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Tho I may agree with him on Sheppard...I turned it off when he stated the Keldon was the only other good player outside of Wemby on the Spurs.
Wtf? lol
Austin Rivers and another dude seem to see Reed as the obvious pick for the Spurs (from 9'40)
+ keeps it a 100 about Vassel and the rest of the roster
Tho I may agree with him on Sheppard...I turned it off when he stated the Keldon was the only other good player outside of Wemby on the Spurs.
Wtf? lol
He'll be tickled to have two white players.
Houston is taking Sheppard.
Probably. But the pick could also be moved. I think the Spurs still go Castle over Sheppard if they're both on the board, but the shooting is tough to pass up.
Keldon is put in a tough situation being a 6th man. Not a fan of his BBIQ and decisions but he's a dog and Spurs fans are taking him for granted.
They didn't say he was an allsatr either tho
Always interesting to have an outside perspective, as always there'll be cliches. No one can follow 30 teams closely
The more time goes the more Sheppard and Castle seem to be the 2 best choices
Edit/ You turned it off a few sec before the end?
ESPN came out with an article today listing this guy’s upside as Steve Nash. I’m sold. Where do I sign up?
I want and would be very happy with Reed tbh
His shooting, tenacity and overall processing seems solid so I like that type of player. He would be fun off of Wemby and worst case is a turbo charged Forbes.
Projecting Sheppard to guys like Nash, Mark Price, Stockton, etc. essentially pure point guards requires a level of projection for his handles and court vision that I'm really not comfortable making.
Best realistic optimistic outcome for him that I've seen is probably Jeff Hornacek:
-similar dimensions (6'3" vs 6'4 in shoes, 6'3.5 vs 6'5 wingspan) - Horny was slightly bigger, Reed more athletic
-similar playstyle - Hornacek could toggle back and forth between the point and 2 guard position - played 2 guard next to KJ in Phoenix and Stockton in Utah, but also played point guard full time later in Phoenix, averaged 5-7 AST/game for 8 seasons in a row
-similar strengths - Hornacek was supremely efficient as a shooter, a 3 point contest winner, had a good midrange game, could put up these weird floaters that always seemed to go in, flirted with multiple 50/40/90 seasons
-not the best defender due to athletic/size limitations, but not bad either and put up good steal numbers - Hornacek averaged 1.5-2 ST/g in 8 separate seasons
-white
I'm not sure Sheppard needs a ton of outlier development to get to that level, and Hornacek was a 1 time all-star and I'd say his career is firmly in the hall of very good, as the third best player on several contending teams and who can fit on just about any team. Pretty consistently a 15/5/4 guy on good efficiency. If that seems boring for a high lottery pick, it probably is. But that's an outcome that still doesn't require outlier level improvement and I'd rather take that realistic outcome than try and bank on multiple unlikely developmental skills in a raw prospect like Holland or Buzelis.
Hornacek is a great comp. Reed is probably the safest pick if he's still there at 4.
I've come around to accepting Reed at 4, though may be gone by then anyway. Would do better playing with a tall point guard otherwise probably will come off the bench. Not sure about him as a point guard though.
Out of all the prospects mentioned as realistic Spurs picks, Sheppard is at the bottom of my list, tbh.
Everyone has huge red flags, but also has a big upside if they actually live up to their potential.
Sheppard will always be an undersized shooting guard that doesn't do much else.
He can't be POA defender for star guards.
He can't be an actual point guard, he's an undersized shooting guard. Has no self-creation or handles to be a point guard.
Unless you want to push Devin to SF or find a point forward somewhere, Sheppard-Vassell guard combo just doesn't work. (For example he'd be a great fit next to 6'6 Cade as primary playmaker.)
Tre-Sheppard doesn't work, either. Both lack size and we'd get killed on defense.
Finding undersized shooters that don't do much else is the easiest part of roster construction.
There's not a single reason to pick Sheppard over Dillingham.
Dillingham will be an atrocious defender while Sheppard is just subpar, but at least he fills both shooting and playmaking needs.
While Dillingham's finishing at the rim is a huge question mark, Sheppard just doesn't attack the rim.
Shots at the Rim for each
Collier 154 (in 27 games)
Castle 149 (34 games)
Topic 121 (in 12 games)
Dillingham 113 (in 34 games)
Sheppard 60 (in 33 games)
Sheppard had 65 free throws vs
Collier 156
Castle 110
Dillingham 98
Topic 55 (AGAIN in 12 games)
Interesting... If you extrapolate Topic's shots at the rim out to 34 games, that would be 343-- which would be roughly equivalent to the combined totals of Dillingham + Sheppard + Collier. What do you make of that number?
Personally, from what I've seen of Topic's games, his opponents sucked. The defenders he faced were like grannies with walkers.
^^^ fyi, Topic's averages are from about 33 mpg, while Dilly & Sheppard were at ~23 & 29 mpg.
Last edited by R. DeMurre; 06-04-2024 at 10:22 AM.
A long time ago I posted a video of Sheppard vs. Tennessee that tagged his defensive possessions. They were troublesome. I'll try to find it.
His finishing at the rim is very good, but it won't matter much in the NBA if he doesn't have any range.
Reliable mid-range pull up from FT line would be the difference maker.
Imo, there's no middle ground with him.
Either he becomes one of the best playmakers in the league and a great third scoring option for a playoff team or he's out of the league due to his defense, lack of shooting and injury issues.
Whenever I watched his scout reports, it was all about being a good team defender, quick hands, playing the passing lanes, etc.
Everyone with solid IQ and a bit of athleticism can do that.
If you're the guy opposing scorers want to switch on and attack, you're not a positive defender.
interesting takes he has on Vessell and Kelvin Johnson
wow haven't heard people talk about Suns legend Kelvin Johnson in a minute
dude can't even pronounce devin's name right, seriously though, it's just another podcast validated only by the presence of an ex-NBA player. other than that, there are youtubers that are just fans who have better takes.
All these washed up pseudo stars have an opinion now. I'd never give much thought to the opinion of a guy who cannot criticize Doc because that's his dad.
The only relevant Austin Rivers video:
Austin Rivers' dad couldn't even keep him in the league. Austin Rivers is like if Danny Green always stayed bad.
He's been a consistently great FT shooter for three straight years, shooting between 86% and 89%. Do you think it's a stretch to imagine him having a reliable midrange pull up from there? For the record, I don't at all.
(talking about Topic here, not Sheppard)
Last edited by R. DeMurre; 06-06-2024 at 01:16 PM.
My completely irrelevant final decision is to take Dillingham over Sheppard. Dillingham seems like a creator in the half court, which is exactly what we need. His size will be an obvious flaw and his ceiling is limited by it, but with Wemby behind him and a supposedly GOAT coach, he's the one I'd roll the dice on for a PG-esque creator. Topic was my original pick, but I wouldn't risk anything on him now (in the lottery).
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