Shepard s latest scout report, shooting efficiency potential is great, lack of skills in getting rid of the ball

After Shams revealed that Rockets point guard Van Vleet had torn the ACL with the ACL, the famous reporter of The Ringer and host of the NBA Show J. Kyle Mann updated his latest views and scout reports on several Rockets' substitute ball handlers in his self-media. The scout report about Shepard was excerpted, translated and refined as follows:

Advantages: High-level data is eye-catching, fast shooting speed, good balance, and has its own sense of rhythm and scoring potential. When entering the 2024 draft season, Shepard's superhero-like high-level data made many people in the draft as excited as seeing a southern lady.

1. He is one of the more efficient space guards we have seen in college basketball for a long time. From pick-and-roll, conversion offense to fixed-point shooting, his three-point shooting percentage is over 50% and his output is considerable.

2. His shooting preparations do not require much power, which to some extent relieves people's concerns about his figure (6-foot-2, 185 pounds).

3. His body balance and shooting posture are excellent. His movements are relatively compact when shooting, fast shooting speed, strong repeatability, and long enough shooting range.

4. He has his own sense of rhythm, but lacks opportunities to play. Except for the occasional night of finding rhythm, his unusually high efficiency has not translated into a rookie season. Of course, you can use the word "rhythm" as an excuse to wave your hand like a Jedi and manipulate the Force to solve some of the problems. When you don't have many opportunities to play with your teammates, it's hard to find the rhythm - Shepard played only 52 games last season, with only 5 playing time exceeding 20 minutes, two of which were in the "final" phase in April. Conversely, this opportunity to find rhythm requires winning it yourself, especially among ambitious teams.

To be improved 1: Fixed-point shooting efficiency suddenly halved (can be improved)

Shepard's fixed-point shooting efficiency still dropped from 1.514 points per leg in his only season in college to 0.813 points, almost halved. I'm not sure why this result occurred - it's because the NBA's further three-point line caused problems with his technical movements, or because the Rockets' constipation attack caused him to not get the kind of attacks he used to. No one knows. But no matter from which perspective, this is very strange.

To be improved 2: Not using physical contact, lack of shifting and riding skills on the ball, slow start

When Shepard finished his freshman season at Kentucky and participated in the draft, my biggest concern for him as the main ball holder is that we didn't see him creating too many advantages for himself as the offensive starting point. His starting speed is not particularly fast, so when he does simple dribbling left and right to get rid of the movements, he often can only do one action and does not have much room to operate. This has also led to Shepard's frets in holding the ball in the past year - either moving straight from point A to point B, or rushing towards his favorite position without doing too many moves to change the speed of the defender reaching the same position, which makes him easily in a disturbed situation, and his short figure has become a problem. In this regard, if he could learn from Van Vleet's experience and learn to make more use of physical contact so that he would still have a choice when he found himself in a "big forest" and could only look up at the tall body around him, it would be of great benefit to him.

To be improved 3: No breakthrough ability and ability to independently create scoring opportunities. Currently, only use the range to play without the ball after halftime. Another worrying point is that although Shepard is an excellent long passer in the conversion fast break, his skills are often the most brilliant when he catches the ball and quickly passes the ball to an open teammate, rather than breaking through the defense through dribbling, then jumps over the defense line and passes the ball to someone on the weak side. This is often seen at the University of Kentucky games, and I have looked back and read if I have written about this during the 2024 Summer League, and I found that I did mention it.

God knows how much I made, but this huge shift from conductor to offensive tandem will be very different from the way Shepard has been used in the NBA so far. I re-watched all his pick-and-roll rounds in the 2024-25 season and it's hard to find an example of him not looking for scoring opportunities with cover. His time on the court is either to open up space very far from the basket, or to look for his own shooting opportunities with the ball in his hand. Admittedly, this style of play is reasonable, but the lack of opportunity to organize an offense with the ball means that if the Rockets really let him serve as point guard, then they may face chaos on the court, which is like arranging a newcomer to do on-the-job training online, and it is hard for me to foresee a championship team willing to do so. The best result I can guess is that we can see Shepard's playing time significantly, but the most common situation will be that he will look for opportunities at the beginning of the offensive round. If it doesn't work, he will hand over the ball and create external restraint as an off-ball player.

To be improved 4: Have a good awareness of coordination and prediction, but love to take fake moves, and the ability to squeeze and cover around is not enough

Of course, all the above assumptions ignore the response from the defensive end, and Van Vleet can be said to be very experienced as the starting point of the offensive. Due to her figure, Shepard's weaknesses always become too conspicuous in NBA-level games. Work and concentration are not a problem for Shepard - he has a very good observation of the situation on the court. As a defender, he has a strong instinct for grasping and predicting the timing. Even if his arm span is the shortest among his rookies of that class, if he sees the opponent's dribbling opportunity and starts, he will most likely gain something.. It’s just that his tendency to jump when dealing with fake actions, as well as his awareness of squeezing and ability to surround the screen must be improved. The most critical details are not mentioned here: Year after year, many teams will ruthlessly and relentlessly target their opponents' small players on the offensive end, even if the Rockets have a better perimeter defensive combination (maybe it might be better to offset Brooks' departure with Dorian Finney-Smith's addition), a player must perform very, very well offensively to justify giving him a lot of protection on the defensive end.

Summary:

The good news is that the overall "strong" atmosphere of the Rockets should not change, which will help them find solutions on the muddy road. Even without Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks, it would be hard to imagine a team coached by Ime Uduka with passionate players like Amen Thompson, Tari Ethan and Alperen Shinkin (KD is not a docile person either). But if the ACL forces VanVleet to hand over the team's reins this time, who in the Rockets will take them?