“Situational Evaluation” is a collection of articles that seeks to look at the circumstances that almost all typically affect an NBA prospect’s success. Every participant shall be scored on a scale from 1-10 in 4 totally different classes: NBA-specific ability(s), deadly flaw(s), collegiate/abroad/pre-NBA surroundings, and best NBA ecosystem.
Reed Sheppard is an almost-20-year-old guard from London, Kentucky, who averaged 12.5 factors, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per sport for the Kentucky Wildcats. He’s anticipated to be chosen among the many top-10 picks on this yr’s draft. NBADraft.internet at present has him projected at No. 5.
NBA-Particular Expertise
Even because the NBA continues to dramatically evolve when it comes to skillsets and spatial orientation, three core tenants in prospect analysis will endure so long as this sport revolves round placing a ball via a hoop: Are you able to shoot? Are you able to go? Are you able to dribble?
Reed Sheppard checks these three packing containers as emphatically as anybody accessible on this yr’s draft.
Sheppard has seemingly limitless vary on his picture-perfect bounce shot. He possesses the type of taking pictures kind coaches file and require the shooters on their staff to duplicate. He can fireplace pictures from any depth at any angle with steadiness and contact. His fast launch off curl screens offers him a gravitational pull that opens the offense for his teammates, and his pump-and-go sport can flummox a protection caught in rotation.
Sheppard isn’t only a gunner, both. He’s an adept playmaker with terrific passing and ball-handling expertise. He isn’t a run-your-offense sort of level guard, however Sheppard makes use of the specter of his 3-point shot (an eye-popping 52% on first rate quantity as a freshman) to penetrate into the center of defenses. He has a pleasant floater to associate with his court docket imaginative and prescient, as effectively.
The knock on most gamers with Sheppard’s offensive profile is on the opposite finish of the court docket. Can he grasp defensively with the NBA’s elite backcourts? He is likely to be a notch beneath the highest guys athletically, however he’s feisty – 2.5 steals per sport with 23 blocked pictures in 33 video games. He actually will get after it on each ends of the ground.
Throw in his top-tier basketball IQ and his overflowing confidence, and it’s straightforward to ascertain a state of affairs the place Sheppard is a major contributor for a perennial playoff staff. The analytics neighborhood loves him with good cause.
On a scale from 1-10, Sheppard’s taking pictures vary and excessive effectivity charges at an 8.5.
Deadly Flaws
At this stage of his improvement, Sheppard is a basic “taking pictures guard trapped in some extent guard’s physique.”
At 6-3, 185, with common foot velocity, power, and size, Sheppard finds himself at a bodily drawback in opposition to the apex predator wing gamers, and even wings a stage beneath the All-Star sorts. He must take his lumps as a rookie and be sure that doesn’t influence his confidence within the different points of his sport.
Additionally, Sheppard didn’t begin nearly all of his video games with the Wildcats and performed a hair beneath 29 minutes per contest – a significant cause his effectivity numbers grade out so effectively. Will Sheppard’s taking pictures splits maintain beneath a major enhance within the bodily/psychological workload he’s positive to endure as a rookie?
His sport log as a freshman was everywhere in the map – 32 factors one night time, 7 one other. A giant cause why the No. 3 seed Wildcats obtained bounced in spherical one in opposition to Oakland? Sheppard: 26 minutes, 1-5 taking pictures, 3 factors, 0 rebounds. NBA coaches crave consistency. If Sheppard can’t lock in night time after night time, a coach would possibly go for a extra constant veteran presence, notably if the staff that drafts Sheppard employs a coach with shaky job safety.
On a scale from 1 (not a priority) to 10 (critical hindrance), Sheppard’s common athleticism and streakiness charges at an 8.
Pre-NBA Setting
Sheppard comes from a deep basketball lineage and was one of the crucial embellished highschool gamers within the historical past of Kentucky basketball, averaging greater than 20 factors per sport every season and filling up the stat sheet in each different class, as effectively. He was a no brainer alternative for the state’s Mr. Basketball title and earned a spot on the McDonald’s All-American staff.
Each main recruiting service listed him as a four-star prospect with Kentucky successful the recruiting battle over Louisville and a handful of different high basketball applications.
Regardless that he got here off the bench for many of his freshman season, Sheppard nonetheless earned a number of postseason accolades: Second-team All-SEC, convention Freshman of the Yr, and the nationwide Freshman of the Yr award from USWBA and NABC. Regardless that his faculty profession ended on a down be aware, success has adopted Sheppard all through most of his pre-NBA profession.
On a scale from 1-10, Sheppard’s pre-NBA profession charges at an 8.5.
Very best NBA Ecosystem
Sheppard’s vary can shift relying on who’s doing the evaluating, however it’s exhausting to see him going forward of among the increased upside prospects on this draft.
The San Antonio Spurs might use both of their lottery picks on Sheppard. Relying on whether or not the Spurs imagine Sheppard doesn’t final till No. 8, he makes a ton of sense for them at No. 4. The Spurs want to start out surrounding Victor Wembanyama with shooters and high-IQ playmakers, and Sheppard possesses lots of the qualities Gregg Popavich craves in his guards.
If he doesn’t find yourself in San Antonio, Detroit is one other logical vacation spot, because the Pistons desperately want so as to add some taking pictures and secondary shot creation alongside Cade Cunningham.
If the Spurs and the opposite mid-lottery groups are out on Sheppard, he doubtless received’t final past Memphis at No. 9. Sheppard has all of the makings of a grit-and-grind Grizzly and could be an instantaneous contributor in a backcourt rotation of Ja Morant and Desmond Bane.
On a scale from 1-10, Sheppard’s situational independence is a 9. He suits just about each staff idea, due to his taking pictures vary and feistiness.
