[Spud6]

The highest vert in the Combine and no one even talking about it hardly.

All they're talking about is Bronny having the 5th highest in the group. Remember working night shift a few years back, going into Reed & Bronny's senior year, seen a late night replay of one of their AAU games, hype was all around Bronny, but Reed absolutely dominated him the whole game. 

I had a feeling that Reed would leave, and with how weak that they're projecting this draft class, I guess you have to strike while the iron is hot. It will be awesome to see a mountain kid make it to the league, let alone be a top 10 pick, would love to see him teamed up with Wemby in San Antonio. Playing for "coach" Cal to coach Pop will definitely be a world of difference. Hopefully he continues to excel in the draft combine, and pre draft workouts.

Imagine him another year at Kentucky, wife Trent Noah, and Travis Perry.  It would be what Kentucky fans would've dreamed about but I doubt we'd been very good.

[Cactus Jack]

The highest vert in the Combine and no one even talking about it hardly.

ESPN reporting that Providence's Devin Carter unofficially tied with him for first in both max and standing vertical.

Also, if you are measuring under 6'2 and don't have the greatest lateral foot speed, you'd better have some other attributes that jump off the page (which he does).

[-STAT-]

The highest vert in the Combine and no one even talking about it hardly.

ESPN reporting that Providence's Devin Carter unofficially tied with him for first in both max and standing vertical.

Also, if you are measuring under 6'2 and don't have the greatest lateral foot speed, you'd better have some other attributes that jump off the page (which he does).

I'm no scout or anywhere close to it, just an observer of the game, but lateral quickness will be his issue, especially early on. Maybe over the span of his career he can work in areas to improve that, but it will hinder him for awhile. Imagine him getting in an iso situation, having to defend Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, or having Luka post him up? I want more than anything for him to have success at the next level, but it is going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to get there, he has the work ethic. I sure hope he makes it.

[-STAT-]

The highest vert in the Combine and no one even talking about it hardly.

All they're talking about is Bronny having the 5th highest in the group. Remember working night shift a few years back, going into Reed & Bronny's senior year, seen a late night replay of one of their AAU games, hype was all around Bronny, but Reed absolutely dominated him the whole game. 

I had a feeling that Reed would leave, and with how weak that they're projecting this draft class, I guess you have to strike while the iron is hot. It will be awesome to see a mountain kid make it to the league, let alone be a top 10 pick, would love to see him teamed up with Wemby in San Antonio. Playing for "coach" Cal to coach Pop will definitely be a world of difference. Hopefully he continues to excel in the draft combine, and pre draft workouts.

Imagine him another year at Kentucky, wife Trent Noah, and Travis Perry.  It would be what Kentucky fans would've dreamed about but I doubt we'd been very good.

Would definitely be like the good old days.

[Cactus Jack]

With Sheppard strongly trending toward the #3 spot in this year's draft, I don't think there's any debate about whether or not he made the right decision.

[Cactus Jack]

National news on the two teams teams at #3 and #4 (Houston and San Antonio) is trending toward the Rockets shopping their pick and the Spurs sending smoke signals that they are taking a hard look at Castle.

Spurs usually don't tip their hand, but with Wembanyama already in the fold, Sarr doesn't really make sense (not that he or Risacher would fall to them anyway). Still, doesn't make a lot of sense for them to associate with someone they aren't guaranteed to get, especially with the team ahead of them shopping their pick.

[Cactus Jack]

Going #3 overall to Houston probably settles the "he should have returned to Kentucky" once and for all.

There may be a few better organizational fits, but there are definitely plenty that are much worse than the data and analytics driven Rockets.

With no slide down the board on draft day, there's plenty invested in him, and unless he gets hurt or epically bombs, I'd imagine that he has a chance to prove himself with at least two teams.

In over 25 years of following KHSAA basketball, never would I have imagined that Ashland and London would end up producing a pair of top three picks (if you count Mayo).

[Van Hagar]

You just never know where greatness will show up. I’ve said this before, if you want some proof of that, drive through Hyden sometimes and wrap your head around the fact that the number ONE OVERALL pick in an NFL draft came from there.

[Old School Hound]

You just never know where greatness will show up. I’ve said this before, if you want some proof of that, drive through Hyden sometimes and wrap your head around the fact that the number ONE OVERALL pick in an NFL draft came from there.

And the #1 overall pick in an NBA draft('54) came from Corbin.

[Old School Hound]

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 !!!

[Van Hagar]

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.

[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.