Reed Shepherd is among the most proficient gamers within the 2024 draft class.
He has a powerful school profession on the College of Kentucky, and he was named this 12 months’s freshman for his unbelievable efficiency.
The Houston Rockets noticed his promise and determined to decide on him third general within the 2024 draft.
In his rookie season, Reed Shepherd was juggling between the NBA and G-League so he did not get any minutes.
He solely began three video games for the Rockets final season, however was impressed by the restricted minutes Imeudoka performed him.
The Rockets common supervisor praised Shepherd, however revealed why he’s completely different from the opposite lottery tickets.
Since Ime Udoka arrived, there was cultural change in Houston, with the primary purpose profitable.
The coach treats all gamers the identical and expects everybody to offer all of it to the crew.
This led them to complete second within the West final season. That is one of many the reason why Shepherd discovered it troublesome to enter the rocket rotation.
Talking about Shepherd and his expertise, Raphael Stone stated: “I believe I am hoping he’ll accumulate final 12 months. He is been sneaking up all 12 months spherical, so he is actually snug in the course of this 12 months, and his play actually begins to enhance and we have been in a position to give him some additional minutes.
“He has some particular defensive instruments so he wants to mix them tightly and he helps him work on being stable and bodily all through the summer time.”
Shepherd performed in the summertime league and confirmed why he was the third general decide in simply two video games.
Stone has revealed that Shepherd is all the time nice, however in contrast to different lottery picks, Rocket does not have the posh of enjoying him persistently on account of playoff ambitions.
“It is simply that lead must take a step. I believe he is actually proficient, however in the event you’re a prime 3, 4, 5 decide, the crew that chooses you particularly is the lottery crew, they usually’ve received the possibility to provide the ball and play via errors they usually could not give it to him,” Rockets GM added.
The Rockets are heading for an important season. They’re set to compete for the championship with Kevin Durant main the best way for them.
Additionally they have issues like Amen Thompson and Alperen Senggan.
Nonetheless, their chief within the backcourt is Fred Vanvriet, however Shepherd was in a position to shortly take over the reins from him.
He’s an athletic level guard and presents a variety of defensive solidity as nicely. So Udoka will likely be eager to offer him extra minutes subsequent season.
Shepherd, who has proven a lot endurance in creating his sport in his newcomer 12 months, is about to showcase the Rockets’ expertise subsequent season.
Whereas gamers can’t be judged based mostly on their efficiency within the Summer season League, his restricted minutes within the NBA have been sufficient to grasp that Shepherd was prepared and solely a nod from his coach was wanted.
