Rockets' Reed Sheppard Ranks as League's 26th-Best Point Guard

Fred VanVleet’s season-ending injury sent the Houston Rockets scrambling, hoping for a way to patch up his playmaking duties. With Houston strapped for cash, identifying a one-for-one external replacement is virtually impossible – not to mention the fact that they don’t have a vacant roster spot to dole out.

The Rockets’ only hope is to look internally for someone capable of providing some of VanVleet’s attributes. Amen Thompson was immediately viewed as the answer, based on his playmaking and court vision, however, he’s been utilized in a much different manner, as Rockets coach Ime Udoka has opted to utilize Thompson’s size and athleticism on the wing instead, which has made him virtually unstoppable (despite the lack of an outside shot, which he’s been working on).

It would also be asking a lot from the third-year standout to be the offensive fulcrum, in addition to the defensive enforcer – stopping the opposing team’s top scoring threat. Such a workload would be quite difficult to take on, even if the 22-year-old Thompson is capable. The team has decided to split up VanVleet’s responsibilities and spread them across multiple players, such as Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, Thompson, and Reed Sheppard.

The latter of which could easily ascend the Rockets’ title chances, as he’s unproven. It’s not fully known what Sheppard is capable of.

Sure, he was good enough to be the third overall pick in the draft, but that was viewed as a fairly weaker draft class. At least compared to what we’ve seen over the last decade.

Sure, Sheppard lit it up in the G-League, but it’s the G-League. And for as impressive as 30.7 points, 7.3 assists, 47 percent from the floor, 40.5 percent from deep (on 12.3 attempts) is, it was only three games. And it’s still the G-League.

Again, Sheppard is unknown. If he’s able to take a significant leap, like what the Rockets are expecting, this team may be just fine without VanVleet.

But the masses aren’t too high on Sheppard at the moment, at least. Case in point, The Sporting News, who ranked Sheppard as the 26th-best point guard in the NBA.

"Sheppard is a talented shooter and college steals magnet who didn't get much of an opportunity as a rookie last season. Fred VanVleet's ACL injury will thrust him into a bigger role. "

Again, Sheppard is unproven at the NBA level. Yet, this feels a bit low.

However, Sheppard has a chance to prove the skeptics wrong, as he could be in line for the starting point guard role, in a rotation that'll feature Thompson, Durant, Sengun, and Jabari Smith Jr.

Sheppard's shooting, playmaking, and defensive ability would be a tremendous boost for Houston. At least if he's able to fare close to the player we saw collegiately.