It’s only preseason, but…
The perennial caveat. It’s tiring. We know it’s preseason. We all know.
Bogdan Bogdanovic looks good, doesn’t he? The man whose last name is his first name with more letters after it (which is how I learned to stop calling him Bojan Bogdanovic, or vice versa) is hitting 41.2% of his 5.7 threes per game. He’s hitting them above the break, off the catch, etc.
Marcus Smart looks like Marcus Smart, too. It doesn’t look like 2026-27 will be his “this guy is officially past his prime”
season. He may or may not shoot poorly from deep (33.3% on six attempts so far, which tells us nothing), but he still defends like a Doberman in a kindly old man’s backyard, and he can handle the ball, pass, and do guard stuff.
Fred VanVleet has been interesting. The scoring efficiency has been woeful, but the 7.5 assists and 0.5 turnovers per game suggest that his bread is still fresh and his butter is still warm. More importantly, the offense has just looked better with VanVleet on the floor. His ability to organize the attack without turning the ball over is still present.
But where does it all leave Reed Sheppard?
Rockets’ Reed Sheppard is in strange territory
Minute distribution during preseason is never worth discussing. Unless you’re telepathic, you don’t know what Ime Udoka is thinking. This is the time to tinker and experiment, so (again, unless you’re a certified mentalist) don’t overthink it.
And Sheppard has been good. He’s shooting 8.3 threes per game, and he’s hitting 44.0% of them. There is every reason to think Sheppard is going to be one of the best shooters in the NBA. He’s one of the best shooting prospects ever, and he wasn’t even far off in 2025-26.
Whether it’s enough to get him regular minutes in Ime Udoka’s rotation is a different matter.
Realistically, this doesn’t have much to do with the preseason. The exhibition games have only reinforced how much guard depth the Rockets have added this summer. Asking Udoka to play Sheppard over Smart would be like asking Fred Flintstone to throw a bowling ball without doing his twinkle toes routine first*.
*I sat on this for five minutes, and that’s the best I could come up with.
Let’s be honest: Sheppard still looks like a lawn ornament on defense. It’s a flaw that could be fatal enough to deter even a less defensive-minded head coach from putting him on the floor. I’d even wager that most NBA head coaches would be trepidatious about playing both Sheppard and Alperen Sengun.
Bogdanovic isn’t a stellar defender either, but at least nobody is credibly disputing whether he’s even six feet tall. It doesn’t have to look like 4 v 5 when he’s on the floor.
Now, I’m sounding like I’m out on Sheppard. I’m not. I could see featuring him prominently if Sengun was Rudy Gobert, but then the team’s offense would be awful. They might satiate Udoka’s lust for 90-to-85 victories en route to 45 wins, but it’s not the solution.
What is?
Rockets should keep Sheppard options open
It’s possible that the limitations on Sheppard’s opportunities have been exaggerated.
He played 12.6 minutes per game as a rookie, and 26.2 as a sophomore. Sure, he was the third pick: in an awful draft, to a contender. All things considered, he’s been on a fine trajectory.
The issue is that the minutes-per-game jump came in VanVleet’s absence. Now he’s back, with Smart and Bogdanovic to bolster their rotation. It’s nearly impossible to imagine how Sheppard’s minutes will continue to trend up, or even avoid regression.
It just doesn’t feel ideal to reduce a high lottery pick’s minutes going into what’s generally seen as a pivotal third season.
Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe Sheppard forces the issue, or maybe (hopefully not) someone else gets hurt, and he’s forced into another advantageous position.
Or…maybe it’s like fetch: It’s just not going to happen. Sheppard is heading into his third season, and there’s every indication that his role is about to be reduced.
We didn’t even need a preseason to see that.
