Is Reed Sheppard too undersized/unathletic to succeed in the NBA?

[ChuckChilly]

Curry is also undersized, Curry is the definition of undersized. Curry's most famous trait is being undersized and changing the game for Christ's sake

How is 6'2 undersized for a point guard? Where are all these 6'5 point guards at? Curry is only undersized when placed in the shooting guard position.

Is he a primary playmaker or do you consider him to be a pg just because he is the tiniest guy on the floor?

I consider him to be a point guard because that's what he's been listed as his whole career. When he goes into the Hall of Fame, he's going in as a point guard.

[MrSparkle]

Bold take , but he’ll be fine. It’ll take a while to develop, but I don’t see many flaws in his game other than his size, which is OK for a PG. He needs to learn to facilitate against NBA defense, though.

[JayMKE]

Surprising to hear a guy with a 42 inch vertical being called “unathletic”. But then again, sadly, it’s not that surprising and we all know the ugly reason why.

He short armed his standing reach(7’9.5”) to game his max vert. Steph Curry had 8’1” standing reach for comparison.

Lot of guys with weirdly high verts been doing this for years, not sure how it’s not being caught on to

[Blame Rasho]

You know you can be uber athletic, great size and very skilled and not make it in the NBA too.

Last I remember the person you mentioned , Van Fleet isn’t exactly a world class athlete and is below sized and has found a niche in the NBA.

[azcatz11]

He’s a smaller Devin booker. Very similar games at Kentucky.

[bisme37]

I haven't followed his season at all but unless I'm tripping wasn't he really good in preseason and the ROY favorite before the season started?

It's strange that he started so well but has struggled even in GLeague. Usually it's the opposite. Perhaps he's just gotten in his own head and is down on himself. Lack of confidence can be hard to overcome in this league. Plenty of time for him to figure it out though.

[JonFromVA]

Sarr shot 24% from 3p first two months, then in December had 7 games where he shot 50 percent and finished the month posting a 45 3pt%. The splits are improving for another kid some think might be a the "b" word.

You can't make shots that you don't take, and you can't get better not being aggressive as a young player. Houston is really deep and teams are going into OKC model on defense where they have speed and lateral quickness all over the court to deal with the 5 out. Being able to jump high is great, but at the end of the day you either shoot over the defender or go around them. Curry has elite first step quickness to get to the rim. I haven't seen that first step on Reed yet. That's the key for any PG in the NBA. You can't just be a shooter as PG. If you play Curry too tight he will absolutely burn you off ball change of direction or cutting to the basket because of his quickness. Curry get labeled as just a shooter, but he's far more versatile than he gets credit than the average fan. It's too soon to say Reed's not going to make an impact, but he needs way more playing time for a pick at that level. Problem is Houston is in win now mode. They aren't try to bring along a rookie.

Seth Curry?

If someone on this board tried to insist Steph was "just" a shooter, you should just go ahead and put them on ignore.

[Chuck Everett]

Reed is clearly learning the point guard position (then again, a lot of these guys are combo guards learning the position). Too soon to write his obit. Let him get an NBA offseason with specific instruction to fix his weaknesses. He's clearly better than G-League level, but to make that jump to rotation player still takes some time.

This site sometimes judges 19/20 year olds like finished products, but also will act like 27-28 Lauri Markannen/Brandon Ingram still have potential to be more than they are. WTF?

[Lost Angel]

if Castle went third, and Reed fourth to the Spurs, would that change anything?

[Optms]

Sheppard is going to succeed, the problem isn't him. Its the logjam he was drafted into. If you think someone else like Castle would be feasting behind players like Fed, Green, Amen, Whitemore, Eason, Brooks, you are crazy. Castle would be an even worse of a fit than Sheppard and probably get more DNPs. Reverse the roles and this thread would be about Castle and how everyone knew Sheppard should have been picked by the Rockets and not Spurs.

[iggymcfrack]

Bro’s a 6’2” guard, he’s 20, and he’s played less than 500 NBA minutes. He’s very raw and he MIGHT not be skilled enough to succeed in the league, but we have absolutely no idea so far. If he fails, it won’t be because he’s too small. Lots of smaller players have been superstars.

[Optms]

if Castle went third, and Reed fourth to the Spurs, would that change anything?

Sheppard would be in the ROY running while Castle would likely be in the G-League right now.

[Lockdown504090]

Surprising to hear a guy with a 42 inch vertical being called “unathletic”. But then again, sadly, it’s not that surprising and we all know the ugly reason why.

He short armed his standing reach(7’9.5”) to game his max vert. Steph Curry had 8’1” standing reach for comparison.

Lot of guys with weirdly high verts been doing this for years, not sure how it’s not being caught on to

not stretching enough on the standing reach test to make their vertical seem higher when they reach up for the target. bigs doing the reverse

[MalonesElbows]

Guards undersized in both height and wingspan (only 6'3" for Reed) generally need an elite handle to be a star. You look at Paul, Curry, Irving, all elite handles. Just a small difference means you get a Seth Curry instead of Steph Curry. I don't quite see that level of eye hand coordination there for Sheppard.

[Raps in 4]

Every time I hear/read his name, I have to Google him because I forget who the hell he is. I literally did it just now, only to be reminded that I looked him up last week when the Raptors played the Rockets.

[wemby]

Sheppard is going to succeed, the problem isn't him. Its the logjam he was drafted into. If you think someone else like Castle would be feasting behind players like Fed, Green, Amen, Whitemore, Eason, Brooks, you are crazy. Castle would be an even worse of a fit than Sheppard and probably get more DNPs. Reverse the roles and this thread would be about Castle and how everyone knew Sheppard should have been picked by the Rockets and not Spurs.

Sheppard can't stay on the floor because he's bullied on both ends, he can't defend his shadow (even though he has good hands and fools some people with counting stats like steals) and he can't beat anyone off the dribble, Castle can defend at a high level and get to the basket with craft much better than Sheppard does right now, it's possible he could get less playing time behind FVV, Amen and Brooks, but he absolutely wouldn't stick out (in a negative way) like a sore thumb like Sheppard does.

Furthermore, the one area where Sheppard was leaps and bounds ahead of Castle was shooting, and he's been worse than Castle even at that, go figure. I don't expect that to be the case long term, but to say Castle would have the same problems in Houston as Sheppard is having is just totally clueless, you should watch a few games before making bold statements about things you clearly know very little about.

[LockoutSeason]

He’s the same size as Curry. He’s not that undersized for a PG, he’s just a bad defender.

He needs to shoot like Curry to justify being on the floor. Also needs to have enough PG skills to get by. It’s not easy.

Curry is also undersized, Curry is the definition of undersized. Curry's most famous trait is being undersized and changing the game for Christ's sake

No. Curry was only considered undersized because he was projected to be a SG instead of a PG. He’s not undersized for a PG. But his ability to play PG was questionable which is why he fell in the draft.

Here’s his scouting report on NBADraft.net:

At 6-2, he’s extremely small for the NBA shooting guard position, and it will likely keep him from being much of a defender at the next level … Although he’s playing point guard this year, he’s not a natural point guard that an NBA team can rely on to run a team

[Dacost]

I think he will get traded 100%. Houston coach loves physical defenders something Sheppard will never be.

[shangrila]

if Castle went third, and Reed fourth to the Spurs, would that change anything?

Sheppard would be in the ROY running while Castle would likely be in the G-League right now.

Castle is the kind of player Udoka would find minutes for.

[Handlez]

Nope.

He's a baller.

Just wait.