{"id":88224,"date":"2024-07-31T16:11:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T20:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88224"},"modified":"2024-07-31T16:57:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T20:57:54","slug":"nba-executives-make-their-predictions-for-rookie-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/31\/nba-executives-make-their-predictions-for-rookie-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Executives Make Their Predictions For Rookie of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2024 NBA Draft received a lot of flak for not being littered with star prospects. However, a number of players look like they\u2019ll go on to have long and successful careers. Indeed, in a survey of NBA executives, one Eastern Conference executive stated that Houston Rockets guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sheppre01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reed Sheppard<\/a> \u201chas a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/insider\/story\/_\/id\/40676332\/2024-nba-draft-executives-debate-espn-poll-rookies-year-best-picks-summer-league\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chance to be<\/a> an All-Star down the road,\u201d per ESPN\u2019s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c\u2026Sheppard is going to help Houston right away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>NBA Executives Make Their Predictions For Rookie of the Year<\/h2>\n<p>Selected with the No. 3 pick, Sheppard had already won over draft scouts and a large swath of college fans in Kentucky. But after averaging 20.0 points, 5.3 assists, 2.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game on 50.0 percent shooting in the Las Vegas Summer League, he caught the eye of even casual fans.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Best of Reed Sheppard: 2024 NBA Summer League Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mt15VZcyDY0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now, he\u2019s arguably the most popular rookie in the class.<\/p>\n<h3>Reed Sheppard\u2019s Rookie Season Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>Heading into next season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vanvlfr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fred VanVleet<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> are projected to start in the backcourt. Consequently, Sheppard will likely come off the bench to start his career. However, the Rockets clearly <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/03\/rockets-lack-commitment-key-players-could-backfire\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">have mixed feelings<\/a> about Green, whose feel for the game is a notch under the rookie\u2019s. At 6-foot-2, he may lack enough size to be a full-time off-guard. Nonetheless, as long as Houston is unsure of Green\u2019s future with them, Sheppard could have higher usage than a backup normally would.<\/p>\n<p>If so, he\u2019ll likely be a finalist for the 2024 Rookie of the Year Award. In fact, in ESPN\u2019s poll, Sheppard was voted as the most likely to come away with the honor at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<h3>The Betting Favorite<\/h3>\n<p>Memphis Grizzlies center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edeyza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Edey<\/a> also turned heads in Summer League, leading to oddsmakers projecting him to win the 2024 Rookie of the Year Award. However, he came in second in the NBA executive\u2019s voting.<\/p>\n<p>A two-time AP Player of the Year at Purdue, Edey was selected ninth overall. His Summer League output was more muted than Sheppard\u2019s due to injury. In two games, he averaged 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per contest.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zach Edey makes his Summer League DEBUT! 14 PTS, 15 REB &amp; 4 BLK  \ud83d\udd25\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R1cjXS4XLqs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, he played completely different styles in those games. In the opener, he was a rim-runner, showing off his understated motor and athleticism. In his next game, he played with his back to the basket, scoring easily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was at the Utah Summer League and was so impressed by how much [Edey&#8217;s] game translates,\u201d a voter said.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHe&#8217;s in incredible shape and is going to be such a weapon in pick-and-roll with NBA spacing with the way he catches and finishes. He&#8217;s way more athletic than people realize, and his sheer will is going to get him a bunch of 20-plus-10 outings before New Year&#8217;s, is my prediction. There&#8217;s not really another true center on the Grizzlies roster to compete with him for playing time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Advantage Zach Edey?<\/h3>\n<p>As noted, Edey has an advantage over Sheppard in that he\u2019s projected to be the starter. Furthermore, he has enough low-post skill to justify the Grizzlies mixing it up and playing to his strengths. As a result, he could be featured at least as much as Sheppard on a deep Rockets team.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, Sheppard won\u2019t just be contending with VanVleet and Green for opportunities to make his presence felt. With 2023 No. 4 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompam01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amen Thompson<\/a> and 2023 No. 20 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitmca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Whitmore<\/a> projected to come off the bench, they\u2019ll want touches as well. Meanwhile, though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> is sure to play minutes at center, his rebounding deficiencies limit the amount of time he\u2019d ideally play in the middle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2024 NBA Draft received a lot of flak for not being littered with star prospects. However, a number of players look like they\u2019ll go on to have long and successful careers. Indeed, in a survey of NBA executives, one Eastern Conference executive stated that Houston Rockets guard Reed Sheppard \u201chas a chance to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":88267,"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":[556,1608,31,32,62,3],"tags":[3256,1143,98,49134,4741],"class_list":["post-88224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba-draft","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-news","tag-jalen-green","tag-nba-awards","tag-nba-draft","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-zach-edey"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88224","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=88224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}