Rockets Select Reed Sheppard With Third Overall Pick In 2024 NBA Draft

Rockets Select Reed Sheppard With Third Overall Pick In 2024 NBA Draft

[Music] [Music] Houston we have a podcast you’re listening to the premier Rockets podcast it’s htown Hoops hosted by Brandon Scott and Adam spolan that’s right it is the htown Hoops podcast I am Brandon Scott here with Adam Spain Austin Mendes is producing this thing for us as always and we got the news Adam finally we finally got here to the draft the Houston Rocket s Reed Shepard number three overall with the third overall pick in the NBA draft I got to tell you and I’ll start this thing off I am a little bit surprised I went into this draft anticipating expecting them to draft Donovan kingan but it’s not like anybody was ever a sure thing in this particular draft but I’ve said this before on this podcast with you that I thought Reed Shepard made the most sense as a fit as feeling a very particular need for the rocket so I like this pick I think it’s a really good pick for them how he factors into their rotation is another discussion and maybe something further down the road but I like the pick my initial thoughts what say you spoke he’s the cleanest fit of all the guys that they could have taken in that spot at least of the guys that that were in the mix at three he was the cleanest fit um they need shooting desperately he is probably the best shooter in this draft um and he can do he’s not just a shooter he can put the ball on the floor and make plays um he can run the pick and roll um defensively obviously there going to be some questions there but he can at least he can at least make plays on that end of the floor and I think that emay udoka will like that about him but I think that when you look at the guys at the Rost that the Rockets already had on the roster I think he was the one that was just the easiest fit that you can Envision um him being on the floor with shingun you can Envision him being on the floor with Thompson you can Envision him being on theor with Jaylen green like you can see him being on the floor with basically everybody that they have where as if they had gone with Donovan kingan then I think you start getting into some questions well how does he look with shingun does this mean that they want to trade shingun moving forward does this think does this mean they don’t think that shingun is a part of the future so they want to answer those questions with this pick so I think that if they were going to keep the pick this was the easiest pick that they could make and I think that it’s probably the right one yeah I would say you tell me if you agree with this or not Adam I would say that he a me at least on paper it has to actually materialize and so it’s hard to just like say this this is a projection but I am anticipating him as like immediately as soon as he joins the team being their best outside shooter their best perimeter shooter I think that that is fair to say Fred Van bleed obviously has a reputation I think that for me if I’m looking at it I mean 52% from three in college or this past season for Reed Shepard to me I I feel like he’s automatically or maybe not automatically but can be assumed to be their best outside shooter immediately no I don’t think there’s any doubt about that uh and again this is a team that uh they took a lot of Threes not as many as maybe they would have liked to have taken but they were a bottom 10 three-point shooting team and a lot of that was just that they didn’t have a whole lot of they they didn’t have guys that you were necessarily worried about their their highest volume three-point Shooters frankly aside from Van vet very good from from long distance last year so so that changes that and he just gives you he gives you so much more space to which for you to operate um if they want to dump the ball in aler and shenon then you have some spacing there somebody that he can kick it out to if teams want a double uh if you want Jaylen green to go driving kick he’s going to spread the floor and give Jaylen green some better driving lane so I think that uh he he’s just the cleanest fit that they have and then you look you can absolutely see him being on the floor FL with amen Thompson you can see him being on the floor with Al shingun so again I thought this was probably I you know I don’t know if it was a no-brainer but had they stayed at three and they want to just kind of build on what they did last year I thought this was a no-brainer so going into this we thought I think we all thought that what direction they went in with the third pick would tell us if not a whole lot at the very least something about how they viewed the rest of these young guys or the the the the rest of their players on their roster already to me and you just mentioned this a moment ago if they had gone with kinging that would have presented the obvious question of okay now what are you doing with alurn shenon I think the implication there is they are at least open to moving on from Alber shenon had they gone that direction they did not they draft Shepard does this tell what does this tell us if anything about how they view their current players because to me if if I’m one of those core six I’m viewing this in a positive light because you have now added a player that not is necessarily you know like if I’m shenon obviously not necessarily is GNA be like my replacement or edging me out of here but more so than anything a guy that as you just described and Illustrated there a guy that I can play with if I’m a men Thompson oh I can play with this guy if I’m Jaylen green if I’m Albert shenon if I’m whoever name your player name your favorite rocket he can play with Reed Shepard what what does that pick say about how they must view this current core I think had they gone in a different direction you’re saying well he is here to take you know have they gone with kingan he’s here to take Shen gun’s job I think it’s probably the the conclusion that you would have drawn but with shephard I I think it’s he’s here to supplement what we already have and I think that that is what you look at if you are the guys that are already on this roster like this is the guy who’s going to help us get better this is the guy who’s going to take us get the next step not a guy who’s going to usurp my role from from somebody else so I think that that’s what you kind of learn from from this pick is that they feel like and I think that they kind of signaled this throughout the offseason like hey they really like their team they like the guys that they already have they’re basically bringing back the entire roster 11 of their top 12 uh in terms of minutes played last year are under contract and are going to be back uh next season plus you add stepen Adams and now you add Shephard to that mix so you’re almost just building on what they did last year they’ll have to obviously get a little bit healthier that that’s the big key but you’re not starting from scratch anymore and so emay udoka has these guys that he has now uh been able to coach for the last 14 months you take what you finished with last year and then you go into camp in September and you just build on that I think that’s what you’re looking at now and have they gone in a different direction I’m not going to say you’re starting from scratch but in some areas you would have been starting from scratch I I I think that also though in terms of and I I don’t want to overstate the impact that you know a 6263 however tall Reed Shepard is uh that that a rookie is gonna have on the team but I do think there’s something to say that there’s something to be said for adding shooting to this team like that being one of the key and obvious things that they were missing I’m not saying that’s the thing from that takes them from being barely a 500 team and fighting for that final playing spot to you know the top playing spot or six seed or anything like that but that does I think change the dynamic a little bit or or sort of just raises the the the level and the caliber of team that now that you’ve got a knock down shooter at least one of them I feel like you can’t have too many of them they could they could stand to to add more or at least get some improvement from within and their shooting but I feel like not only is he a perfect fit but as I said in the very beginning he feels a very particular need and I feel like just like bottom line and you obviously want this to be the case if you draft a guy third overall but I think bottom line and we’ll see how else what else happens and and how everything else plays out with their roster through the course of the off season but I think they’re a better basketball team with him on it well they were they were below average offense last year they were see 20th they were 20th in offensive rating last year and a big reason a big reason for that was that they were a bottom 10 three-point Point shooting team so if you can get this guy looks from three and they should be able to get him plenty of looks from three especially when you consider some of the other guys that they have on the roster that’s going to help the offense and that’s going to help them win games um he also again the defense is going to be the question for him and we understand that that’s always been the case but he has the ability to make plays defensively and that’s what he did a lot of at Kentucky where he would come up with a bunch of steals he would block shots so like that’s getting you out on the break a little bit this is a team that wants to run this is a team that wants to play fast I think that he will help them when it comes to Pace because he will be able to force some turnovers that’s what tar e was so good at doing last year before he got hurt again I think that’s something that Reed Shepard can do as well so there are times where he will he will struggle on the defensive end of the floor but he can also make plays and help you in that area also separate but I think still related because it has to do with the Rockets team building strategy and overall effort here earlier in the day really the day before we find out that the rockets and Nets are essentially exchanging future draft assets to to summarize it basically the Rockets traded a great deal of control over the Net’s future draft picks to now have control over the a great deal of the sun’s future draft picks and more specifically they doubled up the ammo like they’ve gotten now more picks than they had before with the with the Nets picks so all of that being said what do we make of this in terms of how they’re trying to use this ammunition to uh to either go get a star or to entice some one of the players or to entice the Suns from from sending over one of their Stars either Kevin Durant or Devin Booker like what what do we feel like is what do you feel like is the long-term play that the Rockets must be trying to make here by accum not just accumulating picks but doubling up well I think the big thing is that they get more assets out of this and so they gave Brooklyn back two assets and in return they get back three and maybe even four depending on what happens in 2029 so I think that’s a big thing like it’s always good to get more assets I I know Brooklyn gave them what is now what became the third pick in the draft and the Nets aren’t very good but the odds of the 2025 pick being the number one pick next year are still incredibly slim Brooklyn could go 0 and 82 and that would only be a 14% chance of actually happening so you play the lottery odds with that so I I think that they wanted to give them give themselves more Assets in the future and obviously you are betting on Phoenix being bad and let’s you know there’s no reason to think that Phoenix won’t be bad here moving forward um they still have Kevin Durant who’s still an excellent player and they have dein Booker in his prime but you just saw how it fell apart with with Brooklyn and it happens very quickly and the problem that Phoenix has is that it’s going to be very very difficult for them to improve that roster here in the next couple years um obviously you have Booker and you have Durant but after that you’re looking at Bradley Beal who’s under contract for a long time and basically untradeable at at this point um because of the no trade clause and and also just because of the contract so you basically are they’re basic they’re pretty much at the second apron already with just those three guys and it’s a team that finished sixth in the west last year and lost all four playoff games so the idea that they’re suddenly going to take that next step and be Contender is again it seems highly unlikely so you are betting that that team becomes bad here in 2027 or 2029 and who knows what happens this season you know would you say the Phoenix Suns are locks to be in the playoffs in 2025 I can’t say that they are with as good as the West is right now so you never know what happens with that pick so um it was a very unique trade I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trade like it before where you’re basically giving a team back its picks and getting the picks of another team I don’t think we’ve seen that one before and obviously if Phoenix does decide to become Sellers and they could you we’ll have to wait and see what happens their owner Matt is has said they have no interest in trading Kevin Durant maybe they don’t have interest in in trading Kevin Durant but if that thing starts out bad and and Devin Booker says hey man get me out of here then at least the Rockets can say Okay Phoenix you want to trade dein Booker you’re ready to you know you obviously you don’t control your own future well we’ll give you your future back just give us Devon Booker and then you can start over I think that’s kind of what they’re thinking if something were to happen with Phoenix but if Phoenix wants to stay the course then the Rockets still have those Suns picks which I think would be very um very appetizing for another team and they can go get another player that way it is a fascinating chess move because I I know I’ve seen some folks criticize them for dealing away the Nets picks because everybody does expect the Nets to be bad probably even the Nets themselves I think we all agree with that that the Nets are going nowhere and that you know we can understand what the value would have been in having those picks but I am fascinated by the idea of giving one team its future back to take the future of another team and dangle it in front of them and say I dare you to pass this up I dare you to actually believe in this thing that nobody else across the league actually believes in and that you yourself Tred it out as an experiment and saw how it played out last year and you know dog on well that that’s about as good as it’s going to get that that first round exit that that sweeping the first round you think that you’re you’re going to take a step between now and whatever step Minnesota takes or whatever Denver looks like next year or you just name your favorite team in the west and you think whatever you got is going to be good enough to go up against that you’ve hit your ceiling whether you know it or not but hey you know what here’s your future right here sitting in front of us and how did we get it by giving another team their future back like that is just a a fascinating chain of events regardless of or aside from how everything actually plays out we’re we’re here for how it plays out and that’s that’s really the the the the the longterm the bigger picture of hey what does this actually finally look like on a basketball court but from a strategic standpoint from a thought process standpoint I am fascinated by the move that the rocket has made over the last 24 hours and Brandon I think the interesting part of the two trades yesterday was the order in which they were leak because the first trade that got leaked was the bridges trade and so then once you see that well the expectation is well the Nets are tanking and it’s over and they’re tanking without controlling their own picks it is I’m assuming that the Rockets trade with Brooklyn was worked out first and it just got leaked second because I don’t think there is any way that Brooklyn is making that Bridges trade if they don’t already have their picks back because while the Nets weren’t going to be good next year with Bridges they still had had the ability to at least tread water with Bridges and they had some cap space where they could have gone out and make another move so the idea that Brooklyn was just going to bottom out next year with Bridges is highly unlikely so I think that’s why if you’re the Rockets you you know that’s why obviously they made the move that they made is because they got their picks back from the rockets and so that’s why it makes sense really for all parties and I do Wonder because you you have a lot of other teams that have given away their entire futures for certain guys I I do Wonder if we start to see more teams try and buy their Futures back because it just makes sense the Rockets gave the net to get out of jail free card basically with this because now the Nets I think Brooklyn knew it needed to tear it all down but I don’t think they wanted to do it understanding that they did not control their future now you can tear it all down because you do control your future at this point so it made sense for Brooklyn it makes sense for the Rockets they get an extra asset out of it and you know we’ll see what they use the assets on maybe Phoenix is able to figure this out and and maybe they turn out to be good and it doesn’t work out in the end for the Rockets but it’s not a bad move at all well it it makes even more sense than that Adam because it also it also in turn sets a blueprint for the Suns it’s like hey look at just just in terms of the whole idea of buying your picks back or realizing that you’re not going anywhere and and so it’s a little bit different because of the caliber players we’re talking about like Mel Bridges versus putting on like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker what have you I understand the difference in that but it is sort of a blueprint of you know what back to your point of how many teams are going like are we gonna are we gonna establish a trend set a trend at some point of teams and this is not like something that’s gon to happen all the time I don’t think but like just something that happens more often than you’ve ever seen where hey you know what a team realizes you know what I can I mortgage my future but I can buy it back you know and it’s uh it’s a to me it’s just a a really interesting concept you talked about it working out for both parties or working out for all parties I would add to that excuse me I would add to that the the entire Bridges to Houston conversation like I’m I am good with not having not ever having to see that anymore but also like you look at how that played out this this makes more sense for both teams it makes more sense for the Knicks to be interested in bridges because they’re closer to being where you’d want to be than the Rockets are and so giving up what they gave up to get Bridges actually makes sense because he can be somebody that that pushes them over the edge or or or strengthens their case as a contender at least in the Eastern Conference I still don’t think that that’s a team that can win a title or anything but you get why they would do that and then for the Rockets it makes makes much more sense than like trading for just like bringing in Mel Bridges who’s a fine player it makes much more sense to rack up these assets double up on your assets and then take the biggest of swings when it’s time to take it and for me that means this is something to put a pin in and to monitor like you’re you’re almost operating in parallel universes where the Rockets got their thing going on but you’re also paying attention to what the Phoenix Suns got going on because hey the moment that thing goes left or hey once that NBA trade deadline comes forget next off season hell this might be a conversation we revisit every time until the the answer is something to the to the Rockets liking and they land with Devin Booker or for whatever reason they decide that they do want Kevin Durant or whatever it is the answer is to their liking and they just kind of put a pen in this put a pen in this and keep monitoring what’s going on with the Suns but let’s also say it it is very possible that the seven guys that they had the seven first round picks that they have on the roster now from the last four drafts maybe that turns out to be enough maybe those guys are good enough to get them over the top and in order to keep those guys they have to go over the second apron well what happens when when you go over the second apron you need to be able to add other players in other ways and the best way to do that will be through the draft so let’s say they’re over the the second apron in 2029 you know it would be nice to have then a couple first round picks and so that now gives them the ability to where they can add cheap young Talent down the road if that’s something that they need you you’re seeing this right now with Denver where last year Denver trade actually the great example of it is right now with what Minnesota just did tonight where Minnesota trades up or Minnesota trades to get uh Rob Dillingham in the first round of this draft they trade with San Antonio they give up a a first round pick in 2030 and then a another pick in 2031 like that’s the type of stuff that you want to be able to do like when your team is right there and it’s ready to compete and you feel like you’re right there um the ability to add another first round pick to the roster becomes wildly important and now if in five years the Rockets are in that position to where they need another player they don’t have to give up an asset in the future like they can just say hey we’ve got these two picks that we got from this trade that we made in 2024 let’s go add to our roster that and get some cheap controllable players that have a chance to help us and who knows maybe we get a bonus and those picks wind up in the top 10 which is very possible see that’s why I love talking to you SPO because that that is a great way to look at it I don’t even I don’t even know that’s the the a chest this move is already a chest move in and of itself but that’s an even longer term chess move or play or way to look at it like hey what if all of these guys work out the you know a handful of them by that point become expensive and now you need cheap Talent this is the way to get it I was thinking more along the lines of okay this this hoarding of future Suns picks and this belief that what the Suns got going on right now is not sustainable okay well maybe if you can’t tell the Suns on their dreams and their hopes and dreams being ridiculous maybe you can sell the next team on that right like go to the next team and say hey we all know damn well that what’s going on in Phoenix ain’t going work here’s their future how would you like to have it since they apparently don’t want it they don’t see what all of the rest of us see and you look up and okay now instead I’ve got Jimmy Butler or I don’t know I’m just throwing names out there but you understand what I mean there right like just give me give me the star or the guy that that puts us over the edge saying I’m not willing to just bet on the on the core being enough in and of itself maybe it’s a great supplement to our greater ambition of finding an established star but we can do that in other places there’s that because that’s a real possibility that hey maybe Phoenix just doesn’t play and somebody else will or like you said these picks are further down the road you got guys that you’re still developing see if they develop see see how it all works out see how it all plays out and maybe it turns out that you don’t deal those picks at all I view them as chess pieces as a way as a means to an end but it could turn out that those picks actually turn into players for the rockets at some point hey and let’s not forget they haven’t fully divested from the Brooklyn Nets mess and they still have that swap in 2027 and listen they gave Brooklyn an out and they give Brooklyn an opportunity here the next couple of years to rebuild their roster but the idea that Brooklyn will be ready to compete in 2027 is still highly unlikely because that will be a very young team so Brooklyn could still want I mean we’ve seen what what the Rockets were a couple years into their rebuild like it takes some time in order to make that work uh so Brooklyn could still be bad they could still have a decent looking future three years from now but they could still be very bad and the rockets would still have an opportunity to get what would be a major asset from the Nets um if that comes to fruition so um they are obviously betting against Phoenix but in a sense they are also betting against Dallas in the future and they still have a little bit of uh a little bit of you know coverage with with Brooklyn so they have three teams that they can kind of look at that can help them add more players to the roster so that’s three teams if you’re a fan that’s three teams you get to root against here in the future all right Adam let’s do this quickly so we can get out of here gotta hear from rocket brass obviously they just pick to read Shephard number three overall so a big night want to hear what they have to say about about it all and what their future plans are with the roster they have now but we have not talked since the season officially ended obviously the Boston Celtics win the NBA title in a gentleman sweep against the Dallas Mavericks but what that meant was as soon as that was over essentially as soon as that was over guys are are eligible for their extensions namely you know for our purposes Jaylen green and Al shenon officially extension eligible as of the end of this past NBA season as of the end of the NBA Finals what do you think about how this and I guess maybe nothing’s changed since the last time we talked about it but do you get the sense that and especially after what we’ve seen over the last couple of days uh that that the Rockets are more inclined to extend one of or both of these guys I don’t know yet um I think today makes it seem likely that at some point they will get something done at least with shenon because they had a chance to essentially draft his replacement and they didn’t do it um there’s no like they don’t have to do that like they don’t have to give these guys extensions now they can wait a year and Rafel Stone said as much like you know we can go into restri restricted free agency with these guys I should have said not to interrupt you I should have said one of or both or neither I should have I should have absolutely thrown that out there as a possibility but continue yeah for for me I think I if I’m them I would wait I I would wait and see what happens this season before I really commit because I mean these are serious contracts I mean you just saw what uh what Scott Scotty Barnes is going to get $270 million now again SE are 25% extensions and with the cap if you want to do it now if you’re going to give a guy a Max now is the time to do it because next year it goes up you know a Max salary becomes a whole lot more expensive a year from now uh because of the way that the cap moves so I would not be in a rush to do it but if you feel like these are two guys who you would give Max extensions to then go ahead and do it now I don’t know if the Rockets feel that way about either guy uh I just I’m not sure there is anybody in this class that I would give the full 25% extension to not even I don’t think I would have even given it to Barnes but I guess some teams feel like they have to do it for me I would wait and just see you know see if you can find a middle ground or you just wait and do it next summer when they hit restricted free agency so I don’t think they feel like they have to do it and so I don’t necessarily think that they will the one time and this is new for this front office this front office really hasn’t been in this position of having having to sign guys to extensions the one guy that they did it with was Kevin Porter Jr and that was a very very very team-friendly deal and he was a very different type of of player than the other two guys are so I I don’t know and that deal also got done like right before the start of training camp so I don’t think they’ll be in any rush to get something done it wouldn’t shock me if they do but I think if I’m them I probably wait yeah I I agree I I I think it makes the most sense to wait wait with all of this like got a good you actually kind of got a good thing going here and if there could just be a little bit more patience with it to see how to just get if if for nothing else you’re just waiting on more information on the one end with the players you’re waiting on more information about Jaylen green and Alber shenon and what kind of Step that they’re what kind of Step are they going to take in year four as they are now extension eligible and then on the other end that other thing that we talked about you’re just waiting on this other thing to crash and burn like everybody thinks it’s going to be like everybody thinks it’s going to do I should say in Phoenix with the Suns and and and and once it does you are in Prime position to maneuver and to finesse and to say hey we’re right here with your future ready to sell it back to you and then oh by the way we’re making some you know some some decisions and some evaluations on our own guys to decide if we got somebody worth building around right here in house and the other reason why I think you wait when you sign guys to the extensions they don’t kick in for another year and they are basically impossible to trade like it is very very difficult like Toronto would obviously never do it but if Toronto wanted to trade Scotty Barnes let’s say in six months or before the deadline whenever it’s basically impossible because of you basically are having to take it’s just it’s very very difficult because what you are taking in is basically what his current salary is but what you’re trading out is what his new salary is so they become almost impossible contracts to trade if that’s something that you want to look to down the road and again the Rockets have all these picks from Phoenix and if Phoenix all of a sudden decides to change course you know that obviously is a team that the Rockets could do business with but those contracts again impossible to trade basically impossible to trade once you do the extensions before the extensions actually kick in all right SPO we can reconvene if and win Rafel stone or maoka or hell maybe even the vertia somebody says something of not worth talking about worth breaking down hopefully they do because that’d be a lot of fun I think this is a really fun time for the Rockets honestly got a lot of really cool things going on they got to put it all together on the court obviously but this is the offseason and as far as offseasons go this is some juice number three pick you know trading to double up your ammo I’m here for it man I’m here for it it’s an entertaining time so so let so let’s get to it I’ll let you get to Rockets brass talking about this pck man and we’ll we’ll reconvene later he is Adam Spain Austin Mendes is handling this s Forest behind the scenes I am Brandon Scott this is the htown ho podcast make sure you subscribe rate review tell a friend we’ll see y’all next

Former Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard is the newest Houston Rockets first-round pick. The Rockets selected the sharp shooter with the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.

On the H-Town Hoops podcast, Brandon Scott and Adam Spolane react to the Sheppard pick; the Rockets trading for the Phoenix Suns’ future picks; and what to do about possible Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun contract extensions.

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