2024 Draft Prospect Spotlight -- Reed Sheppard

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2024 NBA draft rankings

5. Reed Sheppard | PG/SG | Kentucky

6-2 | Age: 19.5

Despite still coming off the bench, Sheppard has proved impossible to keep off the floor for Kentucky in SEC play, where he already has had several signature moments in cementing his case as the best freshman in college basketball. Scouts regularly express concern about his limited physical tools (6-foot-2 in shoes and 187 pounds with a 6-3 wingspan) and what that means for his defensive and finishing potential in the NBA. But that he continues to make strides with his pick-and-roll playmaking combined with his historically great 3-point shooting is increasingly hard to ignore. Only one NCAA first-round pick in the past 35 years (Michigan's Glen Rice in 1989) has shot over 50% from 3 on more than four attempts per game like Sheppard is doing this season (see note below), and Sheppard's basketball instincts should help him impact winning in a variety of other ways.

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Scouting Reed Sheppard as a freshman feels a bit like scouting Steph Curry after only one season of college.

The signs are there early. Even if the production isn't.

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Yowza!!

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Steve Nash, you say?

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NBA Draft prospects to watch during March Madness

Reed Sheppard, 6-2 freshman guard, Kentucky

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One of the interesting subplots of the past few months has been seeing evaluators try to avoid the conclusion that Reed Sheppard is the best NCAA prospect despite having the evidence punch them in the face every day. Of late, however, Sheppard’s play seems to have won over even his biggest skeptics. He was dominant — again — in Kentucky’s 85-81 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday, finishing with a 27-6-5 line on just 14 shots.

Inexplicably coming off the bench (along with Kentucky’s other likely lottery-bound freshman guard Rob Dillingham) and thus limited to 29 minutes per game, Sheppard has defensive stats that jump off the page. He’s averaging 4.7 steals per 100 possessions and, despite standing 6-2 with a 6-3 wingspan, has blocked 23 shots this season. The eye test backs this up; Kentucky isn’t good on defense, but Sheppard has been a terror.

Meanwhile, his outside shot has been cash. Sheppard is shooting 52.6 percent from 3 and 84.1 percent from the line, with hair-trigger speed on his 3-point launch. While you’d like to see him get more up than his 8.1 attempts per 100, he’s also been effective in the paint (55.7 percent on 2s); the biggest issue in his statistical record is a relatively low usage rate, which can be explained partly by how often he’s shared the court with Dillingham and partly by John Calipari’s multi-decade track record of being the best defense against talented guards.

Nitpickers can have some fun around the edges, perhaps. Sheppard hasn’t had the keys to the offense at Kentucky and would likely need to be a full-time point guard as a pro; he’s been a bit more turnover-prone than you’d hope as well. And his shooting probably isn’t as good as his percentages indicate, because nobody is that good.

Finally, teams will surely fixate on Sheppard’s stature. But “I wish you were 2 inches taller” isn’t an actual weakness unless you can connect it to some other basketball deficiency; Sheppard’s tape and stat lines don’t betray any shortcomings that you can link back to his size.

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Kentucky's prospects exit early

Reed Sheppard | PG | Kentucky | Age: 19.7 | Top 100: No. 7



Sheppard had his worst game of the season in possibly his final appearance for Kentucky, a disappointing outcome after an incredible freshman campaign. We've never seen Sheppard play such a tentative, anxious style as he did versus Oakland, passing on open 3s, playing with the brakes on, throwing the ball everywhere uncharacteristically and not scoring his first points until the 6:03 minute mark in the second half. He was nowhere close on an off-balance 25-foot pull-up 3 with 23 seconds that sealed the loss.

The concerns about Sheppard's poor defensive potential due to his limited physical tools were also on display. He struggled getting around screens all game with his thin frame and it proved easy for the 6-2 Gohlke to rise up and over for jumpers with poor contests due to Sheppard's 6-3 wingspan. He got lost off the ball on several occasions, beat off the bounce one-on-one, and didn't come up with a rebound in a game that Kentucky was outrebounded, 40-39.

NBA teams already had some concerns about Sheppard's defense and ability to ramp up his usage in a heavier on-ball role. At 6-2, there's little doubt that Sheppard will need to spend heavy minutes at point guard in the NBA, and his passive showing versus Oakland wasn't a great way to answer those questions.

Still, this is just one of 33 games Sheppard played in what was, ultimately, a remarkable season from a productivity and efficiency standpoint.

NBA teams are still quite high on Sheppard and it's very hard to see him not being a lottery -- if not a top-10 -- pick ultimately should he enter the draft. -- Givony

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Mocks have him going top 5.
He has been on my list. Depending on his personality he should have a twenty season career in the league. High percentage shooter and we need him.

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