NBA Draft: notes after the choice of Reed Sheppard by the Houston Rockets

Former Kentucky basketball star Reed Sheppard was selected by the Houston Rockets with the third overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday night.

Here’s how NBA analysts rated this pick.

A — Danny Chou, The Ringtone: “The Rockets have their guy. … He was a stat darling, shooting the 3 at an absolutely stupid clip while compiling defensive numbers that should be impossible for a player with unremarkable size and length. He’s the best shooter in the class… For a team with this much athleticism at its disposal, getting a deep release valve while adding another smart playmaker is a no-brainer. …”

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B+ — Kyle Irving, Sports news: “He is an outstanding shooter who made an astonishing 52.1% of his 3s last season. He will provide the Rockets bench with a mix of ball handling, playmaking and on-ball defense. Learning from an undersized guard like VanVleet will only help his development as well.

B+ — Zach Buckley, Bleacher Report: “Guards who played under former head coach John Calipari at Kentucky often revealed new layers to their game upon arriving in the NBA. Reed Sheppard could be the next to achieve it. …He is above all a SHOOTER in all capital letters. … His lack of size (6’2″, 182 lbs) is a defensive concern, but at least he won’t lose defensive battles due to lack of effort or poor instincts. … The Rockets were prime candidates for the position, but there’s a lot to like about Sheppard’s place in Space City.”

B+ — Kevin Sweeney, Sports Illustrated: “The odds of Sheppard being the first college player to leave the board this time last year would have been unimaginably long, but his special first season at Kentucky quickly won over NBA executives. Houston seems determined to push to compete sooner rather than later, and adding the draft’s best shooter in Sheppard fits that timeline well.

B — Adam Finkelstein, CBS Sports: “Sheppard has exceeded all expectations at Kentucky and has become one of the most efficient freshmen in the country. … At worst, he’s a tremendous player, but you’d hope for a higher finish than third overall. I worry that the extreme shooting is an outlier since he wasn’t as good in high school, and I worry about his size on defense. … But I’ve been wrong about him before.”

This story will be updated.