Reed Sheppard Introduced as the Houston Rockets 2024 Draft Pick

Reed Sheppard Introduced as the Houston Rockets 2024 Draft Pick

Rockets future number three overall Reed Shepard hey Reed I’m Ross hey you all dressed up man you like a job interview today man you’re looking sharp who who told you to dress up I wanted to I wanted to I wanted to dress up and look nice so I like this all right I’m really whatever you’re buying I’m whatever you’re selling I’m ready to buy uh what’s it been like for you just as a practical human standpoint Whirlwind for years your head still spinning I mean you’re going from Kentucky to being drafted now here in Houston being introduced and all type of stuff what are you feeling right now it feels crazy um you know I I’m just excited um you know draft night was an unbelievable night for me and my family and then um being here at the Houston Rockets and it’s just it’s unbelievable I’m super excited I can’t say too much about it I don’t even know what to say um you know it’s it’s just I’m very thankful and um to be here and it’s just I can’t wait to get started it is crazy we’re talking with Reed sheeper here with Hoster Rockets from London Kentucky Laurel County population 7,000 what was it like I mean for you going from playing in a small town to adjusting to playing on a national stage at Kentucky I mean obviously your dad played there so you knew a little bit of what to expect but I mean you were kind of a rockar from the minute you walked on campus just because of who you were this highly tied recruit and all that but it’s a little bit more special play for Kentucky being a Kentucky boy right yeah 100% um you know it was a dream of mine since I’ve been a little boy to to play at the University of Kentucky and and being able to do that was was awesome playing for Coach Cal playing for Big Blue Nation running out on rup arena for the first time with the Shephard 15 and Kentucky on the front um you know it was it was a dream come true and it was such a fun year I loved every second of it and you know it was it was awesome it was I couldn’t have asked for a better season better group of teammates better group of coaches so it was my year at Kentucky was unbelievable what’s the best place to eat in London Kentucky is there a ton of restaurants uh there’s not chili is pretty good I’ve heard there’s not there’s not a ton of restaurants um Bojangles there is a Bojangles okay but um you know my My Little My family owns a little Italian spot called Gondolier so it’s it’s probably my favorite okay very nice well Houston is supposed to be I don’t know if you’ve gotten any Houston tips from anybody yet but uh we don’t we have a lot of heat and humidity we don’t have a lot of things to do but the restaurants are really good here I’ve heard I’ve heard the food is unbelievable so I’m pretty excited about that yeah I have to get some some text mechs in you uh in your time here um growing up your parents I know both play basketball at the University of Kentucky and it’s funny they used to there was a saying that some of the Kentucky fans had that uh you know Reed’s got a little bit of his mom’s game in him a little bit more I I’ll ask you this perspective who was the tougher coach on you growing up was it your dad or was it your mom cuz I’m sure they were both critical at times in they were both very critical um you know I would I would say mom um you know it was it was different mom was dad was more of a a coach Momom was more of a she’s going to yell and you’re going to you’re going to understand quick dad’s going to try and teach you and Mom’s going to make sure you make sure you good cop bad cop that’s right that’s right um you know but I’m super thankful for both of them they’ve both been been with me from the beginning and they’ve been a tremendous help and you know I’ve been able to talk to them since I was a kid and to now so I’m very thankful for them yeah not even basketball-wise what has that been like with you conversing with them about all this type of stuff about you know becoming an NBA player and now like I don’t know they’re not going to let you buy a Bugatti or anything are they no I I don’t want that I’m going to give me a truck so okay there you go uh but just like leaning on them for that type of the type of Life of advice and where you are now becoming an NBA player yeah I mean they’re they’re great people um you know growing up there was never any jerseys or Championship banners or trophies in the house it was there were just Mom and Dad um it I wasn’t even it wasn’t until like Middle School I really knew that they even played basketball I knew they played but I didn’t know at what at the level that they did um so for me they were just they were just Mom and Dad they were just two really really good people that were really humble and and would do anything to help to help anyone um so just just having them around me my whole life and being able to lean on them if I ever need anything not even basketball related it’s been it’s been really huge I heard eay and raell referenced uh that that your mom said at dinner that you can’t be soft can’t be soft how would you describe your toughness that you had to develop one going from high school to college but now going from college to the pros I mean you got to have that toughness you got to have thick skin and it’s got to be all right made a bad play there got to turn the page on to the next one yeah for sure and and a lot of that is from from growing up with with Mom and Dad um you know in the house you never won it was everything was a competition and and growing up it wasn’t they never took it easy on you you would have to I would lose every game that we played it didn’t matter if it was basketball it didn’t matter what it was if it was a competition they Monopoly yeah they were they weren’t taking it easy so I had to I had to just just grow up with with learning how to compete and learning how to fight and and that’s mom’s biggest thing is don’t be soft don’t let anyone out work you um you go out every every time you’re on the court and you play as hard as you can no one’s going to play harder winning or losing you’re going to you’re going to fight you’re going to compete you’re going to play the best you can and that’s what we’re hearing now there’s been of course you probably heard the talk about g-league or going to be with the roster and all that type stuff and that comes with hey Reed is going to get as much playing time as he earns he’s going to be on this roster if he earns that is that uh just something that you’re going to embrace as far as the competition and just being the best that you can in order to are you looking to avoid the g- league or do you care do you want to develop wherever I mean what what is your mindset right now yeah I’m I’m I’m really excited um you know I’m coming in with an open mindset of just learning uh I want to learn anything I can and everything I can it’s the NBA I’ve never played in the n NBA so it’s not going to it’s not going to click right away but being able to learn and just see everything and see the differences from college to the NBA and just trying to learn and be the best player that I can be um you know so it’s basketball I love the game of basketball I love playing and competing so every day come in and just compete and play as hard as I can you primarily came off the bench there in Kentucky but you you played starter minutes so I guess it was kind of you know it was what it was but what was that like for you being a star in high school I think what North and being the star to having a go in transition to you’re not starting but you’re still playing an important role and obviously your role evolved as a season went along and became a complete player but what was that like kind of being the star in high school to in college okay I’m going to come off the bench but I’m sure Coach Cal had that conversation with you hey we have a plan here yeah I I was completely fine with with not starting um you know I’m I’m going to do whatever it takes to win if I played 5 minutes if I played 20 if I didn’t play at all if it doesn’t matter whatever I mean obviously you want to play and you want to do whatever you can but if the team’s rolling everything’s going good just just do whatever you can to win um you know every time you go and compete make the right basketball play so so comeing here that’s that’s what exactly what I’m going to do if I play five minutes I’ll play that’ll be the hardest five minutes I play I’ll try to do whatever I can to get the team from here to here and and if I’m play 20 minutes just do whatever I can to win compete um so I’m just I’m really excited to to come in and learn take me back to Humphrey Coliseum Mississippi State ker High 32 points in that one you hit the gamewinner runner through the lane what was working that night you were just you were in the zone huh I was I was I was in the zone um but you know a lot of that a lot of that’s from my teammates as well you know um putting the confidence and just telling me like when you’re open shootter like like we need you to score so um you know that was that was a really fun game and that was a big win for us and you know it’s just it was a lot of fun going on the road playing at Mississippi State their fans were in white shirts we were down the whole game so just having a fight and compete and really come together as a team and just and just fight and keep working and keep leaning on each other and not letting all the fans in the outside noise Make how we played differently we just had to continue to stick to do stick to doing what we knew how we could do take me that tournament game that kid from Oakland what was that that was I mean I’ve never seen a guy get on a heater like you’ve been on like that before but like that kid couldn’t miss that was insane no I mean he’s a really good shooter um you know he got hot and he he got really hot but you defending him he had hands in his face know I mean he was he was sometimes it’s like that you know they played really well we didn’t play very well um but you know you can’t take anything away from them they they played a heck of a game and he hit he hit a lot of really tough shots all right that is Reed sheeper the newest Houston Rocket number three overall pick uh Reed thanks for the time and wishing you the best in the future thank you guys appreciate it all right time for

Houston Rockets guard Reed Sheppard joins SportsTalk790 as he was introduced to the media after being selected 3rd overall by Houston in the 2024 NBA Draft out of Kentucky.

The former Kentucky Wildcat talks about his game and what he can bring to Houston, and what elements of his game he is focused on as he makes the transition to the NBA.