Rockets' Reed Sheppard Takes Slight Dip in 2024 Redraft

As the 2025-26 season nears, it's officially time to recap the 2024 NBA Draft. Well, not officially, but it's been a year since the selections were made, so it would make sense if one concocted a re-draft.

The Athletic's Sam Vecenie did the honors, and Houston Rockets second-year guard Reed Sheppard took a relatively minor slide, falling from his original draft position of third overall to fourth.

Vecenie's redraft order is below:

1. Stephon Castle 

2. Zaccharie Risacher 

3. Jared McCain

4. Reed Sheppard 

5. Donovan Clingan 

6. Matas Buzelis

7. Ron Holland

8. Zach Edey

9. Jaylen Wells 

10. Kel'el Ware

Overall, this is quite a significant shake-up, as per the original draft results listed below.

1. Zaccharie Risacher 

2. Alex Sarr

3. Reed Sheppard 

4. Stephon Castle 

5. Ron Holland 

6. Tidjane Salaun

7. Donovan Clingan 

8. Rob Dillingham 

9. Zach Edey 

10. Cody Williams 

Vecenie explained why he didn't drop the Rockets' guard much lower, despite a rookie season that essentially turned into a redshirt season.

"I’m fully aware of the hate I’m going to get for saying that I’d still take Sheppard ahead of some players below him after the rookie season he had. But if I’m hunting for upside, I’m still riding with Sheppard. I don’t see much in terms of potential star power below this level. But I can at least see a world in which Sheppard maximizes his passing and shooting ability into becoming a serious difference-maker.

Sheppard was stuck behind teammates on a loaded Rockets team that finished second in the West. He only saw 654 minutes, and in those minutes was not particularly effective. He struggled on defense and was inefficient as a scorer as his 3-point shot didn’t fall.

Still, Sheppard remains a high-level ball-screen creator with awesome vision and playmaking ability mixed with elite shooting from distance. His pace and tempo were strong at summer league, and I thought he played much better than many did given that the team surrounding him was quite poor even by summer league standards.

His performance in particular against the LA Clippers was high level, showcasing many of the traits we saw at Kentucky when he got a chance to run the show and at summer league in 2024. Houston clearly has faith in him, having opened up playing time this year for him while also only committing to Fred VanVleet for two more years on a contract that I think is quite tradable."

Sheppard didn't have the opportunity to make an impact as a rookie, as the Rockets were seeking to make a title run, and rookies oftentimes get buried on the depth chart upon landing on competitive teams. In fact, top-five lottery picks don't normally make their way on a top-two team in the Western Conference, so it's not exactly on Sheppard.

It's also interesting that Vecenie disregarded Sheppard's Summer League showing, as it wasn't quite his best, although he didn't have alot of viable talent around him.

This season, Sheppard will have as good of an opportunity as any to carve out a formidable role for the team, as his playmaking, ballhandling, and shooting could go a long way for a Rockets team that seemingly didn't add any of that in the summer, outside of Kevin Durant, who can't be asked to do everything. 

We’ll find out if ready.