Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham - 2024 NBA Draft

[ItsDanger]

Dillingham seems more like a microwave 6th man type guard. But haven't seen a lot of his game.

[JMAC3]

Kentucky just isn't a very good team. The fact they have 6+ future pros and have the 200th best defense in college basketball is pathetic.

Dillingham did his thing last night, but Kentucky still can't stop anyone.

Bradshaw and Ivisic are not really locks to make the NBA at all, lol.

I would feel pretty confident betting they are on NBA rosters for multiple seasons at some point.

[Hal14]

In this vid, he definitely looks either 6'2" or 6'3".

Definitely not 6'1".

Wouldn't shock me if he measures 6'3" at the combine.

He just turned 19 last month so could still be growing..

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[clyde21]

Personally I would be shocked if he measures 6'3 at the combine but that would be a nice surprise

[FarBeyondDriven]

Dillingham and Sheppard's defense is a big reason they keep losing. It's the reason why Onyenso gets so many block attempts because neither can stay in front of their man. At least with Sheppard he has elite BBIQ and quick hands so he's constantly getting steals and even blocks. But to get those he has to gamble badly and their defense breaks down leading to many baskets as a result if it doesn't work. It won't play at the next level but it works in college sometimes. Dillingham is just a sieve. People are praising Dillingham for his scoring but conveniently forget his sloppy turnovers and bad defense. It was literally his man that scored the winning basket because Dillingham was just completely ignoring him with his back to him allowing him to slip past him and get the alley oop that was thrown up for grabs.

Dillingham is 6'1" or less without shoes imo. He's an inch shorter than Wagner and Sheppard. They stand next to each other all the time every game so it's easy to compare them. If you are saying he's 6'2" then you're saying Sheppard is 6'3". If Dillingham is supposedly 6'3" then Sheppard becomes 6'4". It's pretty clear that Sheppard isn't those heights. It's not only about Dillingham's height but his tiny frame and average wingspan too.

Eventually "scouts" will have to realize that you can't keep claiming Dillingham and Sheppard are lottery talents with Kentucky losses mounting. They're a major reason why they're losing because of defense and some costly turnovers. It's different with Collier (an actual top 10 talent) because USC roster is very flawed with no bigs and a chucking defensive liability in Ellis always on the floor. Kentucky has several NBA talents and is very deep. If Dillingham and Sheppard were really top 10 talents like people claim they wouldn't be losing to bad teams like LSU.

[King Ken]

Dillingham and Sheppard's defense is a big reason they keep losing. It's the reason why Onyenso gets so many block attempts because neither can stay in front of their man. At least with Sheppard he has elite BBIQ and quick hands so he's constantly getting steals and even blocks. But to get those he has to gamble badly and their defense breaks down leading to many baskets as a result if it doesn't work. It won't play at the next level but it works in college sometimes. Dillingham is just a sieve. People are praising Dillingham for his scoring but conveniently forget his sloppy turnovers and bad defense. It was literally his man that scored the winning basket because Dillingham was just completely ignoring him with his back to him allowing him to slip past him and get the alley oop that was thrown up for grabs.

Dillingham is 6'1" or less without shoes imo. He's an inch shorter than Wagner and Sheppard. They stand next to each other all the time every game so it's easy to compare them. If you are saying he's 6'2" then you're saying Sheppard is 6'3". If Dillingham is supposedly 6'3" then Sheppard becomes 6'4". It's pretty clear that Sheppard isn't those heights. It's not only about Dillingham's height but his tiny frame and average wingspan too.

Eventually "scouts" will have to realize that you can't keep claiming Dillingham and Sheppard are lottery talents with Kentucky losses mounting. They're a major reason why they're losing because of defense and some costly turnovers. It's different with Collier (an actual top 10 talent) because USC roster is very flawed with no bigs and a chucking defensive liability in Ellis always on the floor. Kentucky has several NBA talents and is very deep. If Dillingham and Sheppard were really top 10 talents like people claim they wouldn't be losing to bad teams like LSU.

This isn't much of a balanced squad and with the portal and NIL, college basketball is hard again like the early 90s

[JMAC3]

Personally I would be shocked if he measures 6'3 at the combine but that would be a nice surprise

He will wear fat shoes that add 2 inches at the combine so maybe with shoes he will be 6-3, but I think his no shoes measurement will be one of the worst at the combine.

[OriAr]

Personally I would be shocked if he measures 6'3 at the combine but that would be a nice surprise

He will wear fat shoes that add 2 inches at the combine so maybe with shoes he will be 6-3, but I think his no shoes measurement will be one of the worst at the combine.

I thought they measure height in bare feet in the combine.

[Upperclass]

Rob isn't better then a guy like Carsten Edwards or any other similarly sized small guard that's come out in years. I think his fans are going to be shocked when he doesn't go first round.

[K_chile22]

Personally I would be shocked if he measures 6'3 at the combine but that would be a nice surprise

He will wear fat shoes that add 2 inches at the combine so maybe with shoes he will be 6-3, but I think his no shoes measurement will be one of the worst at the combine.

I thought they measure height in bare feet in the combine.

Both, which, lol what are we doing here

[OriAr]

He will wear fat shoes that add 2 inches at the combine so maybe with shoes he will be 6-3, but I think his no shoes measurement will be one of the worst at the combine.

I thought they measure height in bare feet in the combine.

Both, which, lol what are we doing here

Oh lol yeah he's gonna be under 6'2 bare feet and maybe even under 6'1.
Regarding Rob... He'll be able to stick around the league but unless he's a straight up ELITE scorer he'll likely jump between teams, and even if he is an elite scorer he could find it hard in the league with how bad his defense is.
The hard truth is that undersized 2s (Like Dillingham is) have always found it hard in the NBA unless they are incredible scorers and supremely skilled like AI was, and AI was actually a good defender (As much as his size let him).
Comparisons to Trae Young are way off the mark as Rob is not even half the playmaker Trae was in Oklahoma, and neither he has to carry the entire offense in the way Trae did for the Sooners (And does way too often for Atlanta as well).
He's a decent talent... But I really find it hard to think he'll be a max player in the NBA like some are so certain here.

[MemphisX]

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[MemphisX]

Rob isn't better then a guy like Carsten Edwards or any other similarly sized small guard that's come out in years. I think his fans are going to be shocked when he doesn't go first round.

Edward shot 38/34/74 as a frsh. Dilly is lightyears ahead of him.

[The Moose]

Reed is still top 5

[The-Power]

Sheppard looking like a top 3 pick in that game. He just has to look for his shot and be a threat to drive when there's a lane.

One player that I think might actually be a solid comparison for him is his direct predecessor, Cason Wallace. Sheppard projects to be the better shooter coming out of college but he's obviously overperforming a bit for the season while Wallace has stepped it up in the NBA. So while I'd have Sheppard higher than Wallace coming out of college, I think right now it's a close call as to who I'd rather have going forward. I trust Wallace's defense and driving game more, but I think Sheppard makes up some ground as the better passer.

What's your take on the Wallace-Sheppard comparison?

[FarBeyondDriven]

Sheppard looking like a top 3 pick in that game. He just has to look for his shot and be a threat to drive when there's a lane.

One player that I think might actually be a solid comparison for him is his direct predecessor, Cason Wallace. Sheppard projects to be the better shooter coming out of college but he's obviously overperforming a bit for the season while Wallace has stepped it up in the NBA. So while I'd have Sheppard higher than Wallace coming out of college, I think right now it's a close call as to who I'd rather have going forward. I trust Wallace's defense and driving game more, but I think Sheppard makes up some ground as the better passer.

What's your take on the Wallace-Sheppard comparison?

great game. But, it was against a tiny backcourt with both guys around 5'10". And Sheppard's man Hubbard, actually outscored him scoring 34 points. Guards continue to score at will against Kentucky and if this is an issue in college it'll keep him off the floor in the NBA.

Wallace has NBA size and can defend so he's a completely different prospect than Sheppard mainly because he's not a liability so he actually gets minutes which I find will be hard to come by for Sheppard. There's really no point in comparing them. Best comp is probably Payton Pritchard, as far as what role Sheppard will likely have in the NBA. A valuable backup PG that can hold his own if forced to start for a stretch. Pritchard went in the early 20s and that's about where Sheppard SHOULD go give or take.

[The-Power]

Sheppard looking like a top 3 pick in that game. He just has to look for his shot and be a threat to drive when there's a lane.

One player that I think might actually be a solid comparison for him is his direct predecessor, Cason Wallace. Sheppard projects to be the better shooter coming out of college but he's obviously overperforming a bit for the season while Wallace has stepped it up in the NBA. So while I'd have Sheppard higher than Wallace coming out of college, I think right now it's a close call as to who I'd rather have going forward. I trust Wallace's defense and driving game more, but I think Sheppard makes up some ground as the better passer.

What's your take on the Wallace-Sheppard comparison?

great game. But, it was against a tiny backcourt with both guys around 5'10". And Sheppard's man Hubbard, actually outscored him scoring 34 points. Guards continue to score at will against Kentucky and if this is an issue in college it'll keep him off the floor in the NBA.

Wallace has NBA size and can defend so he's a completely different prospect than Sheppard mainly because he's not a liability so he actually gets minutes which I find will be hard to come by for Sheppard. There's really no point in comparing them. Best comp is probably Payton Pritchard, as far as what role Sheppard will likely have in the NBA. A valuable backup PG that can hold his own if forced to start for a stretch. Pritchard went in the early 20s and that's about where Sheppard SHOULD go give or take.

No surprises here. You always find a reason to downplay Kentucky's opponent when Sheppard has a good game. Sometimes the team is bad, sometimes the defense is bad, sometimes it's a lack of bigs on their roster, sometimes it's a small backcourt. Guess what, you can do that with literally every single college team and when it comes to every single player. Yet you only do it with Sheppard. I wonder why.

But please do tell me which of his made baskets and assists were contingent on him playing against a small opponent. There's a video posted right above you. It should not be difficult for you to do it. Or, if you can't or won't, I'll just take your comment on the game as what they are: heavily biased and not interested in actually understanding what happens in the game, just trying to throw something up and hope it sticks.

Re: ‘Sheppard's man Hubbard’. Please, that takes the cake and just shows that you have not even cared to watch the actual game we are talking about. Do you know how many points Hubbard scored on Sheppard in the entire game? 5. That's it. One midrange jumper and one prayer-3 as part of his shooting clinic at the end where he hit three consecutive 3s. That's it. Sheppard was not even assigned to guard him in the first half (Wagner and Dillingham were), and when Sheppard was guarding him more in the second half he went 2 out of 5 by my count on possessions that ended with Sheppard as the primary defender. So just stop the completely uninformed narratives that you have to literally invent to push your agenda. It's just too blatant at this point.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Sheppard looking like a top 3 pick in that game. He just has to look for his shot and be a threat to drive when there's a lane.

One player that I think might actually be a solid comparison for him is his direct predecessor, Cason Wallace. Sheppard projects to be the better shooter coming out of college but he's obviously overperforming a bit for the season while Wallace has stepped it up in the NBA. So while I'd have Sheppard higher than Wallace coming out of college, I think right now it's a close call as to who I'd rather have going forward. I trust Wallace's defense and driving game more, but I think Sheppard makes up some ground as the better passer.

What's your take on the Wallace-Sheppard comparison?

great game. But, it was against a tiny backcourt with both guys around 5'10". And Sheppard's man Hubbard, actually outscored him scoring 34 points. Guards continue to score at will against Kentucky and if this is an issue in college it'll keep him off the floor in the NBA.

Wallace has NBA size and can defend so he's a completely different prospect than Sheppard mainly because he's not a liability so he actually gets minutes which I find will be hard to come by for Sheppard. There's really no point in comparing them. Best comp is probably Payton Pritchard, as far as what role Sheppard will likely have in the NBA. A valuable backup PG that can hold his own if forced to start for a stretch. Pritchard went in the early 20s and that's about where Sheppard SHOULD go give or take.

No surprises here. You always find a reason to downplay Kentucky's opponent when Sheppard has a good game. Sometimes the team is bad, sometimes the defense is bad, sometimes it's a lack of bigs on their roster, sometimes it's a small backcourt. Guess what, you can do that with literally every single college team and when it comes to every single player. Yet you only do it with Sheppard. I wonder why.

But please do tell me which of his made baskets and assists were contingent on him playing against a small opponent. There's a video posted right above you. It should not be difficult for you to do it. Or, if you can't or won't, I'll just take your comment on the game as what they are: heavily biased and not interested in actually understanding what happens in the game, just trying to throw something up and hope it sticks.

Re: ‘Sheppard's man Hubbard’. Please, that takes the cake and just shows that you have not even cared to watch the actual game we are talking about. Do you know how many points Hubbard scored on Sheppard in the entire game? 5. That's it. One midrange jumper and one prayer-3 as part of his shooting clinic at the end where he hit three consecutive 3s. That's it. Sheppard was not even assigned to guard him in the first half (Wagner and Dillingham were), and when Sheppard was guarding him more in the second half he went 2 out of 5 by my count on possessions that ended with Sheppard as the primary defender. So just stop the completely uninformed narratives that you have to literally invent to push your agenda. It's just too blatant at this point.

I literally just got done watching the game lmao. Cope harder. Kentucky played zone for the majority of the game. Sheppard wasn't anybody's "primary defender". Kentucky has like 8-9 guys who will likely play in the league. They had none. Their tiny guards who are awful on defense and their lack of athletes meant wide open threes and easy layups all night long. THAT is how Sheppard was able to easily hit wide open threes and drive freely down the middle of the lane and dish off for easy assists. This has been the case all year. The only reason they were in the game was because the Kentucky guards have struggled to defend as well. Turns out it's universal. Small guards can't defend. Who knew? So, lots of wide open threes and lots of gambles leading to easy baskets. The announcers talked about how Calipari was trying to break them of the habit of trying for steals and instead emphasized getting stops. Sheppard fell asleep on a back door and allowed a few drives that led to buckets, assists or fouls because he can't easily stay in front of people on top of all the jumpers that occurred in his zone whether you will admit he was the "primary defender" or not.

[The-Power]

Sheppard wasn't anybody's "primary defender".

So Hubbard was not ‘Sheppard's man’ as you incorrectly noted. Glad to see that resolved.

Kentucky has like 8-9 guys who will likely play in the league. They had none. Their tiny guards who are awful on defense and their lack of athletes meant wide open threes and easy layups all night long. THAT is how Sheppard was able to easily hit wide open threes and drive freely down the middle of the lane and dish off for easy assists. This has been the case all year.

So no concrete examples even though there is a video posted right above, and no acknowledgement of your bias that makes it seemingly impossible to point out the deficiencies of college teams when it coms to assessing players other than Sheppard. Any conversation with you really is futile.

[nate33]

Eventually "scouts" will have to realize that you can't keep claiming Dillingham and Sheppard are lottery talents with Kentucky losses mounting. They're a major reason why they're losing because of defense and some costly turnovers. It's different with Collier (an actual top 10 talent) because USC roster is very flawed with no bigs and a chucking defensive liability in Ellis always on the floor. Kentucky has several NBA talents and is very deep. If Dillingham and Sheppard were really top 10 talents like people claim they wouldn't be losing to bad teams like LSU.

This is not an unreasonable take, but another explanation might just be that Calipari is a lousy in-game coach. How many guards have come out of Kentucky and gone on to be superb NBA players despite not winning that much in college? Here's a list from just the last 10 years:

Cason Wallace
Tyrese Maxey
Immanuel Quickley
Tyler Herro
Keldon Johnson
SGA
De'Aaron Fox
Malik Monk
Jamal Murray
Devin Booker

Going by SRS, Kentucky was only really good back in 2014-15 (when they had Booker and KAT) and they were pretty solid in 2016-17 (Monk, Fox and Bam). The rest of their seasons in the past 10 years were pretty much in line with their SRS this year. They always have a ton of talent, but they usually finish with a disappointing record. Calipari is a great recruiter and a bad coach.