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

And Dillingham's at rim finishing was weaker than Sheppard even though he has a better "bag" of ball handling.

 

What makes you think Reed doesn't have the ball handling?

 

So Curry and Sheppard have the same height and wingspan, while Sheppard has a much higher vert and got a lot more steals and blocks in college.

 

Maybe he does but it wasn’t on display in college.

 

Probably lack of watching his games.

 

TJ McConnell played great for the Pacers in the playoffs

Reed is definitely capable with a way better jump shot

 

A lot of guys make all star teams one or two years and never again but let's be clear that there is a difference between drafting guys like Victor Oladipo, Jamaal Magliore, and Darius Garland and drafting real talent you build around. Garland made the All Star game and got a contract extension immediately after....and now is on the trade block because they upgraded at their first opportunity to.

...and I'm not saying there won't be all stars in this draft - but all allstars are not created equal and you know that.

 

I think the question is - would be willing to take TJ with the 3rd pick if he were a better shooter.

 

What you said was that you don’t see this draft having any starters on a good team and then named 3 guys who’ve all been starters on good teams which has nothing to do with all stars being equal while simultaneously naming a guy who was a top 15 mvp candidate and was turning into one of these best players in the league until injuries derailed his career. Olidipo doesn’t help your case at all.

You also ignored the part about there usually being at least one player to make All NBA per draft.

Again, the odds of this being a draft full of guys who aren’t “long term starters” or “Jose Alvarado” level players is slim to none.

 

I don't think this part can be stated enough.

Same kinda goes for Cody Williams and a huge part of why I have him in my top 5.


Both of these kids shoot the lights out and almost never take a bad shot, rather they make the connective play.

You can't miss the bad shot you don't take and that's a good thing, yet some complain about lack of volume instead of realizing it's part of the efficiency.

Sheppard is such a good shooter that teams are going to have to close out on him hard and that's going to create a lot of opportunities for everyone - because of his connective ability.

That's winning basketball.

 

If we move down Williams is a guy I like a lot. Not opposed to Carter or DIllingham with a move down either.

I’d rather stay put and take Reed, but I won’t cry about a move down If they get good value.

 

If TJ McConnell was a great shooter, my god... He would be ridiculously good... The answer is yes.

 

You need to watch the association more.

 

No, you need to not speak on things you have zero clue about

 

The Celtics won the title because the Mavericks said "were gonna make Jaylen Brown beat us". And Jayson Tatum said "fine." He became a connective piece and they won a title.

 

I never once said there would be NO stars from this draft - this is you trying to paint in black and white. I'm just saying, this is a weak draft - the guys you are normally choosing between at the #3 is not the same quality as the guys you are in a normal draft. If it makes you feel any better - let me clarify - this is a draft that starts around the 6th or 7th pick of a normal draft and with Houston picking 3rd that means this would be similar to a 9th/10th pick in a more loaded draft. If you google 'expected value of NBA draft picks' there is a ton of data to support that historically the expected win share career value from the 3rd pick is nearly twice as great of that of the 10th pick. The quality of pick matters and that's why it's important to note that the draft tiers in this years draft start significantly lower than most drafts of recent memory.

There are good players to be had, but the point was that the odds of having an opportunity to pick an all star are much lower when you are picking that low and the reality is, those are more often starters or role players. Mikal Bridges was the 10th pick in his draft - nice player who I would want on my team...but not even a lower tiered All Star. Divencenzo and Alvaro were just examples of shorter players who exhibit similar shooting/defensive abilities as Reed in particular since he is the presumptive pick here. I see those as his floor and have said many times your belief in how good Reed is depends on your view of his ceiling. I personally think his floor is higher than those two guys but not significantly higher and the reason why that's important is because you need to ask yourself - if you just drafted Donte Divencenzo with the 3rd pick - is that a good use of that pick?

 

The Celtics won the title because they completely neutralized Dallas' best defensive player preventing him from being a helper and then they let whomever had the better matchup of what was left cook with lesser help side defenders left to rotate. Part of that is because Boston has multiple guys offensively who exploit matchups (and a coach who trusts the ball in the hands of guys like Horford just as much as guys like Tatum), but it was also a test of the term "you are only as strong as your weakest link" and we found out guys like Luka and Washington struggle in helper roles.

They truly played as a team and didn't build an offense around singular players - that's the lesson to learn from this team and how easily they cut through most of the competition. That is why they went 16-3. It didn't always look pretty, but when you are 16-3 in the playoffs, you can't argue with the results.

 

I have a strong suspicion that all you guys calling this a weak draft are going to be eating crow after a couple years.

Sure, there may be no Lebron who's guaranteed to be a star from the word go but there's a dozen dudes that have star potential.

What this draft has more of than any other in my nearly 60 years of watching the NBA is shooters. There's a dozen dudes that shoot 50/40/XX.

All of these dudes shoot .40 or better from distance.
Sheppard
Cody Williams
Rob Dillingham
Risacher
Jared McCain
Kyshawn George
Kel'el Ware
KJ Simpson
Jaylen Wells
Pelle Larsson
Jalen Bridges
Cam Spencer
Antonio Reeves
Isaiah Crawford

All of these are a hair away from .40. and this is just out of the top 50 list.
Dalton Knecht (.398)
Tristan da Silva (.395)
Ajay Mitchell (.393)
Tyler Kolek (.388)
DaRon Holmes II (.386)
Baylor Scheierman (.381)
Cam Christie (.391)


This is a very deep draft and you see the impact current players are having on the future.

There's going to be dudes that are allstars in this draft and a few more that carve out decade long careers.

 

So was this a done deal once the ownership group traveled to LA to meet with Reed?