but not a great playmaker. I personally think Sheppard’s playmaking is underrated. He isn’t Magic Johnson or John Stockton or Rajon Rondo - but he is very solid, makes the right passes and anticipates well…. In 2024, that makes a pretty good point guard.
I just watched a bunch of Sheppard’s highschool clips where he was played on ball a lot more, he averaged about 25 ppg on 40% 3pt shooting his junior and senior season. Yeah I’m convinced now. The 3 point shooting is obviously the main draw but that is actually the least interesting aspect of his game. If we were only talking about shooting then I can get the other white guy comps like Reddick. But when Udoka talks about contributing in other ways besides scoring (referring to Jalen), Sheppard’s face is in the dictionary for that. The unselfishness and ball movement on offense, the elite disruptive event creator on defense. But the highschool film suggests the lowest hanging fruit for his upside is scalability of his on ball creation. He shot 50% from 3 in college because the creation burden was on others, he mostly only took “good shots”. Scale that up to his highschool shot diet and you will still have a 40% 3 point shooter on much higher volume, which will give him the ability to play point guard at the next level. Sheppard is Sengun all over again, for the love of god Stone just listen to your analytics team and don’t fk this up.
