Houston Rockets • Selected Reed Sheppard (No. 3) • Acquired A.J. Griffin from ATL for No. 44 Yet again, the Rockets put together one of my favorite drafts of the cycle. This is at least the third year in a row. I’m an enormous fan of Reed Sheppard and had him rated at No. 2 on my board. The Kentucky Wildcats were 30 points per 100 possessions better when he was out there, per Pivot Analysis. I bet he will drive winning play in the NBA, too. Players who think the game and shoot like Sheppard — he made over 50 percent of his 3s this year and is one of the best shooting prospects I’ve ever evaluated — have reliably proved to outperform their athletic tools and measurements in the modern NBA. They have too many ways to become good players even if parts of their games don’t translate. Even if Sheppard cannot play point guard full-time, his team could put him next to an elite wing on-ball playmaker and take advantage of the floor-spacing and shooting he’ll provide. Even if Sheppard isn’t always able to collapse defenders, he’ll make early hit-ahead and extra kickout passes to keep defenses in rotation. Defensively, he’s a high-wire act as a playmaker who blocked 0.7 shots per game at 6-foot-2, then also grabbed 2.5 steals per game. There are concerns here. He’s short and can allow perimeter penetration at times. He’ll certainly be hunted in mismatches in the NBA. But he also tends to make havoc-inducing rotations that create problems for offensive players. He’s just a guy that I truly believe in, and I love the fit in Houston. The Rockets needed to add a shooter to their loaded young core of prospects, and they needed another connective tissue player between guys like Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Cam Whitmore and Tari Eason. Putting him in transition with those guys is going to be lethal. Putting him in dribble-hand-off situations with Şengün is going to be exceptionally hard to guard. Defensively, a number of these players have the length and athleticism to cover for him. I love the pick and I love the talent even at his size. They came into the second day with No. 44. Instead of using it to select a player at the draft, they traded it for a young player who has shown promise but fallen out of favor in his previous situation in A.J. Griffin. The No. 16 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Griffin clearly has some talent. During his rookie season playing for Nate McMillan, Griffin flashed regularly as a terrific floor-spacer and shooter who deserved time on the court. From Nov. 19, 2022 to Feb. 26, 2023, Griffin averaged 10 points while shooting 48 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3 and 85 percent from the line in 22 minutes over the course of 45 games. He did that as a teenager. But why is that Feb. 26, 2023 date important? It’s when Quin Snyder was hired in Atlanta. For whatever reason, Griffin just simply fell out of Snyder’s rotation almost immediately. Then on top of that, he dealt with a couple of injuries this season that held him to just 173 minutes played. This is far from a certain bet for the Rockets, but betting on Griffin is a drastically better option than anything the team had available to it at No. 44. He’s still only 20 years old, has two years left on his deal, has real prospect pedigree and talent, and actually played reasonably well for a teenager in the NBA when given a chance. They’ll get every opportunity to look at him over the summer and in training camp. If they find out that Atlanta was right to not play him, they can decline his team option in October and move on by the end of next season. But midway through his rookie year, Griffin had the look of a long-term starter in the NBA. There’s reason to buy into this as a calculated gamble worth taking, hoping that a change of scenery unlocks what made him interesting back then. Grade: A
Cody showing major gaming chops while Sheppard out her looking like he is knocking on doors for the church of latter day saints in the same exact video. Reed needs better P.R., he better hurry up and hire Clingan's team.
David Robinson was something like 5'8" or something as a junior in high school. Even after he graduated, he was only 6-foot-something. So .... Jk... I actually remember reading Sheppard was 6'0" in 8th grade, so I'm not sure how much growing he has left.
Even an extra inch of height does seem to make a lot of difference in that range these days. Just harder to hunt a guy on mismatches if he's around 6'4".
That whole series peaked with Black Ops and fell off precipitously from there, everything past black ops 2 was hot garbage, so the last decade.
Jalen is taller than 6'3 in shoes, and he hasn't done "ok" so far. That said, I'm sure Sheppard will be fine, he actually knows how to play basketball.
He has the court vision to be a very good passer. It's not surprising that he led Kentucky in assists even though he's not the primary ball handler. He doesn't do fancy dribbling but his handles are competent enough to not easily lose the ball in traffic.
He also doesn't attempt crazy/risky passes in traffic. It's no wonder he gets praise from vets like Rondo about his playing style, and Rondo specifically wants his own kids to copy this style. It's very by the book, a lot of his assists just comes come making easy passes to cutters and curls. He knows his limitations and doesn't attempt the Luka/Harden passes. I don't think he will ever reach the level of passing of a Luka,Harden, Haliburton because of his inability to breakdown the defense, but he will definitely be a overall great floor general
