Rockets fans are praying forgotten guard can make Rajon Rondo-style breakout

The Houston Rockets will have plenty of X-factors this season, but after the devastating Fred VanVleet injury, guard production looms largest. Without VanVleet, the Rockets have zero point guards with experience as a go-to guy. It will be up to second-year man Reed Sheppard to prove that he can be that No. 1 point guard option, and if he can, the Rockets may still be able to live up to the lofty expectations they've earned after adding Kevin Durant this offseason. If he can't, the Rockets' ceiling lowers pretty drastically.

Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports offered up a comparison for Sheppard on The Kevin O'Connor Show, and it's one that Rockets fans would have no complaints about: Rajon Rondo.

"Does Reed Sheppard look more like he did post-his G League success? ... Does he carry that forward this year and start looking like the guy, where you're not even thinking about making any moves? Maybe Reed Sheppard is your guy, and he's one of those rare young point guards... Remember when Rajon Rondo, second year with the Boston Celtics... The question with that team was, well could Rondo be the point guard? Turned out he could be the point guard, because he did the things the team needed. Maybe Reed Sheppard can be that guy... but maybe not..."

It would be stellar if Reed Sheppard could turn into Rajon Rondo (even an early version of him) but even that feels like a big ask of Sheppard, who played just 52 games for the Rockets last season, spending a lot of his time in the G League instead.

The expectations for year two Reed Sheppard are unrealistic

Before we can ask Sheppard to be the point guard on a team that thinks it can win the NBA Finals, we should probably ask him to simply play well enough to stay on the floor every night for an NBA team.

And therein lies the reason that I'm so nervous about Sheppard's production in year two; because he's not being asked to merely improve his game and become more involved in the team's plans. Instead, Sheppard is being asked to go from an essential non-factor in the rotation to the starting point guard with real playmaking responsibilities. If you're having a hard time remembering another situation when that happened, it's because it doesn't really happen. Ever. Even Rondo played over 23 minutes per game in his rookie season. Sheppard played about 12.

Maybe Reed Sheppard is the rare case here. He was the No. 3 overall pick, and he did look a little more comfortable in March and April (but then played 10 total minutes in the playoffs). He was drafted with the expectation that he'd eventually take over the Rockets backcourt. He's certainly getting his chance now — but the stakes got pretty high, pretty quickly for the 21 year-old.