(ESPN) Jeremy Woo: Rockets have interest in Sheppard, with both the FO and ownership intrigued

wait, so... sheppard amirite orwat?

 

With Alpi, Amen, Reed and FVV we will have four extremely smart players on the roster.

Basketball IQ is such an underrated skill.

 

one of the pgs will get traded tho amirite? fvv or amen? at least next off season the latest.

 

But is it possible Jalen Tari and Jabari manage to offset it back to 0??

 

We’re going too off topic, will just respond to this: there’s nothing you’re going to prove from meeting someone for a bit about whether they’re racist. There’s a decade worth of PR, news, reporting and content about who he is as a person and who he says he is - that’s a much better pile of evidence if you had to make a guess.

Like I said, this is a guy who lies staring straight into the camera looking into his clients’ eyes. Has done so with his employees too during covid while he was hiding his money in my tax free city. If I shook his hand, I’d count my fingers after.

 

Tari has amazing instincts.

 

Arguably the best defensive guard in the NBA:

• 6-4.5 height
• 6-5.5 wingspan
• 36 inch vertical
• 2.8 steals and 0.6 blocks Per 40 in College.

Reed Sheppard

• 2.75 Inches Shorter Height
• 2.25 Inches Shorter Wingspan
• 42 inch vertical
• 3.2 steals and 1.0 blocks Per 40 in College

 

I saw an amateur scouting video saying he’s not reliable in POA defense. What would we do with a 6’2 guy that can’t guard PG’s? Can someone share deeper knowledge about his defense?

A 6’2 guy that needs to work on his handle to be a PG and can’t defend PG’s is not ideal to say the least.

Damn I wish his handles were better man. Would fit nicely with Green/Amen/Whitmore, we could have FVV mentor him for one season and he’d be ready to compete with Amen the following season.

Hopefully Sarr or Risacher fall to us so we can avoid these massive risks.

 

OK. True - but

I see him as a gambler who hustles and makes plays. Love his energy!!

But he doesnt exactly scream bball IQ....

 

I think the bottom line is that the better prospects have less holes in their game - they lake less of the table for your team when they are in the game. We know the guy is short so we know he will be at a disadvantage in certain matchups - strike 1, but I think the more important question is - what other holes are in his game? I know both Sam and his podcast mate thinks Reed is a good defender but I have also seen scouting videos say the opposite - that he struggles to stay in front of guys and has a sluggish first step despite having great hands and operating well in passing lanes. I'll admit I haven't watched a ton of video about Reed but Sam seems just a bit higher on Reed than most and I'm having a hard time reconciling between what Vecenie is saying about Reed's limitations past his height vs. the videos you are presented with on youtube scouting videos showing clip after clip of Reed struggling to stay in front of guys in isolation. If he is a size mismatch against 3/4 of the league and struggles to stay in front of the other quarter of guys - that's a different conversation.

I agree with the idea of high skill players being worth a pick - I just don't know Reed's game well enough to know how pervasive are the problems with his physical limitations. Being both short for the league AND not being able to defender faster guys somewhat competently - if you believe those data points are real, it's a much bigger problem and I think that's why I'm struggling with Reed's assessment. Vecenie was a Sengun fan early on - but also thought Garuba defense had real long term upside.

I agree with you - it kind of reminds me of Morey's tactic of looking for undersized people who are nonetheless effective to arrive at high value guys like Chuck Hayes. It's a way of finding value in a league were everyone is competing for the same limited resources of guys who can shoot, defend, and are switchable 1-5.

....the point of the trading down was to pick up useful role players in the trade and taking a flyer on a high upside guys. Again it's based on my feeling that most of the guys in this draft are role players at best - if you or Vecenie think Reed is a mini Steve Nash(those are Vecenie's words), then more power to you. I generally just read the tea leaves of what everyone is saying and elevate the voices of some of the guys who I trust more but I don't subscribe to any one pundit being right most of the time.

I wasn't saying that NY was going to trade Donte - the point was just that there are several guys around the league who are solid starters at the point guard position who shoot and defend and aren't obscenely expensive. We are going to pay Reed $9mil next year as the #3 pick when there are solid PGs who do what we hope Reed will do for $2-$4mil more than what you are going to pay Reed. That's why I'm saying that the value isn't there unless he really is Steve Nash and the odds are FAR more likely that you end up paying Reed almost as much as proven low end PGs who are only slightly more expensive. And for what it's worth, your role players don't have to be on the same age timeline as your core.

Ultimately this returns to the fact that I think Reed is destined to be a role player - maybe a good one, but still a role player. They can't and won't all hit and even if they do, we can't afford them all so if your team is starting to gel now and you think Reed may just ultimately be a role player in the league, just fast forward to the part where you get a solid role player now and start performing well. Why pay Reed almost as much as a role player to learn the job of a role player.....unless you think the ceiling is much higher.

 

Why was it not important again to Reed to not help Kentucky win championships?....oh yeah his dad had a cup of coffee in the league......
Totally about the money and not about winning championships with this collegiate flash in the pan......that many of us here could block his shot.......
I hope I'm wrong.........especially if the Rockets take him.
STILL
Clingan knows what it takes to win.......and that yearning will translate into the NBA.....probably more from day one for Clingan than it may ever be with Segun.....Segun/Sheppard see dollar bills......Clingan see's rings.......let Dream show him a few things........

 

It's worth considering also though, he's not really BEEN a PG before, so might not really have even been the POA defender most of the time. As much as he'll probably have to play as PG in the NBA, he's a SG and has been a SG for years. It's one of the big reasons people need to drop all the Nash/CP3/Curry comparisons and not get so aggressive towards the JJ Redick, Jimmer Fredette etc comparisons, Sheppard is a very small, SG with a phenomenal 3 ball, not some savant PG mastermind with world beating IQ.

 

this is all incorrect

 

Reed is not a perfect prospect, but he's a good enough one at a position of need, and with an elite skill which is also a need, that I'd have no problem at all with taking him at three. He's a damn good basketball player and a MUCH better athlete than he's given credit for. If they keep the pick, I hope they take him.

 

They aren't even trying anymore.

 

Nope. Nice try though. You don't get to just make up nonsense, the internet exists. Everybody can go straight on google and see he's been a SG, never run a team from the point and nowhere near to what y'all are projecting (which is why NO SINGLE EXPERT cosigns the ridiculous comps.)

 

It really is too bad that you never took the time to actually watch what you are trying to discuss. I mean, it's funnier this way with you embarrassing yourself without realizing it, but it would make for better conversation if you were at least a little bit informed about what you are trying to talk about.

 

Damn. I do think he has the ability to develop into a PG though if his mentality is truly “whatever the team needs”.

If his POA defense and handles are weak, he will probably need two years to take over from FVV.

This really negates the idea that he’s so NBA-ready at this age. Sounds like he’s missing core skills for his NBA position like anyone else in the draft.

 

Nah he's NBA ready for what he ACTUALLY projects to be in the NBA: A roleplayer sharpshooter off the bench. Perfect role, exactly what he was born to do and exactly what he projects to do. Once again with feeling: "THIS IS A WEAK AS **** NBA DRAFT, WE'RE NOT GETTING A PROJECTED STAR PLAYER!" Reed's an off-ball shooting threat, ignore the nonsense Nash/Curry/CP3 comps on here, they're literally just fantasy from the same people who gave us such gems as "Sengun's a top 5 player in the league now and will be better than Jokic for sure some day because he has more heart."

 

I think I rate him a bit higher than that. His defense and assist percentage point to something more than a role playing sharp shooter like Kennard or Hield. Defense is half the game, it makes a colossal difference if he can lock down 1’s after some development.

I don’t see a passing savant like I do with Topic, but certainly the ability to be as good a floor general as FVV after 2-3 seasons under Udoka.