It's time for the Houston Rockets to send Reed Sheppard to the G-League

There are a lot of former lottery picks on the Houston Rockets.

Jalen Green. Jabari Smith Jr. Amen Thompson. Reed Sheppard. A pattern emerges if you look at the history of how each of these players has been used.

Green has had - if you'll pardon the pun - the green light from day one. Smith Jr. got starter minutes as a rookie, but he didn't get the same number of touches. By the time Thompson joined the squad, the Rockets had pivoted away from tanking. He got fewer minutes than either of his predecessors, and a smaller offensive role.

Enter Sheppard. He's hardly on the floor. Sheppard is averaging 11.8 minutes per contest. He's not getting very many reps:

It's time for him to get them in the G-League.

Rockets need to get Sheppard touches

After all, he's struggling at the NBA level.

Sheppard has a True Shooting % (TS%) of 45.6%. Creating shots at this level has been challenging for him. Sheppard's diminutive size makes it difficult for him to get a clean look at the basket.

As a result, his play has looked tentative. Sheppard picks up his dribble too early. He's too quick to defer to teammates before trying to create his own advantage. He may be concerned about losing his already slight playing time by making a mistake.

To reiterate, the Rockets are long done tanking. They're in win-now mode. At the moment, Aaron Holiday is a more impactful player than Sheppard. Moving the recent lottery pick to the Rio Grande Vipers would free up minutes for him as Fred VanVleet's primary backup.

More importantly, it would free up a role for Sheppard to be a primary playmaker. With the Vipers, Sheppard should feel free to play his game. He should get a star's level of usage and take a large number of shots. He could even be the team's first option:

Provided that they called another Viper up to the main roster.

Rockets should call Cam Whitmore up

The Rockets aren't just full of lottery picks. They've got some prospects who garnered lottery consideration, Cam Whitmore was the 20th overall pick in 2023, but at times, it looked like he'd go as high as fifth.

Now, he's a full-time Viper. There are good reasons for that. Whitmore is averaging 2.4 assists per 100 possessions with the main roster in 2024-25. That's a modest improvement on his 1.7 assists per 100 possessions from his rookie campaign, but it still confirms Whitmore's established reputation as a black hole.

Just as troublingly, Whitmore is shooting 4.8% from long-range in 2024-25. That isn't a typo. It's not supposed to be 48%.

That's fine. Again, Sheppard is averaging 11.8 minutes per contest. Whitmore should get comparable playing time if the Rockets make this shift. He can soak up minutes at the 2 behind Jalen Green, and some time at the 3 as well.

That 4.8% is guaranteed to rise. Those 2.4 assists per 100 possessions are not. Unlike Sheppard, the word "hesitate" is not in Whitmore's vocabulary. The Rockets would be trading one problem for another.

It's in everyone's best interest. This is not an indictment on Sheppard. It's a recognition that he needs the experience of having the ball in his hands. It's also a recognition that Whitmore needs some run with the main roster, and that the Rockets need to make use of a backup point guard who's ready to play now.

If Sheppard had landed on a rebuilding team, he'd be viewed differently by now. He would have likely flashed brilliance, and he'd have his shortcomings magnified as well. As it stands, the Rockets have too many lottery picks to prioritize Sheppard's development:

It's a good problem to have.