Leading a team in assists doesn’t necessarily make someone a natural point guard. Both Sheppard and Dillingham are undersized combo guards. Sheppard was in the mold of an elite shooter, with Dillingham being a microwave scorer, like Lou Williams or a less efficient Collin Sexton.
It doesn't....but if you watched, there was a reason why he lead the team in assists....because he was their PG. Sheppard was in the mold of a traditional PG who could also shoot, Dillingham is the tiny combo guard who is looking for his own shot primarily but will also sometimes pass. Now there were games where roles changed, but that's how it was in most of the games....and both came off the bench because their coach was a moron.
I don't even care about his defense or his playmaking at this point. This guy was drafted near the top because he was supposed to be an amazing shooter. He is not. That's really the long and short (ha) of it for me. He was advertised as having one elite skill, and it just isn't there when the games are real. Last year, his true shooting percentage was 46.5%. Last night, it was 37.5%. That's... not elite. It's not even good. In fact, it's well below average! Among our active roster, only Eason has a worse TS%. Why waste time trying to turn him into a competent defender if his shooting is a fraud? I'm begging him to show any sign that our "elite shooter," "Cocaine Curry" can shoot better than 33% from three over an NBA season. If he can't do it this year, then I foresee he's gonna make some Italian team very happy sometime real soon.
He is small. Ideally, he would be 2-3 inches taller and have a reach 6-7 inches longer. Having said that, there are a players with a similar profile size wise that have had success on the defensive side.
This post explains my feelings on him currently more than I ever could. You're right, his elite shooting was supposed to be what made up for everything else and I must admit he does have the prettiest looking shot I've ever seen that doesn't go in the basket.
That is true - but I would point out that Steve Nash was a sophomore at a tiny college at the same age as Reed and had almost as many turnovers as assists....... and John Stockton was about to start his first game at Gonzaga. None of this is to say that Sheppard will be as good as Stockton or Nash, as those guys are both top 50-75 all time players...... but neither of those guys were all that great at the same age, but they kept improving year after year.... and both guys did not do anything special until they spent four years in college and four years in the NBA. So - I don't know what the future holds for Sheppard, and at some point he will have to play well more consistently........ but his future isn't written in stone yet. Having said that - the Rockets hubris was adding Capela and not addressing the ball handling issue.
Yup - I don't think his shooting was supposed to make up for everything else, as he does have other skills...... but he was supposed to bring high efficiency shooting to the table and then BUILD onto that, with his ability to come around screens, his creativity in the lane and his quick hands...... instead he ends up shooting too inconsistently from the perimeter to do much else. Very frustrating.
All the other standout skills he was supposed to have aren't there either though. 42 inch vert? Barely looks like he has hops. Athletic and agile for his size? Nope, slow footed, gets blown by with ease. Quick hands sure, but lots of kids swipe at balls in basketball, it doesn't make them good defenders. People criticised the Redick comparison? He should be so lucky tbh, JJ was **** too coming in but he still shot 41/38/90 as a benchwarmer rookie. Just a thought.
Reed is the fakest 6'2 I've ever seen. The players he's guarding treat him like he's 5'10. I've been saying it since predraft but that giant head really saved his measurements.
Rockets hired the wrong Coach Ime Udoka for Reed Sheppard. Should've gone after Mike Dantoni. Mike Dantoni has boosted Steve Nash, James Harden Career to MVP Level. Jeremy Lin to Near All Star with the Knicks.
His hands are pretty special, and his vertical has shown in his very high block percentage. He gets a lot of steals and disruptions. He also is very good at cutting with the basketball off screens. He actually shot well at the rim last season, he was around 70% if I remember right. His struggles were..... shooting the ball, he shoot really poorly from the middle of the court and was mediocre from 3. Some of that can be written off with small sample sizes, but some of it is that he just hasn't shot well enough from the field. The comparison to Reddick was fine as medium outcome, most of the complaints were viewing that as a ceiling - because Sheppard had more upside (and I still think he does). Having said that, if his career ends up like JJ's, then that is a good outcome. I want to make clear, I am not defending the performance of Reed through one season. His shooting has been unexpectedly bad, and he has been inconsistent as well. However he also hasn't played a lot, doesn't have a lot of career field goal attempts, and is entering his second season so I am not ready to write off him becoming a really useful and good player. Late last season I said to @Deuce if the draft were done over, that I would take Castle over him because of the inconsistent shooting of Sheppard....... and I would still do that, but Sheppard hasn't played enough to say he is toast yet.
I can appreciate your perspective on it. I just don't feel like we have time to be messing around to see if he'll end up serviceable. We had more time before Fred went out but KD is still on the wrong side of 35 and every big bump, little stumble or whatever makes me wince. We need to maximise this little window we've given ourselves and OKC are dynasty-worthy. Reed needs to go, if Tari can't get in line he probably needs to go too. And we should probably be shopping around to see what we can flip Capela, Unc, Tate and whoever fits least of the bootleg-Terror Twin knockoff players we stacked up on so that we can bolster this roster as soon as we're able. Otherwise I don't think we'll even get to the conference semis, the offense looks too out of control to compete with real playoff basketball.
