Rockets Summer League GOALS And EXPECTATIONS | Reed Sheppard SUMMER LEAP Incoming?

Rockets Summer League GOALS And EXPECTATIONS | Reed Sheppard SUMMER LEAP Incoming?

On today’s show, summer league goals and expectations for Reed Shepard and the Houston Rockets. What do we need to see out of the rookie guard as he prepares for a significantly bigger role next season? It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets. This is mission control Houston. Ignition sequence start. 6 5 4 3 2 1. What’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. As always, I’m your host, Jackson Gatlin, native Houstononian and credentialed media member. I’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays. Be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube. Just search Locked on Rockets, where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. Now, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Just head on over to fanduel.com to check them out. And as always, thanks so much for making Lockdown Rockets part of your day every single day, whether it’s on your way to work, on your lunch break, in the gym. Thank you so much for being an everydayer. On today’s show, we’re talking all things Houston Rockets Summer League, which predominantly means we’re talking a lot of things Reed Shepard. um because there isn’t a ton going on on the Rockets roster outside of Reed Shepard for summer league for the first time in a very long time. The Rockets are not going to have one of the most exciting summer league rosters available. Although it’s still it should still be some fun. So, we’ll get into kind of some of the expectations uh for the summer league roster as a whole. We’ll take a look at some of the uh the four scheduled matchups, their scheduled opponents so far uh a little bit later on in the episode. We’ll get to some of the other names on the roster, guys to potentially look out for during summer league. Uh, as well as we’ll hear from Reed Shepard himself, as well as summer league coach Garrett Jackson, who’s usually one of the Rockets assistant coaches, who will be his, uh, second straight year coaching summer league in the EMOA era. So, we’ll hear from those guys, get into some of our own goals and expectations, things that we need to see. What do we need to see from Reed Shepard? He has concluded his rookie campaign. He’s in the middle of his off season ahead of year two, a year that projects to hit for him to have a significantly uh expanded role than he did last season. So, we’ll get into all of that stuff from the jump though. Let’s go ahead and dive into what uh assistant coach Garrett Jackson, who will be again summer league head coach Garrett Jackson uh said to media uh after a couple days of scrimmaging with the Rocket Summer League roster. Let’s throw it out to him right now. Hey, Coach Jackson. Just another summer league ahead of you. Second practice today. What do you like about this group that you have? I like their energy. Um, I like how we competed the last two days. Summer league is always tough cuz you’re bringing a lot of different guys together that have never played against or played with each other and they’re trying to figure out each other and we’re trying to figure out them. So, uh, I like everybody’s attitude. Everybody’s competing. It’s been a lot of fun these past couple days. for some of the guys that are on the roster like Reed, like Nate and your 2A guys, you know, how important is this or how relatable is the summer league experience to what you want to show them? There’s some stuff we do during summer league that I hope will carry over to training camp for those guys like some of our defensive principles and some stuff we do offensively. So, it’s great reps for them, especially like even our our two-way guys that are looking to make an impact in training camp. So, um, that’s something I’ve I’ve talked to them about on the side is just, um, coming in, being confident, being a sponge during all the drills and figuring it out cuz that stuff’s going to carry over, uh, for training camp and when we get going in September. Specifically for Reed, what do you want to see from him? Just uh, I want him to be aggressive. I want him to be aggressive. I want to see, uh, just more growth as a point guard for him. He’s got all he’s got a lot of tools. He’s a very smart player. Um, I just want to see him get more comfortable on the court and just keep being aggressive and yeah. Does defense matter in the summer league? I mean, I know it’s it’s not that kind of Okay, it does particularly for him. It matters for us for Yeah. everybody, our whole team, especially Reed, like top down, there’s no drop off there. Um, so that’s part of the stuff that I’ve talked about. Um, that carries over to training camp is definitely defense. So, what is being more aggressive for Reed entail? Is that like getting a shot more, pushing pushing the pace, looking for a shot, looking for his teammates, just overall um just aggressiveness. So that’s what being more assertive, being more of a leader, especially like with the the other group he’s he’s kind of or during the regular season, he was kind of soaking things up last year’s his rookie year. Um here he’s taking on more of a leadership role, talking to guys and and being aggressive. You mentioned Reed as a point guard. Will he still have some opportunities to play off ball this year? Yeah, for sure. Uh mostly point guard. I want to see him hand like handling uh getting people set. That’s part of like the leadership part is kind of setting the table for the rest of his teammates. But we’ll definitely use him for on some offball stuff. He’s just such a good shooter and and it gives us flexibility as a staff to like draw up different things and and get different looks. So, okay. So, that was summer league head coach Garrett Jackson talking about some of the uh goals uh that he set forth for for Reed Shepard and kind of by extension uh most mostly Reed Shepard, but also the the roster itself. Um they’d only, you know, practiced for a few days. Summerly is always this interesting, you know, uh, delicate thing because you bring together a bunch of guys that have literally never played together before. Maybe a couple guys have, you know, been teammates before, just like, you know, in this instance, it’ll be, you know, Reed Shepard, Nate Williams, Nfalli, Dante, those three guys have played together. Um, but outside of that, everybody else is brand new to the Houston Rockets. So, you bring all these guys together and, you know, a couple of things that stood out from what coach uh, Coach Jackson had to say. Oh, I I like that. Coach Jackson decent got a decent ring to it. Um I kid but uh from what Garrett had to say uh talking about the carryover I think that’s an important part too is you know sticking to some similar defensive principles and that could you know pay dividends or hopefully will pay dividends for guys like Reed Shepard and Nate Williams a little bit further down the line as they prepare for training camp for this upcoming season with the Rockets. Obviously, the Rockets intend on Reed Shepard having a pretty sizable role uh next season and hearing some of the different things that they’re going into this summer league focused on, you know, with Reed Shepard talking about being the point guard, being, you know, letting him get reps as the primary handler, letting him, you know, set other guys up. um you know, it very much seems like they’re going into it with a focus of, hey, like you’re playing this like you’re going to have to play your role next season. And at least for me, and this is my mentality, this has been my mentality consistently with each and every prospect that the Rockets have had that has gone back for an additional summer league stint. Um, the goal should be you you’ve played one year of NBA basketball, you got your rookie season under the belt, under your belt. When you step on the court for your second summer league experience, or in some players cases, their third summer league experience, but ideally, right, you only want to have to go back a second time. When you step back into summer league for a second time, you should flat out look like the best player on the floor compared to anybody else that’s out there. If you are a top prospect, you’ve got your rookie year under your belt and you’re returning for a second second summer league. That’s the goal for Reed Shepard is in every single game that he plays in. Now, he might just play in two games and get benched. Maybe the Rockets want him to get some additional reps. Maybe he winds up playing in in all five games. Who knows? Um, if I had to wager, I’d say he probably plays in two games and then gets benched the rest of the way. But the goal should be for Reed Shepard to look like he is truly a cut above every other player on that floor. And if he doesn’t, that’s a little bit of a red flag because again, summer league guys, these are these are fringe NBA guys. These are freshfaced prospects. These are not guys who have, you know, rarely are there guys who have a ton of NBA experience. There are some guys that are kind of like summer league journeymen that go back each and every year because they’re trying to find themselves on a two-way deal or or maybe get a vet minimum signing on a roster somewhere. For example, the Rockets have Moses Brown sound ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign ass sign assigned to their summer league team and Moses Brown has been a guy that’s been on like half the teams in the NBA to this point in his career but hasn’t been able to find a home and make it stick. So there are still guys with actual NBA experience out there but predominantly it’s fringe NBA guys. it’s top draft prospects, second round guys, and guys that Reed Shepard should frankly be better than when he’s playing on the court. So, that’s one of my biggest goals and kind of expectations for Reed Shepard going into summer league is look better than the other nine guys that you’re sharing the court with. Um, but how does he specifically do that? What are some of the specific things that we want to see out of Reed Shepard in Summer League? We’re going to get there. We’re going to hear from him. We’re going to hear from the guy himself. We’ll hear from Reed Shepard during his media availability as well as getting into the matchups, other names, pay attention to, all that good stuff here in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or highstakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? Head on over to fanduel.com. They keep things fresh with new daily promotions. You can check out their parlay builder. So many different ways to get in on the action. Right now, the Houston Rockets own Reed Shepard is actually the favorite to win summer league MVP. Now, that is if he plays all the games. Uh we’ll see ultimately what happens, whether the Rockets wind up resting him after the first two or three sets of games that he plays. But right now, he is plus 1,000 to be your Las Vegas summer league MVP. So, go get in on that action as well as so many other odds to check out. If you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or go to fanduel.com to get started. And continuing on here at Lockdown Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, let’s go ahead and hear from the man himself, Reed Shepard, as he is preparing to take on NBA Summer League for the second time here. This will be your second summer league. What do you want to see from yourself this year? Yeah, I mean, first I’m excited just to be back out being able to play. Um, you know, it’s super exciting getting to play with a bunch of new guys and go out in Vegas and just have fun and play. But, uh, you know, the biggest thing for me is just, uh, staying confident, going out there, having fun, uh, playing loose, and just working on everything that we’ve been working on this summer. What do you want to see as as far as your ball handling? And I know you’re still play off ball a little bit if it seems like you’re going to be really handle the ball even more this season. Yeah, I think just keep working on it. Um, you know, keep keep getting in the gym, keep making the right reads. Uh, keep the game as simple as I can when I get out there and and put my teammates in uh good spots to make shots. You started looking ahead at all to some of your new teammates will be joining you and kind of, you know, how they like to to run offense and how you can work with them? Uh, I mean, I haven’t looked too much because I got I got summer league right now. So, right now, this is this is my team, uh, for the next couple weeks. So, uh, but, you know, I’m really excited for for the season and then and the new guys, but right now I’m I’m mainly focused on just these next couple weeks with these guys. Coach mentioned he wanted you to be more aggressive and kind of exhibit that and grow into that. What does that mean to you? Yeah, I think just just looking for my shot and uh doing doing what I do. I think being being aggressive isn’t just shooting, but getting in the paint, making the right play. um kicking out to the corner, shooting floaters, pull-ups, whatever that is. Just being aggressive. Um trying to be the best player that I can be and help the team as much as I can. What was your reaction to What was your reaction to acquiring Kevin Durant and what are your thoughts on him joining your team? Um I mean, obviously Kevin Durant’s a really good player. Um you know, it was pretty cool for me. I’ve grown up watching him my whole life. Um so I mean I’m I’m really excited to play with him. He’s a tremendous player and can score and do everything you need in a basketball player. So, it should be really fun playing with him. After going through uh your rookie season, what are you doing this off season in order to come back more stronger to handle some of the rigors of some of the bigger guards that you have to play against in the NBA? Yeah, I mean um you know, this summer we’ve been in the we’ve been in the weight room a lot. We’ve been um you know, working on physicality on the court, whether it’s defense or offensive physicality. um and just getting stronger and just being mentally ready for for the physicality. Coach talked about you growing as a leader um during this process ahead of summerly. What does leadership look like to you? Yeah, I think just communicating um is the biggest thing. I think being able to to take control of of the the five that you have on the court and just talk and get them in their places and whether it’s in the locker room, whatever it is, just uh always always talk and communicate throughout practice, throughout the games, and through throughout the season. Although you only got, you know, one year to play with Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks, what are some of the things that you can take that you learned from them your rookie season heading into your second? Man, I could I could say so much about those two guys. Um, you know, even Jock, I got to be around Jock last year. So, all three of those guys, um, and Cam, I mean, just all four of them were were just so it was so cool for me to watch them, uh, just as a young guy. Um, I mean, they all they all showed up every day ready to practice every game, came out and played hard. I mean, Jaylen did miss a game. Um, and you know, Dylan once he gets on the court is he plays how he plays. So, um, you know, I I learned a lot from from all four of the guys. All right, that does it for Reed Shepard’s media availability. One kind of recurring theme, right? So AC from from both Garrett Jackson and from Reed talking about you know this you know again setting the table for this bigger role that he’s going to have this upcoming season because again the Rockets are going to and going back to what Rafll Stone had to say right that Reed is going to have to be really good for us period. And so this is kind of the beginning stages of that they’re setting up this summer league roster to give Reed opportunities to really flourish to really thrive. Um, and hearing Reed, you know, talk about his own growth as a leader. You heard Coach Jackson talk about, you know, Reed growing as a leader. Um, kind of finding his voice a little bit in that locker room, uh, compared to, you know, this past season where he was more just absorbing everything that he saw. His first go around the sun, you know, first year as an NBA player, you know, they tried to give him a role earlier on that he wasn’t quite ready for. So then, you know, sliding Aaron Holidayiday back in the rotation and then Reed Shepard just kind of, you know, playing in the background a little bit, right? Just absorbing, learning, you know, in the practices, shootarounds, uh, scrimmages, all that kind of stuff. And occasionally getting those game reps, whether it was garbage time or the few games where he started and the Rockets just kind of punted near the end of the season, those kind of things. Um, and Reed looked like a world’s different player from earlier in the season to where he was near the end of the year. um much more confident as things moved along. And so that’s definitely a piece of something that I’m looking for here in summer league is where is Reed’s confidence level at, right? Confidence should be through the roof. He should look like he’s, you know, pulling the strings out there on the court making everything happen. And when you hear about how he talked about being a leader, um it’s interesting, right? He talked about communication, and he didn’t just talk about communication um you know, on the court, but he said, you know, off the court. He said uh specifically this is my team for the next couple weeks when he was asked about where his focus is at. Um so he’s very clearly focused on the here and now making the most of this summer league opportunity. um and more more on his communication line, right, when he said, you know, whether it’s off the court, in the locker room, taking control of the five that you have on the court, that is the exact mentality that you want out of a guy that you’re trying to groom into potentially your point guard of the future in whatever the post Fred Van Vleet era looks like for this Rockets team. And again, you see the way that Fred has been able to kind of conduct and run this team for the past two years. And I know that Fred Van Vleet is kind of a lovehate relationship with a lot of Rockets fans, but Reed Shepard projects to, you know, ideally be a better a significantly better version of Fred Van Vleet further down the line. So that’s what the Rockets are trying to groom him into becoming. He has the gifts to be able to make it there. It’s all about just putting it together. Um, and in this summer league in particular, I already talked about him just, you know, wanting him to look like the best player on the court, but how does he do that? First and foremost, you look at the Rocket Summer League roster, um, some of the names on that roster, uh, are going to be great weapons for Reed Shepard to utilize in particular. Uh, I’m looking at Reed, he he needs to have like I’m hoping at least like 10 plus. That’s probably a little unrealistic, but Reed Shepard should absolutely be feasting in the pick and roll game with Nefali Dante and Moses Brown as his two, you know, center lob target guys to hit over the top of the defense. And I think the Rockets were very intentional about having Nfali Dante, obviously one of their existing two-way guys, and then Moses Brown going and getting him for their summer league roster so that there’s not really any drop off. You’re going to have two very legitimate, you know, screen setting, highlevel rebounding big men who are going to be able to play over the top of the rim, which should in theory free things up considerably for Reed Shepard. both guys, you know, solid screen setters should be able to free up Reed Shepard on the perimeter and then give him, you know, cart blanch to decide how he wants to attack, you know, these defenses, whether it’s, you know, him getting downhill and getting to his floater game, um, you know, operating out of the mid-range, pulling up for threes on the perimeter or just driving all the way in and setting up his big man with an easy lob over the top of the rim. It’s going to be really fun watching those, you know, Reed paired with, you know, one or both of those guys occasionally. um seeing how they kind of feed off of each other. And then just outside of that, the way that he talked about being aggressive isn’t just hunting shots. Um you know, getting his teammates involved. We saw during his very first summer league, right, when all the hype was at an all-time high. Seeing the way that he was able to distribute, find his teammates, cutting in traffic, in transition, that whole thing. I fully expect Reed Shepard with a year of NBA experience under his belt to look like a completely different player in summer league. He’s gonna be dissecting these defenses at like I’m expecting like a Chris Paul kind of level with just like or Tyresese Hallebertton with just like surgical precision the way that he sets these guys up. He’ll have Nate Williams running with him on the wings. So that’ll be another fi, you know, familiar teammate that he’s able to kind of feed and and hopefully uh have as an outlet, you know, as the recipient for some of these, you know, what what I’m expecting to be some pretty high quality passing on display in these summer league games. So, it should be really fun watching Reed Shepard just go to town in summer league. Again, my expectation is that he plays the first two games, maybe the first three because the Rockets have a backtoback in, you know, Sunday, Monday of their games two and three, but I would be shocked if Reed Shepard plays the entirety of summer league. Um, so take that for what it’s worth. Coming up, do want to talk about some of the other guys on this Rocket summer league roster. um some names to be on the lookout for as well as looking at the matchups themselves, what to expect and more. We’re going to get there in just one moment. And final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. One thing that I didn’t hit on that I about Reed that I wanted to talk about really quickly before getting on to uh the rest of the points that I wanted to hit here defensively that’s going to be Reed’s biggest challenge it feels like at the NBA level. Um he does have I feel like the quickness to stick with guys on the perimeter and some of it has to be some of it definitely boils down to just you know when you are a fresh-faced rookie and you’ve never dealt with NBA competition before everything is so fast everything is moving at 99 miles an hour understanding where you have to be how you have to rotate providing you know proper spacing between you and the player that you’re trying to guard so you don’t give up an open three but you also don’t get blown by like all these little intricacies of playing NBA defense so much harder than anything in college, anything in the G-League, really any even anything overseas. So for Reed Shepard, you know, watching some of the defensive uh, you know, low lightss from this past season, I guess, um, the two things that stand out, right, is at times he would get blown by on the perimeter and then other times he would get out muscled by bigger, stronger players, uh, because he’s just, you know, he he’s not that strong yet, unfortunately, having only spent one year in the NBA. So, it was good to hear that he spent some time in the wait room that they’re, you know, that he’s working on, you know, understanding how to play through the physicality of the NBA game both offensively and defensively. Um, but at the end of the day, like if Fred Van Vleet can carve out the role in the career that he has being a six- foot tall guard, there’s no reason that Reed Shepard at 6’3 with a better overall frame to eventually add muscle and strength to uh shouldn’t be able to at least get to a point defensively that Fred Vanble is at, which Fred Vanble is is, you know, largely considered a plus level defender. Now, at the end of the day, like Fred, you know, his his ideal role is chasing around other, you know, smaller perimeter guards. And even though he can switch on to a bigger guy occasionally, it’s not exactly something you want Fred doing with consistently or consistency, I should say. Um, so it’ll be interesting to see how they kind of utilize Reed defensively in summer league, right? Do they still try to do they try to hide Reed on the worst offensive player on the other team or do they make Reed kind of like buck up and deal with some of the premier uh perimeter matchups that he’s going to have to be able to guard at the NBA level? You know, next season there’s chances that Reed Shepard might have to be out there on the floor at the same time that Steph Curry is chasing him around a million screens and that’s a very realistic possibility that he’s going to have to deal with defensively next season. So, might as well start now in summer league. Um, take that for what it’s worth. Uh, all right. Really quickly get into the matchups here for the Rockets. Um, honestly, all the matchups kind of suck. Uh, the Rockets didn’t get any of the premier uh, young star matchups, I guess, is the way to look at it. Like, they didn’t get the Mavericks with Flag or the Spurs with Dylan Harper. Um, and honestly, or or the Sixers with VJ Edgecom. It’s okay. The way summer league works is when you have one of those top picks, you get scheduled against other teams with the top picks because they want those top draft picks, you know, duking it out against one another. Um, I still think it would have been kind of fun for the Rockets to have a game against the Suns. It’s kind of lame that they didn’t get at least one of those because that would have had some fireworks watching Reed Shepard try try and go up against Kaman Malawatch and Rashier Fleming. So, I think it’s, you know, total missed opportunity there by the NBA scheduling committee. Um, their first game will be Friday, July 11th against the Clippers, which is a 900 p.m. Central tip off. So, Friday night, don’t go out, don’t have any plans, sit at home and watch the Rockets play the Clippers uh, in summer league. Then Sunday, they play against the Pistons at 300 p.m. Uh, then they’ve got their back-to-back, which is Monday at 3:30 p.m. against the Hawks. And then they play their final official like scheduled summer league game uh Thursday, July 17th against the Blazers at 7 PM Central time. So the only normal tip off time I guess for the Rockets. And then they will have a fifth game at some point if they qualify for the summer league playoffs. Then they’ll be one of the four playoff teams. Otherwise, the other 26 teams all get like just a random fifth game added in there. So maybe maybe we’ll get a game against the Suns. Um although again by that point I would be shocked if Reed Shepard is playing in all of these games. Also roster-wise like there’s just not a ton of like competition on these other rosters. Um the Clippers don’t really have like anybody that is like of note I don’t think. Um unless I’m just completely skipping over a name on one of these rosters. Um Patrick Baldwin Jr. I guess a little bit although he’s kind of been traveling around so I don’t know. Clippers don’t really have anybody. The Pistons have uh Ron Holland II. Uh so returning to summer league for them. So that’ll that should be like one kind of upandcoming young talent to witness uh the Rockets play against. They also have one of the greatest names on their summer league roster that I’ve ever borne witness to. And that is u the name Sincere Carrie. Can you imagine being a basketball player named Sincere Carrie? Like I don’t know. I saw that name, I was like, “Wow, that is actually pretty wild.” Uh, all right. So, sincere Carrie, fun name there. Uh, the best roster that the Rockets are actually probably going to wind up playing as far as just young talent is the Atlanta Hawks summer league roster because they’ll have Kobe Buffkin out there. Uh, they’ll have Jack McVey, Rockets summer league legend and uh so and and preseason legend as well. So, uh Jack McVey there with them. Uh they’ll also have uh Asa Newwell and I thought they had one more name on here, Jacob Toppenhen. Yeah. So, uh some interesting names on the Hawks roster. And then for the Blazers roster, um I I mean it’s basically just Yang Hansen. Uh and it’ll be fun to watch them try and play against him and his ridiculous size. Um so that’s kind of the four teams that the Rockets are going to be slotted up against. Uh no really like I guess premier matchups across the board. Uh again, hopefully that hopefully that Reed is still going to play that third game against the Hawks because that one should be on paper the most fun game between the Rockets and another squad as far as just sheer talent goes. Uh and then for the Rockets roster itself, uh already mentioned a couple of the names that are on the roster. Uh also as far as cool names go for a basketball player, Adonis Arms out of Texas Tech. Look, I’m not a college basketball guy, so like I haven’t watched like Texas Tech at all this past season. Um, but Adonis Arms sounds like an awesome name for like not even just a basketball player, just in general. Um, already mentioned Nefali Dante and Moses Brown being on the roster. So, the Rockets are very set in the middle at their five spot. Um, hopefully an opportunity for Nefali Dante to continue to kind of showcase himself. He’s still on a two-way contract with the Rockets. um and he showed some some flashes, some promise this past season. And you know, look, at the end of the day, if the Rockets do encounter a position, you know, or an opportunity somewhere down the line, um, you know, this upcoming season where they have a chance to add to the roster if they can get an impact player. You know, a couple of their tradable salaries very much include, uh, Dorian Finny Smith and Clint Capella. And those two guys together could get you in the ballpark of like a $20 million a year kind of impact contributor. So if the Rockets feel like they can make a move and they don’t necessarily need the depth of that third big in Clint Capella, then you know maybe they feel comfortable just going with Nfali Dante if he continues to grow and get better. So, he’s absolutely a name to pay attention to to see what his summer league success ultimately looks like because he could very easily be kind of a youthful replacement to Clint Capella as this, you know, lob threat athletic third string center somewhere down the line if the Rockets either look to cut cost cut costs or if they look to trade Clint Capella to improve the roster elsewhere. So definitely Nfali Dante is I think my second most important rocket to watch on the summer league roster. Nate Williams is the only other Rocket on a true like NBA level deal. Um but Nate Williams has been kind of this journeyman, you know, NBA player for a few years. Um you know, he carved out like a little bit of a home with the Rockets. And look, I like Nate. Nate’s a hard worker. He plays hard. He’s great, I’m sure, to have in practice. He fights hard defensively. Um he’s a little bit of a one-trick pony offensively unfortunately with that, you know, drive and left-handed scoop shot that he makes. Um he makes it a lot, but he’s kind of a one-trick pony on that side of the floor. Uh and then just, you know, spotting up on the perimeter, but he can also handle the basketball in a little bit of a pinch. He’ll probably be the Rockets primary ball handler when Reed Shepard does eventually sit down and go to the bench. Um although they did get Cavon Harris and Cavan Harris uh you know G-League champ uh or I should say was it G-League champ or G-League MVP. Um they brought him in on a straightup two-way deal which might be it might be an exhib deal which is basically a training camp deal although it was reported as a two-way deal um out of uh SFA. And look, he’s coming in at 6’6, 220 pounds, you know, big kind of combo guard. And, you know, part of me wonders if the Rockets just sign him to a two-way deal because they just they know they need to have more like guard bodies in practice for when they run scrimmages and, you know, four on fours, five on fives in practice this next season. That might be a factor. Um, but it also might be that they actually see something there, something that they like, something that they want to try and nurture or grow a little bit. So, keep an eye on Kavon Harris. And the last name here, um, to pay attention to, I think, on this roster. Oh, also Germaine Samuels Jr., he’s making a return for the Rockets. So, um, keep an eye out for Germaine Samuels. He’s he’s been awesome in summer league before. Um, so kind of another recur a returning piece there that Reed Shepard should have some familiarity with. Um, but the last interesting name that I I’m curious to just kind of see how he plays is Cameron Matthews, um, out of Mississippi State. And, uh, this is the read on Cameron Matthews from John Hollinger. Nobody is using a draft pick on a fifthear senior forward who averaged 9.6 points and shot 24% from three. But watch out for this guy stealing minutes while on a two-way because of his defense against Apex Wings. There are some Lou Dort parallels here. Matthews has brutish strength, lightning fast hands, and can move his feet on the perimeter. He also fouls a lot, but his rate of 7.6 stocks per 100 possessions is pretty phenomenal. So, and then he’s also got some flare as a as a bit of a distributor. So, maybe the Rockets use him a little bit in that regard, too. But the Rockets have some interesting names outside of Reed Shepard to watch here in this summer league. Um, obviously Reed Shepard’s going to be the star of the show. He’s going to be the guy that needs to go out there and put up, you know, 20 plus, 30 plus a game. And hopefully he’s able to. I want to see him dropping bombs. I want to see him dropping dimes. Uh I want I want a 30 and 10 game from Reed Shepard. That’s what I want. I want a 30 point 10 10 assist performance from Reed Shepard in summer league. And I will be satisfied with whatever the rest of the summer league performances look like outside of that. I’m curious your thoughts and expectations from Rocket Summer League. What do you want to see out of Reed Shepard? Who are you most interested to pay attention to besides Reed Shepard on the Rockets summer league roster? Let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments. As always, thanks so much for checking out the show. Remember, the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing. And then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. But as always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. And we look forward to having you back right here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball.

Rockets Summer League GOALS And EXPECTATIONS | Reed Sheppard SUMMER LEAP Incoming?

Reed Sheppard takes center stage as Houston Rockets gear up for NBA Summer League. Will the rookie guard’s aggressive play and leadership shine through?

Coach Garrett Jackson sets high expectations for Sheppard, emphasizing growth as a point guard and on-court assertiveness. Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down Sheppard’s self-assessment, exploring his approach to shot selection, playmaking, and defensive challenges. Comparisons to Fred VanVleet’s career path highlight Sheppard’s potential impact. The Rockets’ Summer League schedule is dissected, with matchups against the Clippers, Pistons, and Hawks under the microscope. Other key players to watch include N’Faly Dante and Nate Williams, potentially reshaping Houston’s roster dynamics.

Tune in for an in-depth analysis of the Rockets’ Summer League strategy and how it could shape their upcoming NBA season.

#Rockets #NBA #ReedSheppard

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