Sheppard it is for me!
It’s draft season, and the 2024 SB Nation Mock Draft is upon us. One of the positives of the Rockets rebuilding over the past several years is that I actually get to make some selections in this thing. When Daryl Morey was running the show, the Rockets almost never picked in the first round, so I had to sit out these mocks. It’s been different under Rafael Stone. I’ve had picks galore!
But for this year’s edition, I took Reed Sheppard with the third overall pick. Alex Sarr went first and Zacharie Rissacher went second, leaving me to decide between Sheppard, Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle and Matas Buzelis. Sheppard is the pick for me.
If I’m the Rockets, I look to trade this pick for future draft assets or even package it up for superstar (not Paul George, please), but for our purposes, we’re not able to trade because it could make a mess of things in the mock. If the Rockets stand pat, there’s no better choice than Sheppard.
He’s one of, if not the best shooter in the draft, coming off of a season at Kentucky in which he shot 52 percent from downtown. That’s Houston’s top need right now. And he’s also regarded as an active defender, despite being undersized at 6’3”. He averaged over 2 steals per game last season.
The 19-year-old can also spend time at backup point guard, learning behind Fred Van Vleet. As Amen Thompson develops, his position looks like it can become more and more nebulous, and the Rockets will be in need of a legit backup at the one, especially with Aaron Holiday expected to move on. Sheppard is far from a dynamic playmaker, but he can be a dependable one, as evidenced by his 4.5 assists per game at Kentucky.
The rest of the SB Nation Site Manager Mock Draft can be found here.
Let me know in the comments what you think of my selection.