I’m definitely a Kentucky homer and I’ll admit the Steve Nash comps are ridiculous. I think Dillingham will be a way better pick if ur looking at offense but Shepard is the better fit for us. I think ur not going to go wrong with either one but Steve Nash is one of the best to ever do it.
well there were also 16 teams that passed on Tari Eason. There are some among us that do know ball, or do know pattern recognition
People using “wHy DoN’t EvErYoNe RaTe HiM #1?!” against Sheppard when one of the best players on our team is undrafted. Curry went after Thabeet and Nash went in the mid-teens by the way.
Bruh, two teams passed on Michael Jordan, including this one ( granted far more justified) effectively three teams passed on Luka Doncic Any reasonably honest person who has followed the NBA drafts for more than a year or two will understand that 1. everyone will get a lot of guys wrong in both directions, including all the professional scouts and GM 2. there’s always going to be differences in opinions and that’s perfectly normal 3. every draft will see at least 1/3 of first rounder completely bust ( never a rotation player for a real team) and well over half being relative bust ( high pick who’s only ok) this the bar you’re looking at
I'd draft him if his offense can translate to the NBA. Rockets really need a knock down shooter to help space the floor. Then again with Wemby in the Rockets division and conference the rockets could also do with some length, so drafting Sarr if he falls to 3 or Clingan would also be something to contemplate. Tough decisions will need to be made.
Shepherd FLOOR is Steve Kerr or JJ Reddick, his ceiling is unknown if he can play the point he might be something special ala Nash. DD
They aren't much if any better than us fans ..... more than half of all lottery picks fail and an even greater number of picks beyond that .... and they fail at that rate with much more information than we get.
I agree but I think the difference is that they do not set up forums to talk a pick into fruition or talk a pick into being a failure..... Sam Presti-ge said it the best, he himself and scouts do not know anything but some guess right.
His ceiling is a HOF PG who has the most assists and steals in the history of the NBA? Sounds reasonable
There is actually a poor man's Steve Nash in this draft and I think they said his name was Tyler Kolek. Out of Marquette. (Playing style - Floor general)
Nah that's illogical. They are better than fans, by a substantial margin, regardless of how fans like to delude themselves. I'd interpret that slightly different, in that player evaluation is very hit and miss, but I'd wager that if you actually checked the "success" rate of scout predictions to forum fan predictions, the scouts make the average forum fan look worse than DD.
This is a risk with him, for sure. But its worth noting, you've already drafted at 2 and 3, Jalen Green and Jabari Smith... who objectively have been awful players so far. And they didn't have the "small white guy" risk. There are risks with every player. As far as the small white guy risk.... Reed is clearly the cream of the crop of the comparisons you brought up. Payton - playing at Oregon - never had the type of season Reed just had. There are some similarities in their stats for sure - not for Payton as a freshman though but in his upperclass years. But on an advanced stat basis, never got to Reed's level of impact, shooting efficiency, or remotely close to his steal/block rates and defense. A 20mp bench player giving you 10/3/3 with incredible 3 point shooting and solid defense thus impacting winning very highly?? [eg. Pritchard this year] There's no way around that being pretty disappointing for the 3rd pick. We'd ABSOLUTELY be better off trading it, or pickign someone with an equivalent floor and higher ceiling. But there's also the MUCH higher ceiling potential for Reed. The one where he becomes FVV plus plus. And then there's the lower floor potential of the other options. It's a tough one for sure. Onus on the Rockets scouting to not f'it up!
Sheppard's style is more like Curry than Nash (or Stockton). Just to be clear before you slam me, I am NOT saying that he will become any of those guys. Just about style. Nash is a pure PG who happens to be a great shooter. He doesn't take a lot of shots, always looks to set the team up. His career FGA is 10.6, APG 8.5. Curry is a shooter who can handle the ball. He always looks to shoot first. But he can also pass if it produces a better shot. His career FGA is 17.9, APG 6.4. Sheppard is a shooter who can also make the right pass in the Curry mode. Again, not saying he will become Curry 2.0. But if you want to compare archetype, he's closer to Curry than Nash.
Hmm, how about we use the objective standard of wanting your #2 overall drafted SHOOTING guard to be top 100 in the league in FG% or 3 point % or TS% at some point in their first 3 seasons. Sound good?
Apparently scoring more 40 pt games on high efficiency at your age than 99.99999999999999999% of all NBA players is objectively awful.
Do people expect 19-21 year olds to be high volume high usage winners or else they are busts? Victor Wembeyana, the generational all time rookie literally had the same exact adjusted ts% as rookie Green as a 7'5" big.
