{"id":85902,"date":"2024-07-14T17:51:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-14T21:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=85902"},"modified":"2024-07-14T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T21:51:09","slug":"rockets-promising-guard-reed-sheppard-fred-vanvleet-comparisons-to-nba-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/14\/rockets-promising-guard-reed-sheppard-fred-vanvleet-comparisons-to-nba-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Promising Rockets\u2019 Guard Earns Comparisons to NBA Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets had keyed in on former Kentucky guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sheppre01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reed Sheppard<\/a> ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>There was a chance that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/26\/2024-nba-draft-hawks-choosing-between-2-prospects-at-no-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">he could go No. 1<\/a> to the Atlanta Hawks, a team that needed to rework their backcourt. The San Antonio Spurs, who had the No. 4 and No. 8 picks, were interested in Sheppard as well. Notably, they were <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/13\/2024-nba-draft-spurs-discussing-trade-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">also linked to<\/a> the Hawks in trade talks for the No. 1 pick. Yet, unlike 2022 \u2014when the Orlando Magic snatched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/banchpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paolo Banchero<\/a> right out of their hands \u2014the Rockets didn\u2019t have to move to Plan B.<\/p>\n<p>Houston got their man. Kentucky native Isaiah Reed Sheppard, whose father (Jeff) had a brief stint with the Hawks, was selected third overall. What\u2019s happened in the short time since has only confirmed what Rockets general manager Rafael Stone believed.<\/p>\n<h2>Rockets\u2019 Reed Sheppard Earns Fred VanVleet Comparisons<\/h2>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5634721\/2024\/07\/13\/reed-sheppard-rockets-nba-summer-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">He was just steady<\/a>,\u201d Rockets Summer League head coach Garrett Jackson said of Sheppard after his first Summer League game, per The Athletic\u2019s Kelly Iko.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet the game come to him, making the right reads. Any time we could get him playing pick-and-roll in space, especially high on the court, he was able to make reads, attack bigs, pull up and shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard was PHENOMENAL in his <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBA2KSummerLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NBA2KSummerLeague<\/a> debut leading the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@HoustonRockets<\/a> to victory! \ud83d\ude80<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\ude80 23 PTS<br \/>\n\ud83d\ude80 5 AST<br \/>\n\ud83d\ude80 4 REB<br \/>\n\ud83d\ude80 3 BLK<br \/>\n\ud83d\ude80 4 3PM <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mI7d3MkiNz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/mI7d3MkiNz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1811944989984731215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 13, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose types of instincts kind of remind me of Fred (VanVleet),\u201d Jackson continues. \u201cFred\u2019s not the tallest guy, but he\u2019s very smart. Defensively, he\u2019s got quick hands and knows how to jump lanes. Reed is very similar.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Fred VanVleet\u2019s Replacement?<\/h3>\n<p>In many ways, Sheppard simply complements what the Rockets already have.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s an intelligent and crafty combo guard who\u2019s efficient on offense and effective on defense. This helps him balance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vanvlfr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fred VanVleet<\/a>, a more experienced playmaker, but one who doesn\u2019t score consistently inside the arc. He\u2019s also the yin to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a>\u2019s yang, Green possessing an athleticism Sheppard can only dream of while the rookie thrives off of technical precision.<\/p>\n<p>In projecting his future outlook, Sheppard could thrive as a sixth man. Indeed, coming in to spell VanVleet or Green, he could excel in that role for the reasons listed above. Yet, interestingly, most teams have the best defensive guard coming off the bench because of their offensive deficiencies.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Sheppard could be better in the first unit.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, all eyes are on Green if Sheppard is in line for a promotion. For years, the Rockets <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/03\/rockets-lack-commitment-key-players-could-backfire\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">have waffled on<\/a> the former No. 2 pick. Unlike Sheppard or VanVleet, he\u2019s not steady. In fact, his game-by-game performances are like rocket ships; explosive and perhaps on the brink of history, but volatile and prone to destruction.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Sheppard\u2019s comparisons to VanVleet are no accident. Like VanVleet, Sheppard lacks the ideal height for an off-guard at 6-foot-2. However, he has a high enough basketball IQ for him to be a lead guard. Furthermore, VanVleet has a team option on his contract for 2025-26. With that being said, he may be training his replacement this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets had keyed in on former Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft. There was a chance that he could go No. 1 to the Atlanta Hawks, a team that needed to rework their backcourt. The San Antonio Spurs, who had the No. 4 and No. 8 picks, were interested [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":85903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[1244,3256,98,1224,49134],"class_list":["post-85902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-fred-vanvleet","tag-jalen-green","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-summer-league","tag-reed-sheppard"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}