Rockets 2026-2027 player previews: Reed Sheppard

The best long-range shooter on the team, Sheppard hit on 39.4 percent of his triples last year on a high volume of 7 attempts per game. We've talked endlessly here about Sheppard's "gravity" in drawing other defenders to his three-point shot, thereby opening up spacing for his teammates, but on a team bereft of distance shooting, Sheppard was certainly underutilized at times.

He had a healthy 26.2 minutes per game, which is nothing to scoff at for a second-year player, but it still felt like Ime Udoka left a little something out there with his management of Sheppard's court time. It still feels like that gravity wasn't used properly.

Sheppard finished sixth overall in NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting after averaging 13.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. As a starter, that was upped to 15.4 points, 4.9 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block per game.