Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham - 2024 NBA Draft

[Chi town]

Could Shepherd play PG as a 3D PG secondary playmaker next to a true first option?

I think his D will play in the league as D at PG is a big asset. Haven’t seen him enough in the PNR to see what he can do. He’s a good glue connector passer.

[BlazersBroncos]

Could Shepherd play PG as a 3D PG secondary playmaker next to a true first option?

I think his D will play in the league as D at PG is a big asset. Haven’t seen him enough in the PNR to see what he can do. He’s a good glue connector passer.

Thats the role he is made for IMO - albeit he may be destined to be a 3rd guard and 1st guard off the bench IMO.

Think he goes pretty high but is the type that is meant to be on a good team as a utility guy.

Bucking the white-on-white trend he could be a bigger Greg Anthony. Elite defensive instincts, elite motor, good enough to be secondary ballhandler, can hit a 3, super high character and like Greg may be best as 1st guard off the bench.

[MemphisX]

Could Shepherd play PG as a 3D PG secondary playmaker next to a true first option?

I think his D will play in the league as D at PG is a big asset. Haven’t seen him enough in the PNR to see what he can do. He’s a good glue connector passer.

The perfect spot for him would be Minnesota.

[treefi]

If people think Reed Sheppard can play PG in the NBA, he's a lottery pick in 2024.

[JMAC3]

I haven't watched much of Sheppard but he is shooting 61% from three and isn't breaking 14 ppg. Doesn't really speak that well for him once his shooting normalizes. Way too early, way too lazy comp but is he better prospect than Grayson Allen?

[Hal14]

If people think Reed Sheppard can play PG in the NBA, he's a lottery pick in 2024.

I don't think he's a true full-time starting PG in the NBA. More like a secondary ball handler. Someone who can play mostly off ball, act as a secondary ball handler but have times here and there where he can slide over to play PG in spurts. Kind of like how guys like Derrick White, Danny Ainge, Patty Mills, Andrew Nembhard, Seth Curry have been used on offense..

With that being said, I do currently have him as a lottery pick (#11 on my board).

I think a guy who is like a slightly shorter version of derrick white/danny ainge is good enough to go lottery - especially in a draft class that is weaker at the top.

I mean, the closest comp for him might be Cason Wallace. Wallace went lottery and has done great so far for OKC. The next closest comp might be Kobe Bufkin, who also went lottery. Bufkin is a couple inches taller than Sheppard, but I think overall he could be a similar level as a prospect.

[FarBeyondDriven]

If people think Reed Sheppard can play PG in the NBA, he's a lottery pick in 2024.

that's a big if. He's not an NBA athlete. I seriously doubt any of what you're seeing would translate due to that and his size. At least not in a starting role. He just doesn't have that start/stop quickness you see in guys his size that make it as starters in the NBA like Steph, Brunson, and Trae. I see him as a Pritchard or Podziemski level prospect. 20 mpg and off the bench contributor. The classic better college player than pro. But I do like him. He's got no shot at being a lottery pick

[Chi town]

If people think Reed Sheppard can play PG in the NBA, he's a lottery pick in 2024.

I don't think he's a true full-time starting PG in the NBA. More like a secondary ball handler. Someone who can play mostly off ball, act as a secondary ball handler but have times here and there where he can slide over to play PG in spurts. Kind of like how guys like Derrick White, Danny Ainge, Patty Mills, Andrew Nembhard, Seth Curry have been used on offense..

With that being said, I do currently have him as a lottery pick (#11 on my board).

I think a guy who is like a slightly shorter version of derrick white/danny ainge is good enough to go lottery - especially in a draft class that is weaker at the top.

I mean, the closest comp for him might be Cason Wallace. Wallace went lottery and has done great so far for OKC. The next closest comp might be Kobe Bufkin, who also went lottery. Bufkin is a couple inches taller than Sheppard, but I think overall he could be a similar level as a prospect.

Agree. His D will play at PG. I think he’s best at Pg due to size next to a lead handler at SG.

[Hal14]

He's not an NBA athlete.

I disagree. Sheppard has sneaky athleticism. Maybe you just haven't watched him that much. IMO, his athleticism is in the ballpark as guys like Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Alex Caruso, Bruce Brown etc.

The classic better college player than pro. But I do like him. He's got no shot at being a lottery pick

Disagree.

I definitely wouldn't write him off so early in the draft cycle - especially with this being a weaker draft class at the top. He could certainly end up being a lottery pick.

Read on Twitter

[FarBeyondDriven]

He's not an NBA athlete.

I disagree. Sheppard has sneaky athleticism. Maybe you just haven't watched him that much. IMO, his athleticism is in the ballpark as guys like Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Alex Caruso, Bruce Brown etc.

The classic better college player than pro. But I do like him. He's got no shot at being a lottery pick

Disagree.

I definitely wouldn't write him off so early in the draft cycle - especially with this being a weaker draft class at the top. He could certainly end up being a lottery pick.

Read on Twitter

I doubt anyone on these boards has watched more college ball and Kentucky in particular than me. He's the worst athlete among the Kentucky guards. Reeves, Dillingham and even Wagner (who doesn't have even average NBA athleticism) are better athletes. He's very smart with great anticipation though and he's a decent athlete for college which is why he has been an effective defender but the NBA is a different beast. Every one of those players you mentioned is a much better athlete with much better size and length. He's not in their leagues. He's not even in the Grayson Allen or DiVencenzo tier of athletes and they both have better size than him as well.

The draft will play out and somewhere in the mid-teens on, teams will be left with the choice between Sheppard and a European wing (Sane, Salaun, Ajinca, Risarcher, Darlan), returning big (Ware, Bona, Clingan, Filipowski), returning guards (Proctor, Mintz, Kugel) or freshmen (Wagner, Williams, Mgbako, McCain, Foster, Dillingham, Middleton, Ndongo, Edwards) and unless you think he's going before all of them he's not sniffing the lottery. I'm not writing him off as a draft prospect, just as a lottery pick.

[Hal14]

He's not an NBA athlete.

I disagree. Sheppard has sneaky athleticism. Maybe you just haven't watched him that much. IMO, his athleticism is in the ballpark as guys like Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Alex Caruso, Bruce Brown etc.

The classic better college player than pro. But I do like him. He's got no shot at being a lottery pick

Disagree.

I definitely wouldn't write him off so early in the draft cycle - especially with this being a weaker draft class at the top. He could certainly end up being a lottery pick.

Read on Twitter

I doubt anyone on these boards has watched more college ball and Kentucky in particular than me. He's the worst athlete among the Kentucky guards. Reeves, Dillingham and even Wagner (who doesn't have even average NBA athleticism) are better athletes. He's very smart with great anticipation though and he's a decent athlete for college which is why he has been an effective defender but the NBA is a different beast. Every one of those players you mentioned is a much better athlete with much better size and length. He's not in their leagues. He's not even in the Grayson Allen or DiVencenzo tier of athletes and they both have better size than him as well.

The draft will play out and somewhere in the mid-teens on, teams will be left with the choice between Sheppard and a European wing (Sane, Salaun, Ajinca, Risarcher, Darlan), returning big (Ware, Bona, Clingan, Filipowski), returning guards (Proctor, Mintz, Kugel) or freshmen (Wagner, Williams, Mgbako, McCain, Foster, Dillingham, Middleton, Ndongo, Edwards) and unless you think he's going before all of them he's not sniffing the lottery. I'm not writing him off as a draft prospect, just as a lottery pick.

First off, all of us on here watch the games. You're not doing yourself any favors (you're only going to alienate yourself among the forum) if you say stuff like "oh I watch way more Kentucky games than anyone else".

Secondly, we can agree to disagree I guess. Perhaps we have different definitions of athleticism. I mean, it is a fairly ambiguous term.

Again, imo Sheppard is in the same ballpark as guys like Austin Reaves, Derrick White and Divencenzo in terms of athleticism.

Athleticism is only one part of the equation when evaluating prospects. Clearly, Reed Sheppard knows how to play. HIs basketball IQ is off the charts, he makes winning plays. Lights out shooter. He can handle the ball, run the point if that's what his team needs, facilitate an offense, direct traffic, run PnR. But he's best used off ball as a shooter, cutter and secondary ball handler. Probably not gonna be a star in the NBA but certainly looks like a guy who could have a long, productive career as a solid role player, glue guy type. He's not going to hurt you on either side of the ball. Tough defender who gets defections, steals and even some bloicks. Positionally sound defensively, is disciplined, doesn't bite on shot fakes, keeps his man in front of him, knows where to be on help[ defense. A coach's dream.

And his BPM numbers are no joke. Look at the Bartorrvik query I posted. He's in the company of guys like Zion, Harden, AD, etc. I'm not saying he's gonna be a hall of famer or all-star like those guys but these numbers are hard to ignore and they paint the picture of a guy who contributes to winning basketball. And he's gonna keep getting better, still only a 19 yr old freshman.

You might disagree (that's ok) but I think that type of guy you take in the lottery - especially in a weaker draft class at the top, like this one. As of now, the only guys I have ranked over him are:

Alexandre Sarr
Ron Holland
Nikola Topic
Matas Buzelis
Zaccharie Risacher
Cody Williams
Isaiah Collier
Robert Dillingham
Tyler Smith

[JMAC3]

Vecenie has him 6th, which is laughably bad.

He is shooting 61% from deep and still only at 13.9 pt. If you gave him a very good 40% from three he would be averaging a full 3 pts less. So now we are talking about a 6-3 shooting guard averaging 11 ppg. His FTr is awful, 11 attempts in 8 games. He is 6th on Kentucky in FGA per game and 5th in usage.

His steal and block rate is great, but he also is playing most of his games against significantly weaker opponents. I would expect his defensive numbers to crash way down to earth once they are in SEC play nightly.

Feel like you are hoping he is Caruso at the next level which is pretty awful when you consider he could be a lot worse and is also smaller and probably less athletics

[FarBeyondDriven]

I disagree. Sheppard has sneaky athleticism. Maybe you just haven't watched him that much. IMO, his athleticism is in the ballpark as guys like Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Alex Caruso, Bruce Brown etc.


Disagree.

I definitely wouldn't write him off so early in the draft cycle - especially with this being a weaker draft class at the top. He could certainly end up being a lottery pick.

Read on Twitter

I doubt anyone on these boards has watched more college ball and Kentucky in particular than me. He's the worst athlete among the Kentucky guards. Reeves, Dillingham and even Wagner (who doesn't have even average NBA athleticism) are better athletes. He's very smart with great anticipation though and he's a decent athlete for college which is why he has been an effective defender but the NBA is a different beast. Every one of those players you mentioned is a much better athlete with much better size and length. He's not in their leagues. He's not even in the Grayson Allen or DiVencenzo tier of athletes and they both have better size than him as well.

The draft will play out and somewhere in the mid-teens on, teams will be left with the choice between Sheppard and a European wing (Sane, Salaun, Ajinca, Risarcher, Darlan), returning big (Ware, Bona, Clingan, Filipowski), returning guards (Proctor, Mintz, Kugel) or freshmen (Wagner, Williams, Mgbako, McCain, Foster, Dillingham, Middleton, Ndongo, Edwards) and unless you think he's going before all of them he's not sniffing the lottery. I'm not writing him off as a draft prospect, just as a lottery pick.

First off, all of us on here watch the games. You're not doing yourself any favors (you're only going to alienate yourself among the forum) if you say stuff like "oh I watch way more Kentucky games than anyone else".

Secondly, we can agree to disagree I guess. Perhaps we have different definitions of athleticism. I mean, it is a fairly ambiguous term.

Again, imo Sheppard is in the same ballpark as guys like Austin Reaves, Derrick White and Divencenzo in terms of athleticism.

Athleticism is only one part of the equation when evaluating prospects. Clearly, Reed Sheppard knows how to play. HIs basketball IQ is off the charts, he makes winning plays. Lights out shooter. He can handle the ball, run the point if that's what his team needs, facilitate an offense, direct traffic, run PnR. But he's best used off ball as a shooter, cutter and secondary ball handler. Probably not gonna be a star in the NBA but certainly looks like a guy who could have a long, productive career as a solid role player, glue guy type. He's not going to hurt you on either side of the ball. Tough defender who gets defections, steals and even some bloicks. Positionally sound defensively, is disciplined, doesn't bite on shot fakes, keeps his man in front of him, knows where to be on help[ defense. A coach's dream.

And BPM numbers are no joke. Look at the Bartorrvik query I posted. He's in the company of guys like Zion, Harden, AD, etc. I'm not saying he's gonna be a hall of famer or all-star like those guys but these numbers are hard to ignore and they paint the picture of a guy who contributes to winning basketball. And he's gonna keep getting better, still only a 19 yr old freshman.


You might disagree (that's ok) but I think that type of guy you take in the lottery - especially in a weaker draft class at the top, like this one. As of now, the only guys I have ranked over him are:

Alexandre Sarr
Ron Holland
Nikola Topic
Matas Buzelis
Zaccharie Risacher
Cody Williams
Isaiah Collier
Robert Dillingham
Tyler Smith

do you and Clyde go to the same school of claiming people said things they never did? I said "I doubt anyone on these boards has watched more college ball and Kentucky in particular than me" not, as you spun, "oh I watch way more Kentucky games than anyone else" and that was in response to you suggesting that maybe I haven't watched him because how could I have with a differing opinion than yours Talk about alienating. I've watched every single Kentucky game going back to Summer. Maybe someone has matched that but they haven't watched "more". I only said doubt, because often, when these guys are on and the top recruits are on the bench, maybe I haven't paid quite as much attention.

I am eager to alienate myself with the people that are bad at this that are declaring that call this a weak draft in almost every one of their posts as if they're desperately clinging to this idea they read reading some "scout" from a year ago or after watching that fraud Vecenie's draft videoes. I could not care less what these types think about me If I could ignore them completely without seeing any of their posts I would. They represent the very worst this board has to offer. Post after post in thread after thread. I notice these same people all seem to have enemies on here and if I am in that category than I'm doing something right.

That said, we seem to agree on most of the rest including who he can be at the next level. I like him a lot. I'd love him if he was 6'5" so much more. I just disagree that considering the talent in this draft class that a role player/glue type guy should go near the lottery.
He could end up being a better NBA player but as an NBA prospect, he's in the 20s at best for me and it's because he lacks NBA size. And not because he couldn't do well necessarily because he could be Mark Price, but because coaches just refuse to play guys like him and you have to factor that in when evaluating these guys. If he won't play he can't produce.

Safe to say these are all guys NBA scouts will consider before drafting Sheppard:

Sarr
Holland
Buzelis
Collier
Castle
Walter
Topic
Carrington
Williams
Salaun
Ajinca
Almansa
Risarcher
Bradshaw
Mara
Ndongo
Ware
Bona

then they'll be deciding between him, Dillingham, Proctor, Clingman, Sane, Wagner, Foster, Bronny, etc. He could very well go before all of them and maybe even a couple of guys above plus some may return.

[CptCrunch]

Looks like Reed Sheppard is the next great divisive prospect.

If the argument against him is mainly old, un-athletic, and small, then there isn't much of an argument at all.

[Hal14]

Looks like Reed Sheppard is the next great divisive prospect.

If the argument against him is mainly old, un-athletic, and small, then there isn't much of an argument at all.

He's not even old. He's only 19..

He's kind of small, but he's a pretty well built 6'3" guy..not *that* bad of size for a combo-guard.

And he's sneaky athletic. Similar athleticism to guys like Derrick White, Austin Reaves and Divencenzo..

[King Ken]

I have Reed Sheppard as #1 on my big board.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Looks like Reed Sheppard is the next great divisive prospect.

If the argument against him is mainly old, un-athletic, and small, then there isn't much of an argument at all.

He's not even old. He's only 19..

He's kind of small, but he's a pretty well built 6'3" guy..not *that* bad of size for a combo-guard.

And he's sneaky athletic. Similar athleticism to guys like Derrick White, Austin Reaves and Divencenzo..

he's 6'2" and he is nowhere near the athlete White and Divencenzo are. Maybe Reaves but Reaves has 3 inches on him. A small Reaves is basically about what I've been saying he is all along and Reaves wan't even a first round pick

[babyjax13]

I have Reed Sheppard as #1 on my big board.

Since you have him so high, what do you see as his high end outcome?

[King Ken]

I have Reed Sheppard as #1 on my big board.

Since you have him so high, what do you see as his high end outcome?

I see him being more what he is now, just a big time stat. I can really see his rebounds jump once coaches push that they want him to get the board ala Westbrook for starting the break and I can really see him growing as a PnR passer in time as the vision is there. He just doesn't do it enough in this role. I could see him being an insane two way impact. He's not a day 1 starter. I think he will have to come off the bench. He's gonna be a year 4-5 breakthrough where he takes that leap. I think he's an extremely underrated defender. He's not special but he's good and his nose for the ball and where to be is very impressive. He has an euro feel to his game in regards to how well he knows how to play this game.

[Hal14]

Looks like Reed Sheppard is the next great divisive prospect.

If the argument against him is mainly old, un-athletic, and small, then there isn't much of an argument at all.

He's not even old. He's only 19..

He's kind of small, but he's a pretty well built 6'3" guy..not *that* bad of size for a combo-guard.

And he's sneaky athletic. Similar athleticism to guys like Derrick White, Austin Reaves and Divencenzo..

he's 6'2" and he is nowhere near the athlete White and Divencenzo are. Maybe Reaves but Reaves has 3 inches on him. A small Reaves is basically about what I've been saying he is all along and Reaves wan't even a first round pick

First off, most sites list him as 6'3". Either way, not a ton of difference between 6'2" and 6'3". That 1" isn't gonna make or break his career.

I also disagree that he's nowhere near the athlete white or Divencenzo are.

Also, Sheppard and Reaves are really not that similar as prospects. If you want to compare their athleticism, ok, that's one thing. But let's not compare them overall as prospects and say stuff like "Oh, Reaves wasn't even a 1st round pick). Makes no sense to say something like that, since they are VERY different as prospects.

Reaves - was 23 on draft night, was not ranked coming out of HS. Was not very good on D in college and was not a very good outside shooter in college either. But he was very crafty with the ball in his hands, had a deep bag, much better handle/driving/self creation/ than other guys who were 6'5" and taller.

Sheppard - only a 19 yr old freshman, Mcdonalds all-american, 4 star recruit, top 30 ranked player coming out of HS. Way better shooter than Reaves, much better defender too. But not nearly as good as Reaves in terms of handle/driving/self creation or craftiness with the ball, not as deep of a bag...but tbf, he could potentially get there eventually since he's like 4 yrs younger

As you can see, they were *very* different prospects. The main thing they did have in common however, is that both of them really understand the game. Extremely cerebral, high IQ players who have really good feel for the game, can out-think their opponents, know how to play, always seem to make the right basketball play that contributes to winning, nothing raw about them (the low IQ, raw players are often the ones who end up as busts).

Lastly, while Reaves wasn't a 1st round pick, he'd go top 10 in a re-draft so he probably (in hindsight) should have gone much higher. The scouts probably missed badly with him..probably because scouts made the mistake of underrating a white guy who was under 6'6" and didn't have crazy athleticism....and they (for some reason) thought guys like JT THor, Kai JOnes, Jonathan Kuminga, Tre Mann, BJ Boston, Greg Brown, Juhann Begarin and Ziaire Williams would be better just because those guys could jump higher but didn't have the basketball IQ or developed skill set that Reaves had.