Rockets' Reed Sheppard experiment has crystal clear expiration date

As the Houston Rockets attempt to mount a run at a championship this season, their biggest weakness remains their lack of a bona-fide point guard in the absence of Fred VanVleet.

Although there is still the possibility that second-year guard Reed Sheppard could take on this mantle, Tim Legler, on the recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, has predicted that Sheppard will have about 20 games to prove his value before the team needs to consider making a move to fill that void.

With Kevin Durant on the roster, the team is certainly looking to compete now. However, any trade for a guard would likely necessitate the dealing of VanVleet's contract along with other assets, and it is clear that Houston is looking for any way they can to avoid pulling that trigger.

Reed Sheppard has about 20 games to step into his increased role before the Rockets need to start looking for a trade

While Sheppard has had his highs and his lows already this season, it is clear that, as of now, he is not fully ready to fill the hole that VanVleet left behind. Even if his perimeter shot finds its form, he is too susceptible to pressure with the ball in his hands and his lack of defensive capabilities will always make him a target when he is on the court in some capacity.

Houston, almost certainly, are not championship contenders if they cannot sort out their backcourt situation, and, as Legler explains, there should be a relatively hard deadline for this to be determined: "If it turns out he's not quite ready, and they see that after 20 games... You didn't bring [Kevin Durant] in to think about any long-term horizon beyond this season. You're thinking about winning it all this year."

Legler, in many ways, has a serious point. The Rockets are no longer in the stage where they can wait on the development of their young core, biding their time and clinging to their assets while their players emerge. The trade for Durant changed all of that.

With Durant's two-year extension, their championship window now rests squarely between now and the conclusion of the 2027-28 season, meaning that they cannot sacrifice a single chance they have at making a run.

No one would blame Sheppard if he wasn't ready to be an NBA-caliber starting point guard after just 20 games in his second season. That is an extraordinarily high mark to reach, and it is, frankly, unrealistic.

Nevertheless, Houston's timeline is constructed in such a way that they cannot afford to wait on Sheppard much longer than that while the rest of the league passes them by. While Sheppard does not need to have fully taken on that role in the first quarter of the season, especially given Josh Okogie's emergence as a serious contributor, the organization needs to believe wholeheartedly that he can do so, or they must make a heartbreaking move in order to salvage this season.