Houston Rockets Draft Reed Sheppard! Brooklyn and Houston Mega Trade! Sengun For Kevin Durant?

Houston Rockets Draft Reed Sheppard! Brooklyn and Houston Mega Trade! Sengun For Kevin Durant?

p [Music] welcome to another episode of rockets talk bro the Houston Rockets your Houston Rockets just drafted Reed sheeper the guy I always wanted let me tell you right let me hit you with the Trump let me tell you I how about this guy re I I was wondered him you guys know I’m just playing but best re sheeper is the Houston is the Houston Rocket uh we just finished doing a three and a half hour uh Rockets uh Rockets watch live stream of the draft um I would say that you know obviously you guys can watch our conversations leading up to the draft about the players definitely not mad at it I think Reed was the best fit for the Rockets I personally was on team tradeback um but to me this is the second best option that they would have had up there uh for uh for a player that they would have gotten now this day started off a little weird right there was a lot of weird uh discussions going on that look kind of crazy now in retrospect um and and I want to hear your whole view from the start of the day the first thing that came out this morning was the Rockets with draft and clinging and I heard that I was like what the hell is going on it’s 2024 why are we even considering drafting a drop big with a third overall pick and then it turned into you know even backing up from there the trade with Brooklyn and we can get into that the shenon trade allegations the kingan for uh replacing shenon all of that and we end up with re Shepard man so it’s been a crazy 24 hours what has been your perspective on everything leading up to them okay I forgot about the that we’re talking about the Brooklyn trade too so trade yeah yeah right okay so are we starting with draft trade like where should I start let’s build it up we’ll start off let’s start off with the trade then we’ll build up build up and sequentially to the draft so the trade so this was this was for me uh I saw the W bomb you know last night couple nights ago whatever it was uh that the Knicks were trading for Bridges and my first thought and I even tweeted This was oh that Brooklyn pick is looking pretty you know the the the Nets pulled the trigger they got a big haul from the Knicks um shout out to Shawn marks I think he did a great job to be honest with you so good for the Nets and I’m thinking okay cool Rockets are the Cooper flag sweep Stakes tweeted it boom maybe 10 minutes later maybe not even we get the news that the Rockets traded their uh some of the Nets picks back in exchange for some of the Suns picks um and at first I was like and and the the reasoning was that that W was saying you know the Rockets want to go big game hunting you know use these picks get a star and I’m thinking I guess you know like the the Nets picks were looking good whatever um all in all after sitting on it so the Rockets confirmed that the Nets made the trade with New York because they had a deal in principle with the Rockets to get their picks back so they made a calculated decision to tank so those two moves were connected it was basically like an unofficial three team deal kind of so that makes sense and then you basically swap the 25 Brooklyn swap rights and the 26 Brooklyn pick for pH for 25 swap rights with Phoenix which will be probably not as good obviously as with Brooklyn but whatever and then you get a first round pick from Phoenix in 2027 and then you also get the best of Phoenix or Dallas’s first- round pick in 2029 and the right to swap Houston’s pick with whichever of those picks is left over between the Phoenix or Dallas pick in 2029 so Houston can let’s just put it like this if Houston gets if Phoenix gets the first overall pick Dallas gets the fifth overall pick and Houston gets the 10th overall pick in the 20129 draft Houston gets D Phoenix’s first overall pick and then they can swap their 10th overall pick for Dallas’s fifth overall pick and they would essentially move up from the 10th overall pick to having both number one and five not bad and and they retain the right to swap with Brooklyn in 2027 which is important because if Brooklyn is going to go full-blown tank and rebuild which they may not they may accelerate their rebuild they may use all this draft Capital that they got to make a trade whatever but if they don’t if they go you know classic rebuild as Rockets fans we already know two drafts is not enough to fully rebuild right and so the 2024 draft just happened Brooklyn didn’t get anybody because we had their pick haha but they would have the 2025 pick 2026 pick and then that would get you to the 2027 draft if you remember after two rebuilding tank picks the Rockets were still one of the worst teams in the NBA right so that 2027 swap right with Brooklyn could come in handy so all in all I Like It ultimately I feel like the Rockets really had full leverage over Brooklyn and they could have maybe squeezed a little bit more out of it we’ll never know I wasn’t in the room um overall I like it though uh the Rockets are basically extending their timeline to use those picks so that they can you know keep their optionality open further down the line see what the young core is able to do this season and then make some moves from that point depending on who they decide to extend and what they do with the picks to trade to go to go get a star or whatever so that’s how I feel about it what about you all right I’m gonna I’m gonna just for the audience I’m gonna I’m gonna read out a tweet I put out kind of detailing where we are right now at our pick situation so 2024 we have the Brooklyn first round pick swap which became Reed Shepard um 2025 the Rockets own their their own pick with a phoenix first round pick swap that basically they get the leftovers of OKC so OKC gets the first rights to that pick then whatever is left over from that we can swap with them so that’s something new uh basically traded Nets swap for Phoenix swap 2026 no pick um we have no pick in that draft um from their 27 we own our own pick we have a phoenix unprotected first round pick and you said pick swap right because I think I missed that in 27 in the original tweet that I put out okay so we have pretty much three first round picks uh two picks in a swap 28 no change we have our own pick and 2029 is another uh addition is our own pick plus what you were explaining the Phoenix unprotected and the Dallas swap rids from that uh which which so essentially we traded out um the Brooklyn picks that were shortterm closer to us right now in than the coming season uh for the same picks I think plus a swap you it’s like a net a swap right pretty much or is a net a pick and a swap the the Rockets add an extra pick in 2029 and a swap in 2029 the swap might it’s like a yeah so 209 might not convey yeah yeah so you pretty much a pick in a half I’ll just say that um to me to me now if you’re going to look at drafting if you were focused on drafting quality of a player some would say and I agreed that the Brooklyn path would have been the best path because what we found out is that uh Rafel basically the Rockets Bas said the uh the Nicks trade with Brooklyn couldn’t have went through without the rockets doing their part which makes sense uh you wouldn’t trade mckel away and uh for that if if you knew that you weren’t going to be able to control your destiny as a team to tank so that happened the quality of the draft obviously Cooper flag being the the top pick coming up in 25 in the 25 draft it it’s probably a better quality because you kind of project there is some good players coming out over the next few years that are projected projected you know anything can change to me what this tells me is that the Rockets are done with drafting young players right now and the way I perceive it is that they’ve put themselves in position to trade quality for quantity um because it sounds better if I tell you hey bro I’ll take X andx player I’ll give you six first round picks five first round picks three protected in two spot whatever than just four or whatever they were able to do before this now this argument is still up in the air because it doesn’t mean it’s automatically successful but I like it because it’s appropriate for where they are as a franchise right now we cannot keep drafting players and this will touch on some of the Reed sheeper stuff they basically said we want to win and we are putting ourselves in position to go get the assets to do so and we don’t think drafting is the best path to winning right now um so the way I look at it they give a two-year window about a year or two of assessing their current players and then you’re waiting out to see what shakes this next summer and the Summers after that because you have picks your own picks you have Phoenix’s picks and some swaps and they they can and they have young players so to me this is the first big win now move that the Rockets have made in this to me in this process signing Fred was not signing Fred was a stabilizing move let’s just get our feet back under it you know deal and all that this trade was a win now trade that’s how I perceive it that that’s how I’m looking it’s win now but it’s not a move that’s gonna be made now I don’t think right exactly it’s pivot to winning yes yes so yeah and I think that’s a good way to put it right they basically said hey we need quantity which they do because people were all you know I think people had it had it a little twisted thinking like hey the Rockets have this Treasure Chest to picks they really didn’t they basically had one pick per year um for I don’t know however many years but they they had a surplus of picks and they kind of used some of them in the first couple years of the rebuild they used a couple to go get shenon they did some wheeling and dealing um but they were basically averaging one pick per year and that’s not enough if they want to go trade for a star that’s not enough they’re going to have to include one maybe two players out of the young core that they probably didn’t want to have to include so by by going out and getting some more draft Capital you put yourself in a position where you can trade those picks and um the fact that they’re so far out in the future I think is probably more attractive on the market because the uncertainty of the picks means like hey man they could they could still be valuable you know whereas when the picks are closer you know this year’s pick next year’s pick you really got to make sure that the team you’re trading those picks to intends to use those picks soon because if they don’t they don’t have any use for them and then the value of them is lower and you can’t make the deal right so um so I like it like I said I wish they would have gotten a little more I felt like they could have stared Brooklyn down and dared Brooklyn to try to win some games and see how that see how that was going to go for him um and make them crawl back to the table and be like yo now give us what you got um but at the end of the day I like it I mean we have to keep it real Brooklyn had the Rockets not gotten lucky with the odds falling the way they did Houston would have the ninth pick this this draft not the third pick right um the East is going to be weak again most likely so Brooklyn could either make a plan or be like the 11 or 12 seed right um is all worth trying to get Cooper flag especially when you know you have a team that you’ve built and you got to weigh that against a 14% chance at Cooper flag probably not right so so I’m cool with it um now the question becomes and this is my this is my other criticism it’s these are minor criticisms but my other criticism is at some point I would like this whole idea and dream of optionality we’ve been talk we’ve been talking about optionality for years um and stone has kind of kicked the can down the line with this optionality right we get the Brooklyn picks now we’re shifting those down three years and we got the Suns picks um at some point I want this optionality to materialize into the team you know like all right cool we got all these we got these assets we got this the flexibility well what do we do with them and that is now that’s the question right so that’s that’s what remains they have flipped the picks into more picks they’ve used some picks to draft players they’ve assembled Young Talent now what what are the final pieces going to look like that’s my question yeah I mean that that’s a that’s a great point and I think that one one thing that came out of that story was um the idea of the Rockets actually making a trade this summer you know with the Phoenix Suns um I think with this team I that’s one of the positive I like from this trade because the team that they picked to engage the extension of picks with is one that is incredibly unstable right now now as you pointed out I don’t think there is an aad situation as people try to paint it out to see um at the end of the day they still have three star Three Star level players um so they’re not Brooklyn as Brooklyn is right now dying to get off of Mel Bridges so they can tank um so I can see why people are some people are mad and say you would have just let Brooklyn just sink and just reap the benefits from that um but you know there’s two players one of them was rumored which was Kevin Durant to be uh a target for the rockets that was dispelled as not being true and then the one that did come out as a target for the Rockets or a player they’ be interested in the future is Deon Booker um so kind of a subplot of this that led to the idea of trading uh one of our players whether Jaylen or shenon is the fact that you know what you’re talking about at some point you know the whole saying says you gotta you know you got to take a dumper get off the pot and I think that starts like this season for the Rockets there’s really no more oh Prospect or potential it is is now like you’ve missed youve you’ve been a a 500 team we just seen you know email DOA I never missed the playoffs watching his former team win the championship I don’t think that it’ll be um something that is ATT tenable for them to come back and not make the playoffs again so I I feel like they’re uh coming from a position of results oriented uh like basketball and if that’s going to be the case then I can see them being aggressive one of the things like this the kind of the arguments that came out is if the Rockets were to make a trade for a player uh on the Suns it would it be an equal or a good trade if we uh traded Alon shenon uh for the likes of Devin Booker or or Kevin Durant and I you know I I’m curious to hear your thoughts on that I’m going to share mine number one I think anybody anywhere and any time is always tradable in the NBA I don’t think there’s a player that people should go gly over number two I think that the fact that Al Shang is being mentioned in trade talks with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker is a hell of a compliment and shows to me how valuable of a player he is in the NBA right um because you don’t become a centerpiece of a trade package if you’re trash or you’re bad or teams don’t like you or whatever um people think about alprin we know that the Rockets turned down offers for him and bi straight up so that gives you a base line to me this shows the high end of what his value could be which is good young player that that every trade package seeks that young prospect that you could possibly build a team around or be a a key part of a team build that you include in the trade as a Rockets fan I’m okay with that because I want what’s best for the Rockets as a a fan of Alon shenon and his play I think that that does also give you show you his value for the team and back to your point about this year I think him and Jaylen this year this is a big proven year he can sidify his like what he is in this NBA if he comes out and has a season like he did last year improves efficiency maybe gets a couple more boards if the team just wins more and he plays the same I think he elevates himself to a different talk um so guys the the trades are going to come like the trade offers blah blah blah blah blah it’s just part of the game but I think it kind of speaks to where the Rockets are now as opposed to when you know all these guys were rookies and sophomores and stuff like like that when we’re tanking yeah I mean so look let’s touch on a few things first uh you talked about the team that they’re targeting which is now Phoenix right it’s funny that Rafel Stone and the rockets keep targeting whatever team Kevin Durant is on they they went after brookin mismatch hunting right they won that they won that gamble now they’re going after Phoenix uh simultaneously there’s rumors that they want Kevin Durant does that mean they’re going to trade for him and then the Rockets will crumble who knows um I do want to remind Rockets fans that hey the gamble on Brooklyn melting down worked however sh man we got we got kind of lucky we could never have predicted that Kyrie Irving was gonna tweet that that video that he tweeted that got him in in the trouble that it got him in we could have never predicted that uh James Harden after being an Iron Man was gonna get hurt in the playoffs um when they should have beat Milwaukee in the season prior to that it was hard to predict that covid would happen and that Kyrie Irving not getting the vaccination shot turned into the thing that it turned into which from what I remember seemed to be the Tipping Point for Harden because he was like all right man what are we doing get me out of here and then he demanded the trade we could not have predicted those things the likelihood of those things happening again very slim so in targeting Phoenix yes there are some uh some ways that their payroll structured that is going to make it really hard for them to to maintain success and to be successful and they had a shitty season last season they totally underperformed expectations if they come out this season and underperform again yeah things might hit the fan in Phoenix however they still have a lot of talent they still have Kevin Durant they still have Bradley Beal they still have Devin Booker and they replace Frank vogle who I thought was a really bad hire with Mike buen hoer who’s not he’s still not you know he still has his limitations as a coach uh but he has won a championship and I do think he can probably get those guys on track so let’s keep all of that in perspective right the likelihood of of things melting the way that they did in Brooklyn probably not going to happen flip side of that we we have till 2027 for that to really matter because next season is a swap right with Phoenix and then 2027 is when the the Phoenix first round pick kicks in so we have a cushion which was which was by Design um as far as Al shenon being involved in those trade talks totally agree with you it’s a compliment you don’t hear Jaylen Green’s name in there you don’t hear Jabari Smith’s name in there um maybe amen Thompson I don’t think he would be the singular centerpiece I think he would be him and another player you don’t hear cam Whitmore I don’t say that to to diminish or put down the other players but I say it to elevate Shang I mean he’s reached a status where he could potentially theoretically be the centerpiece of a trade for a player like Kevin Durant or Devin Booker uh the downside to that kind of stuff for me is the Players specifically in Target Kevin Durant this season is gonna be 36 and he has not played more than 55 games he has only played more than 55 games once in the last five years I think and he’s getting older right so like that’s not good um and then uh Devin Booker is the other player right for me personally I think the hardest type of player to find in the NBA is one who can score and create for others at a high level right score be an engine two birds one stone run your offense be your best score whatever um we talked about this on the last episode there’s different tiers of those kinds of players right shanon’s not in like the Luca tier uh but shenon is is in the lower tier of that type of player with he’s only 21 right with potential to to continue to get better and add to his game hardest type of player to find when you find that type of player if you let that player go you better know who’s going to replace them as the engine of your team because if you don’t case in point Phoenix things get a little ugly if all you have is just a bunch of buckets right a bunch of dudes that score there’s more to basketball than scoring points you have to build a team so if you’re gonna trade shenon for Kevin Durant or Devin Booker uh both of those guys are finishers we talked about this on the last episode play play makers creators play finishers both of those guys are finishers they can do some creating sure but they’re not running your offense right so that would give me concern you get Deon Booker let’s say okay what else like is that the final piece because that doesn’t seem like a complete team to me you still got to do more the other thing that’s disappointing about that would be disappointing about a trade if shenon is the guy that gets traded in in a move like that is um oh Jaylen green sorry pause for a minute Jaylen green you drafted Jaylen green to be become Deon Booker so if you then got to trade albr shenon to go get Devon Booker when you have Jaylen green who you thought was going to be J Devon Booker it’s it’s a tough pill to swallow for me because it’s just like damn you used the number two pick on a player that you thought was going to be this player and now you got to trade your best player best young Prospect right and other picks just to go get that player so it’s just kind of like an inefficient use of the assets that would be disappointing to me um now if you can pull that trade off without s sending Al and shenon over and without sending one of like the you know like an amen Thompson or something over shenon and book that’s that is interesting to me that would be fun especially if you surround them with you know the other guys on the team whoever is whoever would be left over that doesn’t get traded uh you know you have we have a stable of defensive Wings guys that are interchangeable switchable 66 67 68 strong long some of them can shoot some of them can dribble get out in transition versatile lineups all of that right compliment shenon very well and then you’d have Devon Booker give you 25 a night on top of that efficiently that becomes interesting um all that being said I think the Rockets are in a good position because they have the luxury of seeing what this current iteration of their team can become and then they can go kind of pick and choose and be like all right we need you know this type of player and we’re going to Target this type of player so I like it um yeah I think they’re in a good place for the most part yeah I totally agree and I think um obviously we’ve seen a lot of Rafel Stone over the years I think he’s he’s matured and I’m sure that the council around him has improved um honestly I see the difference in how they’re moving since eeme got on board I you know I’m not gonna say eem Oka like is in the front office but I just I like the the way they’re moving a little bit and I think his his influence has been good and I I’m sure that collectively they’re all getting better at their jobs after getting more experience now onto the actual draft itself real real quick real quick can I just one one comment on that point because I think it’s it’s it’s an important and interesting point um I’ve had criticisms for the front office I I do think we sometimes forget that front offices just like players on the court need the right pairings as well right uh Rafel stone with stepen Silas I don’t know was not I was not really confident in what they were doing raell stone with em odok starting to make a little more sense start the the the the pieces of the puzzle are coming together right the picture starting to get painted and it seems like udoka might be the stabilizing Force the direction that stone needs um or has needed right so I I think the pairing is working out pretty well um since udoka has come on board things have made more sense things have the moves they’ve made have started to produce better results so just an interesting point how you know maybe you get a good GM but sometimes maybe that GM or maybe you get an unknown at GM but maybe that GM needs some counterparts to kind of keep him accountable and keep him in place and vice versa so yeah it’s a team sport and some people you can’t some people are just better doing their job their part of the job I honestly think Stone was doing too much under Steven Solace trying to compensate for where he perceived solace’s weaknesses were and overstretched his his authority probably into the basketball side of things whereas now he can just do his thing as a general manager and focus on making deals and um and contracts and things like that but um you know up to the draft now um you know the draft day comes on all day long roou it was Donovan clink we saw Wind Horse come on ESPN first thing in the morning to drop the bomb that uh the Rockets uh are looking at Donovan Clingan at the third pick and then if they draft him then obviously they’d be looking to replace him with OP shuna I don’t know why people like picking for shenon um and then that was the narrative all day pretty much all day long leading into the day and then we get to the actual draft the first weird Domino that goes down is that uh uh rasher I hope I said that right probably not r r yeah let me say like I’m try I’m try to say in the French in the French Sila was doing a lot but yeah rash uh he went number one to Atlanta which was crazy to me I love R A y’all seen when we did the draft video I Really complimented him as a player not a number one pick not a number one pick uh but Atlanta did that bumped their heads did that real quick um you know hopefully that works out for them you have SAR going to Washington number two not a surprise if uh if uh Zachary was going to go first and then it came down to the third pick right it came down to the third pick now it’s been clinging clinging clinging all day but prior to that it was a lot of re sheeper from a lot of different people there possibly some other tradebacks you had the Memphis thing whereas a lot of strong sources were saying the Rockets and the ninth pick with Memphis um a lot of cap going around in the air we get to the draft and we we pick Reed Shepard and I I wasn’t super surprised by the read pick in my uh just because I I felt like my algorithm and I’ve said this to multiple people my first thing try to trade back and get assets and draft a player you player you can use that fits you well if that doesn’t work readed sheeper if that doesn’t work then you possibly could look at kingan um so it but what I found out and after the fact is that the Rockets actually had re as their first algorithm then to trade back but I don’t know if that’s cap or not I I call cap on that I’m just say that on there um but getting Reed sheeper I think uh for the Rockets um let I’m going to explain my perspective again so people can understand my view on re Shepard I I think Reed is fabulous I think uh all the analytics great basketball player I think he’s going to be a great NBA player um the reason I think he’s a reach at the third pick just overall I think he’s a great fifth of rock I’m glad we got him and I think he’s going to really help us win games a player like him on this team on our team that we have he’s never going to get the full opportunity that the Jaylen greens got when or k cunninghams or Paulo BOS of that top uh five top you know three pick type of player to really use the fullness of their skill set so for me for Reed Shepard what I’m seeing from what he’s going to bring for the Rockets early on is that how fast can he get get into his Niche and for him for me from all the comments I’ve seen the Rockets say they like him as a you know as a as a ball handler potentially as a shooter obviously and a Defender um I think he’s going to be a guy that is going to be supportive of the cast they already have to start and you hope that over the years he can scale up but to me this is a great fit because he addresses ball handling on the on the in the back court Off the Bench you’re going to have a shooter that’s going to be able to shoot on movement that we’ve been begging for for Lord knows how long I think he’s the first of his archetype that we’ve had on this roster since Garrison Matthews and you guys know I hate Gareth and Matthews so this is definitely a big to be clear before the comments kill you you’re not comparing him no no no no I’m just saying the archetyp a movement shooter we haven’t for the type of players we have jayen Rim pressure Alp D getting triple team not not having a a movement shooter with shenon as you’re trying to play a kind of a weird changon Hub is Criminal so off of that alone like the dude just makes sense for the Rockets like he’s coming in to fit that role and I think that the upside for him is some of the other stuff the pullup mides the ball handling the transition passing um the pick and roll I don’t know if he’s going to get to run that early in his career but overall I think that for drafting him the Rockets had him graded as the highest player Stone said in a in his postgame comments that the Rockets have him quite a bit ahead of everybody else is a number one player on their board um I would still take SAR number one um but I think for the Rockets this was a great pick and I I’m nothing to be mad at I think he’s going to be a great fit for this Rockets team I’m just ready for Camp to start to see how what role he has for them what was your uh your overall perception on Reed in the third pick yeah I mean now I’m excited to watch the summer league team previously I didn’t I was not that was not on my radar now you know if it was going to be clinging like I you know yeah I’d watch the summer league but big man and summer league whatever um but now okay so with me uh I’m with you I I was on team tradeback um I thought the only two players that stood out to me and I didn’t do a deep dive on on you know every prospect on the list so take that for what it’s worth uh but the two players with potential star upside to me were SAR and Shepard right their likelihood of hitting that upside I have no idea but those were the two so I had said I was cool with whatever the Rockets were GNA do and I’m cool with Reed Shepard um you know trading back pick up more assets that’s one option but if the Rockets really think like look this this pick is playing with house money so for me don’t go with the safe pick if you think someone has star upside take the swing because if doesn’t work out oh well right um they need a movement shooter they need a shooter period there was some stat that we saw where Reed Shepard is you know uh like the third player I think in NCAA history or something like that have 40% from three two you know one of those random arbitrary yeah it’s like 16 points six assist something like his shoes and Bunny knots and wears One stock higher than another yes it was like 60 something percent TS you know but it was it was Tyrese halberton Steph Curry Reed Shepard what is that what is that stat worth I have no idea but it’s an interesting one very but but it’s exciting right yeah they they get a a player they get a prospect with star upside um and that has been the wholeo of the tank of the rebuild right is like try to find as many players with star upside as you can find see what happens I do think on the on the topic of movement shooting I think it’s unfortunate that we haven’t seen them try to deploy Jabari Smith as as a movement shooter I think there is potential there maybe not as a three three-point movement shooter although I think he can but definitely as a inside the range as a movement shooter he can do that um but they need a three-point shooter they need a movement shooter I mean they need a shooter they haven’t had shooting and this guy addresses that at the very least and then if he can you know hit his upside you get a point guard you get someone who can run offense you get someone who can complement shenon simply by being able to shoot you get someone who can complement amend Thompson by handling the ball also being able to shoot playing alongside him at the very very worst you get someone who can do what Aaron holiday did last season which was make threes I think he was the best or one of the best three-point Shooters on the Rockets roster last season and we saw at times how you just sometimes the Rockets just needed somebody to knock down an open three-point shot even if he was six feet tall which Aaron holiday was and is um just to win some games right like there were times earlier in the season halfway through the season where Jaylen green was getting benched because they just needed someone to catch and shoot the open three and make it and holiday could do that and at the time Jaylen was not doing it so if Reed Shepard can do that great he can he can find his role right away um but I’m excited man I mean the upside we talked about this on Rockets watch but kind of reminds me of upside kind of reminds me of Mark Price if anyone is old enough to remember Mark Price um but I love you know just a little little white guy shooting you know this rebuild has been missing the the core of the rebuild has been missing uh an American white guy we have shenon I I’ve literally said that verbatim on a channel we need a white shooter like every good team bro you need a white shooter bro but yeah you a white shooter like I was I mean my mind was on like hey Dalton connect white shooter he’s a little bit bigger athletic but hey Reed Shepard white shooter why not um so I like it I mean I think that there’s a lot of upside um Rafel Stone mentioned that you know they had Reed Shepard the whole way what I do oh I want to talk about shenon the whole if you know there was all this if they draft cling in tells you they’re going to move on from shenon blah blah blah those people clearly to me uh either don’t watch the Rockets or don’t know shanon’s game because the roles that if anything drafting Clingan to me would have signaled that a they could trade Stephen Adams because he’s an expiring contract or B they were hesitant about Stephen Adams actually being healthy for this upcoming season um it it never put shenon in Jeopardy right I Clingan to me feels the niche of you know the defense huge basically Walker kler backup center matchup specific um can give you productive minutes you know doesn’t play like Alber shenon at all um and the rockets the Rockets put a lot of smok screens up I mean they were pumping they were pumping information that kingan was going to be the guy uh you saw Kelly EO start saying kingan has edged over Reed Shepard recently so either someone was telling Eco the wrong thing or the Rockets were lying in the post-draft presser where they said it was Reed Shepard all the way and it wasn’t very close someone something ain’t adding up matth a math in some in some facet um even W that’s you know that’s the thing and when w is saying it that is your like that is your cue that that’s coming from the team right W isn’t saying anything about the team unless it’s coming from the team so uh that was also interesting but again also back to shenon you know I see people saying like oh everyone thinks the Rockets are going to trade shenon everyone blah blah blah blah blah let’s just not forget two years ago they benched him for Bruno Fernando who may or may not still be in the NBA I think he’s at the end of the Hawks bench um then they tried to sign Brook Lopez who was going to start they did not they were not going to sign Jack landale they only signed Jack landale because they whiffed on Brook Lopez and they needed a center so that means alurn shenon would have been your backup center so don’t forget those two things um and then now you hear trade talks coming from all the big names wind hor wo whatever maybe they’re wrong but shun’s name is in those talks so it’s not like this thing about shenon is just conjured out of thin air there is there is actual concrete evidence suggesting that shenon may or may not be a staple who knows um at least as far as he’s viewed internally but all that to say I’m happy with it man um the Harden trade now turns into tar een Reed Shepard half of Cam Whitmore technically and then what ever is left um when you when you you know do the transactions and look at all the picks right all these picks that they have we’ll see what it turns into so really interesting from that perspective um but yeah I like the upside I like his I like the fact that if he hits his upside the Rockets have another chance at a potential star um it feels a position in need right they don’t have a backup point guard he can be the backup point guard they don’t have shooting he can shoot they specifically don’t have movement shooting he specifically can you know be a movement shooter feels a need gives you potential upside why the hell not yeah I’m I’m I’m with with that and I think his upside is going to be predicated on two things how quickly you pick up defense and would they let him rock on like rock as a ball handler get him on ball those reps because you named Steph and Hy Burton was one thing those two guys have in common those are primary guys yeah those are primaries those are the guy you give the ball to and Steph when he came into the league early on he was like they were trying to play him like a James hard cuz Mark Jackson had him run in hella pick and rolles and uh it was Steve cerry that came and said nah let’s stop that let’s get you on dhos so it’s the opportunity for Reed I’m curious to see if the Rockets are actually gonna cater to his skill sets I honestly feel like they probably should make a decision on some of the players that we have um there’s a possibility that you know Reed turns out he’s better than some of the guards on the team and then he may need to get those reps um but we’ll see all that’s going to be be seen over the nexton what guards do you think he could be better than cam or Jaylen as far as like in like two or three years I am not even better like talent-wise but just the NBA player like if the dude is is like what a lot of people are saying of try to tell me when I said I’m going to trade back you know I mean for me for him his biggest upside is in his movement shooting like you said that’s Baseline like I expect him maybe not year one like let’s the guys struggle shooting in the NBA because you got to learn how to guard the distance is there and then the Closeouts the ath everything is different like even the ball is different so I’m going to give him Grace on his shooting splits um year one over I probably by year or two he’ll be in his Groove shooting he’s going to be a great shooter his upside is not shooting his upside is off the dribble shooting and passing because what makes Steph great is not that he could just shoot is that he could pull up from 30 or you know I mean he could break you down Midway through his dribble just Chang his mind to shoot it um what makes Holly great is not his shooting per se it’s his passing Vision Etc so you have to have something else that you do and so his shooting is his Baseline is it going to be Reed’s ball handling is it going to be his ability to break down the defense is it his vision IQ whatever it is I want to see if eay is going to give him the opportunity to do so so you got to beat out a man Thompson for on ball reps you got to beat out Jaylen green gotta be beat out cam Whitmore Fred Van is still here he’s Shane go is going to be taking some of those on ball reps so just you know temporary expectations for year one I think like you said this is a um I see him as a icing on the cake like we’ve got a good core and I think what we were going forward with was good us getting the third pick was not expected you get to add a player at a position of need and somebody that has the upside to scale up um even though he’s not a traditional third overall pick that I can build my franchise around or this is a guy that we want to be like a staple of our franchise centerpiece da d da d da I think that we’ve gotten essentially a great player that you can just have on your team for the next 10 years I think you know the Rockets did a great thing um and yeah like you bro I’m I’m pretty satisfied where we at right now I’m just excited to see uh where these guys play man yeah yeah I mean no disagreements there um and before people in the comments get on me about you know amen Thompson’s the backup point guard not uh Reed Shepard I think amen Thompson’s going to be a wing and I think Reed Shepard gives you the optionality buzzword that the Rockets love um you know to play those guys kind of interchangeably where you have read handling amend slashing amend handling read moving and shooting just more versatility last thing before we get out of here I’m G put you on the spot and ask you fresh Fresh Out the Oven where does Reed Shepard rank in the now core seven rankings where does he slide in just off the top I’m not going to hold you to it okay all right uh I’m gonna disclaimer nobody can hold me to this cuz uh I am running on about four hours of sleep and it’s what what is it midnight it’s about to be midnight we’re recording this all right I’m gonna go with my rankings uh as number one I still have a man Thompson uh as my top prospect for the Rockets just because of he has IQ and physicals I’m gonna put shenon at two um obviously I’m gonna have uh right now I’m not going to lie I’ll still have I’ll put Jaylen at three um I’m going to have Jabar at four I’m gonna have tar at five I’m GNA have Reed at six I’m GNA have Cam Whitmore last and uh you guys already know My Views um I value IQ I think when it comes to just physical tools he’s not like physically more talented than anybody that we have on a team um right now I think all of them are just I mean that’s why they went higher like these or in in this draft like tar e would have been like a top six pick in my opinion cam wh would have been a top five pick um but the IQ is the great equalizer in life and I think Reed has uh tons of that to boot so I’m not going to put him over like just everybody but I think that him and cam can battle for that six seven spot cam may make me be wrong he may turn out to be our best player I know people love cam wh but that’s just me now you got to answer that yeah you gotta answer that and you gotta deal with putting Jaylen at seven go ahead let’s hear no honestly honestly so it’s going to change a lot from the last time we did a ranking I think I’m I think I’m step for step with you the only thing is I might swap tar and Jabari and that only depends that only depends on if we’re talking about production versus potential um I think jabari’s potential is higher I think T’s production is higher um Jaylen previously was at the end of my list Jaylen has skyrocketed because of how he ended last season if he comes into the season on that note for sure oh sorry but I will disagree with you I’ll put shenon first amen second okay I’m not mad at that I’m not mad at that amen is on pack watch though if this year isn’t like just clearcut like I’m that guy then yeah shenon is definitely going to take that spot I think a man’s going to show to be the Swiss army knife that we talk about I don’t think he’s gonna I don’t think he’s gonna show up with like a jumper for example right I think he’s just gonna do more of the same but he’s gonna play more so we’re just going to see it more um and the impact is you know is just going to be greater as a result of that um but you touched last thing I’ll say you touched on something very important that we did not previously touch on IQ Reed Shepard’s IQ I am big big big big on IQ basketball IQ is devoid in a lot of American basketball players these days because for whatever reason the focus has shifted to individual skills in like a one-on-one context and when you do that you’re focusing on you the individual at the expense of the rest of your team and you forget how to play which is why I think a lot of these European players are or overseas players I should say are now starting to come into the league with success it’s what it’s what sets shanga apart the vision the IQ it’s what sets joic apart it’s what sets LCA donic apart like you can go down the list right um these guys are being coached from a young age to play team basketball and and our American basketball players are being coached by these Instagram trainers to do tween hesi step backs and you know all this cool um that doesn’t necessarily make you a better team basketball player even though it might make you a better one-on-one basketball player so Reed Shepard having high IQ Alber shenon having high IQ amen Thompson having high basketball IQ sets them apart um the other guys that we have aren’t known as like high IQ basketball players doesn’t mean they’re dumb people it just means that their game is not you know Elite in terms of how they process in real time as they play but re Shepard has that and and when you don’t have the measurables having the IQ paired with the skill can set you apart so I’m excited about that and and the last the last uh thing to that formula is work ethic when you have skill IQ and work ethic you’re in you I don’t give a damn if you a janitor you a lawyer a teacher that combination is Unstoppable and I I think that’s to me the most comforting thing about him as a player like once again obviously I thought they they should have traded back but drafting him I’m not mad because like I said I know he’s going to be a good NBA player just off of those three intangible things and from all accounts from what everybody has said the dude’s a he’s a worker he’s smart and he wants to be great so that’s all you could ask for so with that said obviously there’s so much to go we could talk for three hours we we’re going to have more I think yeah we’ll be back we’ll break down Reed I want to just talk about Matt Maloney reincarnated please don’t scare us Matt Maloney oh my God yeah uh if if any white uh comps in fact the the question of the day what is your comp I’m gonna challenge the comments give me a nonwhite comper re Shepherd in the comments bro because all I’ve heard today reic who we had uh uh Jimmy Jimmer for Dead uh it’s just give me if y’all can create I have one I forgot what it was but I do have one for re sheeper of a of a n non-white player that he is and I I feel like uh it’s kind of accurate but let me know in the comments and in the chat we will be back we’ll be back we’ll break down some more uh you know more how about former rocket how about former rocket Aaron Brooks uh maybe in this era if Aaron Brooks played in this era you know what like real quick I’mma tell you a funny somebody said um what would Reed Shepard be uh if he was nonathletic without because they were talking about his vertical and everything and you know no a non-athletic just a regular uh non-athletic in Black I was like he’d be B Brown 6 basically uh that’s that’s if he Bob Brown just a three-point shooter so the fact an athlete is a plus or he’d be Aaron holiday Aaron holiday Aaron holiday got a little didn’t he boom on somebody during the SE season I I think did he boom on some I thought he in I didn’t know I ain’t gonna lie I know you got the holiday season he had some good games uh I will give him that but yeah let me know who your non non Caucasian comps for Shepherd is the newest rocket appreciate y’all man for rocking with us we got you know the Rockets are seven deep now and the with their core players no more core six is the core seven we’ll see where it goes and we’ll be with you throughout the summer for it keep rocking with us and we going to keep dropping that fire Bang Bang [Music]

In this episode of Rockets Talk Roosh and Frank discuss the Rockets drafting Reed Sheppard with the 3rd overall pick, they also discuss the multi team trade involving the Nets, Suns and Knicks and lastly the trade rumors surrounding Alperen Sengun. #reedsheppard #houstonrockets #nba #podcast #alperensengun #jalengreen #amenthompson #nbadraft

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