Fundamentally, there are two questions to ask about an NBA roster: How much talent do they have, and how well does that talent synergize?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
There\u2019s no reasonable debate to have over which variable is more important. You\u2019d rather have a hyper-talented team with ill-fitting pieces than a bad team that fits. There is a question of degree. In the age of parity, it\u2019s an ever-growing question. Can depth beat out top-end talent?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s hard to find a case study, too. The Thunder won the title this year. OK – they have arguably the best player in the NBA and (almost) inarguably the best-fitting, deepest squad. It\u2019s a maximalist approach:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If we\u2019re parsing everything out, fit and depth are separate variables as well. Depth is the 1A: How much talent do you have, and how talented is the talent?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Rockets have been good on that front. After aggregating as much talent as possible through the draft, the Rockets had a surplus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At times, the fit between each piece has felt questionable. Last year, the question was this: How does a low-efficiency, high-volume shooter like Jalen Green fit alongside two non-shooters in Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kevin Durant was a band-aid solution. That\u2019s not a criticism – a gaping wound needs to be bandaged – but it\u2019s a reality. Yes, two non-shooters can co-exist alongside one of the best shooters ever, but what happens when Durant retires?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Well, Reed Sheppard\u2019s emergence as a sophomore provides at least one path forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rockets\u2019 Reed Sheppard could be an all-time shooter<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSengun is a shooter now. It\u2019s beautiful. He\u2019s still low volume enough to suggest that, alongside Thompson, it would be optimal to have an elite shooter in the mix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThat\u2019s what Sheppard needs to be to justify his draft selection – an elite shooter. He\u2019s always going to be small. That\u2019s always going to be an issue. Yes, Sheppard has other gifts. His ability to rack up stocks is incredible. He\u2019s a deft passer. Still, those are multiplier skills. Shooting is the foundation of his game. A small guard who makes defensive plays and good passing reads is a rotation player, but if that same guy is an elite shooter, it could be a star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nLuckily, he\u2019s been an elite shooter this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThat doesn\u2019t just mean a high raw 3PT%, although Sheppard\u2019s 47.8% on 5.8 attempts per game would make Mona Lisa blush. Yet, a more thorough breakdown of his shooting makes him look even more impressive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe secret sauce is Sheppard\u2019s efficient pull-up shooting. He\u2019s knocking down 52.4% of his pull-up threes this summer. The volume is low (1.8 attempts per game) by virtue of Sheppard\u2019s role and playing time, but if we assume he\u2019ll remain efficient on more attempts, it virtually guarantees stardom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHere are the top five players in made pull-up threes in 2025-26: James Harden (yes, that James Harden), Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Maxey, and Donovan Mitchell. This isn\u2019t complicated. Pull-up threes are hard. They warp the geometry of the floor, and guys who can hit them in large volume are almost unequivocally stars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nHere\u2019s another fun Sheppard fact. Sheppard is hitting just 28.6% of his 1.8 attempts that NBA.com qualifies as \u201copen\u201d. He\u2019s hitting 45.5% of the 0.9 threes per game that qualify as \u201ctightly defended\u201d (closest defender 2-4 feet away). That\u2019s right. Sheppard shoots like your unassuming roommate who secretly just submitted a Love Island audition: He craves attention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIt\u2019s another starry quality. Shooting is the most fundamental basketball skill, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s the most portable. An elite shooter could be a superstar or a role player. What matters is how the shots come, and Sheppard is shooting like a star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nRemember how the Warriors won the 2017-18 NBA championship despite Draymond Green hitting 26.6% of his playoff threes? Steph Curry shoots for two. From a functional perspective, Sheppard can be the Rockets\u2019 Curry. From the point of view of being such a dynamic shooter that he scrambles defenses, he has the potential to get there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIf Sheppard is the poor man\u2019s Curry, Thompson can be the Rockets\u2019 average man\u2019s (?) Green. Sengun breaks the analogy, unless he\u2019s like\u2026a billionaire\u2019s Andrew Bogut?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIn theory, this trio should be able to buoy the Rockets after Durant. Surround them with shooters and defenders, and you\u2019re good. Jabari Smith Jr. is already locked in on reasonable money. I have a recurring nightmare where Tari Eason leaves next summer, but that\u2019s a subject for therapy. Otherwise, if Sheppard continues trending in the direction that he does, the Rockets have their future big three:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd they\u2019re perfectly synergetic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fundamentally, there are two questions to ask about an NBA roster: How much talent do they have, and how well does that talent synergize? There\u2019s no reasonable debate to have over which variable is more important. You\u2019d rather have a hyper-talented team with ill-fitting pieces than a bad team that fits. There is a question … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Reed-Sheppard-unlocks-everything-for-the-Rockets.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10432,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions\/10432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Sengun is a shooter now. It\u2019s beautiful. He\u2019s still low volume enough to suggest that, alongside Thompson, it would be optimal to have an elite shooter in the mix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
That\u2019s what Sheppard needs to be to justify his draft selection – an elite shooter. He\u2019s always going to be small. That\u2019s always going to be an issue. Yes, Sheppard has other gifts. His ability to rack up stocks is incredible. He\u2019s a deft passer. Still, those are multiplier skills. Shooting is the foundation of his game. A small guard who makes defensive plays and good passing reads is a rotation player, but if that same guy is an elite shooter, it could be a star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Luckily, he\u2019s been an elite shooter this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
That doesn\u2019t just mean a high raw 3PT%, although Sheppard\u2019s 47.8% on 5.8 attempts per game would make Mona Lisa blush. Yet, a more thorough breakdown of his shooting makes him look even more impressive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The secret sauce is Sheppard\u2019s efficient pull-up shooting. He\u2019s knocking down 52.4% of his pull-up threes this summer. The volume is low (1.8 attempts per game) by virtue of Sheppard\u2019s role and playing time, but if we assume he\u2019ll remain efficient on more attempts, it virtually guarantees stardom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Here are the top five players in made pull-up threes in 2025-26: James Harden (yes, that James Harden), Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Maxey, and Donovan Mitchell. This isn\u2019t complicated. Pull-up threes are hard. They warp the geometry of the floor, and guys who can hit them in large volume are almost unequivocally stars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Here\u2019s another fun Sheppard fact. Sheppard is hitting just 28.6% of his 1.8 attempts that NBA.com qualifies as \u201copen\u201d. He\u2019s hitting 45.5% of the 0.9 threes per game that qualify as \u201ctightly defended\u201d (closest defender 2-4 feet away). That\u2019s right. Sheppard shoots like your unassuming roommate who secretly just submitted a Love Island audition: He craves attention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s another starry quality. Shooting is the most fundamental basketball skill, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s the most portable. An elite shooter could be a superstar or a role player. What matters is how the shots come, and Sheppard is shooting like a star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Remember how the Warriors won the 2017-18 NBA championship despite Draymond Green hitting 26.6% of his playoff threes? Steph Curry shoots for two. From a functional perspective, Sheppard can be the Rockets\u2019 Curry. From the point of view of being such a dynamic shooter that he scrambles defenses, he has the potential to get there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If Sheppard is the poor man\u2019s Curry, Thompson can be the Rockets\u2019 average man\u2019s (?) Green. Sengun breaks the analogy, unless he\u2019s like\u2026a billionaire\u2019s Andrew Bogut?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In theory, this trio should be able to buoy the Rockets after Durant. Surround them with shooters and defenders, and you\u2019re good. Jabari Smith Jr. is already locked in on reasonable money. I have a recurring nightmare where Tari Eason leaves next summer, but that\u2019s a subject for therapy. Otherwise, if Sheppard continues trending in the direction that he does, the Rockets have their future big three:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And they\u2019re perfectly synergetic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Fundamentally, there are two questions to ask about an NBA roster: How much talent do they have, and how well does that talent synergize? There\u2019s no reasonable debate to have over which variable is more important. You\u2019d rather have a hyper-talented team with ill-fitting pieces than a bad team that fits. There is a question … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Reed-Sheppard-unlocks-everything-for-the-Rockets.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10432,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions\/10432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"