[Cactus Jack]

Never in my wildest imagination did I foresee Reed making an NBA roster after only one year of college ball. If someone would have told you after his senior year of HS that Reed  would be the #3 overall pick in the NBA upon leaving UK after one year, what would you have thought?  

Congrats to Reed. I'm now rooting for the Reed's Rockets !!!

I totally agree with you, OSH, and that’s coming from someone who has always been a fan. I was just hoping he’d be able to maybe get some decent minutes as a freshman at UK, then hopefully be a real contributor by his junior and senior years. The way things turned out is mind boggling to me. I still have some skepticism about his pro prospects, mainly based on his lack of size, but he has certainly exceeded expectations before, hopefully he can do it again. And a contract for $20 million guaranteed, $45 million if the Rockets keep him for four years, pretty much puts to rest any debate about whether this was the right move for him, his value would have never been higher.

This year was the perfect storm. Wagner, Edwards, and Bradshaw didn't live up to the hype, and it created plenty of minutes and minutes that he might not have gotten otherwise. At various points, Edwards' name was batted around as the possible number one overall pick and Wagner was usually seen as a late lottery or mid-first round projection at worst. If either of those plays well enough to be drafted in the first round, then the numbers for everyone outside of Reeves, Dillingham, and Mitchell probably suffer greatly. Injuries to Thiero and Onyenso and Ivisic's eligibility did nothing to diminish the amount of looks he got as well, especially during the summer and early part of the season.

Regardless of how talented Sheppard is, we know how Cal typically built his rotations and the quick hook he had for lower ranked players. Either way, we probably look back and see that he probably got the optimal amount of minutes-- enough to build his stats and "per(s)", but not so many that he (over)exposed, which I think could have happened easily.

I also fear that, in time, we learn that Reed's numbers might have been a bit inflated because he was able to play alongside Dillingham for so long-- for all of Rob's deficiencies, he was a creative and willing passer and the two played really well together.

Couple all of this with what we probably look back on as the weakest draft in a decade, and it's as close as you could get to catching lightning in a bottle.

Will be rooting for Sheppard and hope to catch some of him in the summer league and think that it's encouraging that Ime Udoka has been pretty complimentary so far. I read where a Rockets beat writer quoted Udoka's likening him to Fred Vanvleet (on defense). Vanvleet may not be a household name, but he's been in the league eight years, made an All-Star game, and has a championship ring, so there are obviously things he's done well along the way.