Rockets' Reed Sheppard Shouts Out 'H-Town' on Social Media Post

After finishing 41-41 in Ime Udoka's first season with the Houston Rockets, the team found themselves in an interesting situation. The Rockets had been landing lottery picks year after year, for three years, as a result of simply not being a good team.

The Rockets had been a team lacking structure, and it showed every night. Which is par for the course when a team is tanking.

However, Udoka and the Rockets sought to change that. He made it clear during his introductory press conference as head coach that he expects championships.

And title runs, at the very least, pointing out that he'd never missed the playoffs. The Rockets brought in veterans to provide a vision and professionalism for their young prospects, instilling work ethic and seeking to change the culture that had been in place for years.

The team held the Brooklyn Nets' lottery pick, by way of the James Harden trade of 2021 (which kicked the rebuild into gear). However, this time around, it was Brooklyn who was the tanking team, which benefited the Rockets.

The Rockets got help from Lady Luck in the draft lottery and managed to nab the third overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, by way of that Nets pick. Houston decided to select Reed Sheppard, who had just wrapped up his freshman season at Kentucky and led the nation in 3-point shooting.

The Rockets had ranked 23rd in outside shooting in the previous season and 20th in offensive rating. Sheppard seemed like a good pick, so much that Houston passed on Stephon Castle, who ultimately went to the San Antonio Spurs.

However, Sheppard didn't quite fare well as a rookie, averaging 4.4 points on 35.1 percent from the field and 33.8 percent from three, albeit in a limited role (12.6 minutes per contest). The Rockets began to draw scrutiny and criticism for passing on Castle, who nabbed Rookie of the Year honors, averaging 14.7 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.7 rebounds.

The Rockets gave Sheppard a bigger role and we've seen a much different player this season, especially of late. He's had timely buckets in pivotal moments and has anchored down defensively, especcially in the Milwaukee Bucks game, when he had four steals and an impressive block.

And he's been finding his teammates, doling out some crafty, flashy passes. Rockets fans have been showing Sheppard love, as he could very well prove to be the missing point guard that we've heard about all season.

After dropping 21 points off the bench in Wednesday's game against the Wizards, Sheppard took to Instagram to show love to the city of Houston, with a simple caption that read 'H-town'.

Over the last four games, Sheppard is averaging 16.3 points, 65.7 percent from the field, and 60 percent from three.

On the season, Sheppard is averaging 12.2 points, 3.2 assists, 49.5 percent from the floor, 50 percent from deep (on 5.6 attempts), 64.8 effective field goal percentage, and 64.8 percent true shooting.