Painful Reed Sheppard truth the Rockets will soon realize

As the Houston Rockets enter the 2025-26 NBA season, perhaps their biggest question mark lingers around an increased role for Reed Sheppard, and one serious concern remains. Can Sheppard take on a serious rotational role after the struggles he fought through last year?

Concerningly, Sheppard played just 12.6 minutes per game in his rookie season as he attempted to crack the rotation, and, even going back to his college days, his general lack of high-level usage presents a major concern for the Rockets as they attempt to navigate the loss of starting point guard Fred VanVleet.

Therefore, it is possible that Houston will soon realize a painful truth; Sheppard has never been properly prepared to take on the type of role they are asking him to step into this season.

Reed Sheppard has never taken on the type of role that the Rockets are asking him to

Selected with the third overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Sheppard came into the league with the potential to be a generational sharpshooter, having shot an absurd 52.1% from beyond the arc in his lone season at Kentucky.

Yet, in his first season with the Rockets, Sheppard's shot never found its legs, and he knocked down just 33.8% of his attempts from 3-point range. To make matters worse, his defensive setbacks were on full display, with his smaller frame and lack of lateral quickness making him a serious liability on that end of the court at times.

Nevertheless, Houston is, in part, hinging their season on Sheppard's ability to at least step into a full rotational role (if not start at point guard depending on how things go down with Amen Thompson).

Sheppard, however, did not even take on that type of role in college. While he played big minutes off the bench for the Wildcats in his freshman year, it was ultimately a bench role that he occupied, and this somewhat limited his offensive opportunities.

Although he was, quite possibly, the best perimeter shooter in college during his time there, he only averaged 4.4 3-point attempts per game: a relatively high number, but not the sort of volume you would like to see from someone who is being asked to lead an offense.

Moreover, he posted just an 18% usage rate in his time at Kentucky, meaning that he is relatively unproven having the ball in his hands for large swathes of games.

While the tools are there, and Sheppard could quickly develop to become the shooter and facilitator that Houston hopes he can be, he has never taken on a role similar to the one that the team will force him into this season, and the painful truth could be that he is wholly unprepared to do so.