Congrats to Reed he is the first college player drafted in this years draft!

Interesting fact the #3 and #8 lottery picks in the NBA draft had a combined total of 6 starts last season for Kentucky.

Great situation for Sheppard.  Not sure he will be starting, but he will have a chance to make an impact early on and is with one of the league’s top coaches. In another thread, someone asked how useless NBA coaches are? I get the sentiment, but Ime Udoka is one of the few difference makers in the NBA. He will ride Sheppard hard, but dude is up for the challenge. Congrats, Reed! Rep the Bluegrass proud!

11 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Interesting fact the #3 and #8 lottery picks in the NBA draft had a combined total of 6 starts last season for Kentucky.

UK had so much talent that two lottery picks didn’t start.  And their coach still couldn’t win anything. 

10 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Interesting fact the #3 and #8 lottery picks in the NBA draft had a combined total of 6 starts last season for Kentucky.

 

18 minutes ago, mcpapa said:

IK had so much talent that two lottery picks didn’t start.  And their coach still couldn’t win anything. 

That is definitely a very interesting and crazy stat that two top 10 picks only started a combine 6 games. Another crazy stat though to go along with that, is UK lost 4 of those 6 games in those starts. 
 

For the record looking back on it. I do agree now both should have been starting all year. It is still crazy what the record was though in those 6 games. 

Not to put a damper on Sheppard at #3, but would he have been a top 5 pick in any other draft? Is there a recent draft where he wouldn't have even been a lottery pick?

In the talent and results category, Colorado had players picked at 10 and 18 yet almost didn't make the NCAA tournament - played at Dayton in the play in games.

Now I can openly root for Reed! 

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Not to put a damper on Sheppard at #3, but would he have been a top 5 pick in any other draft? Is there a recent draft where he wouldn't have even been a lottery pick?

He would have been a lottery pick, but probably at the tail end of it. Reed is obviously great, but to be the first college player taken says something about this year's talent pool. Most draft aficionados had the top talents in this draft being #7 or #8 in a typical year. 

6 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

Now I can openly root for Reed! 

This is the way. 

How much money will 3rd pick guarantee him? I know it’s probably over 6 million.

48 minutes ago, The Professor said:

How much money will 3rd pick guarantee him? I know it’s probably over 6 million.

There is a salary scale set by the league. Last year the scale for the #3 pick was $8.1M, $8.5M, $9M. Three years guaranteed.

Contrast that with #10 pick getting half of that. And that is why Sheppard had to seize the opportunity this year in a weak draft.

On 6/27/2024 at 9:12 AM, Voice of Reason said:

Not to put a damper on Sheppard at #3, but would he have been a top 5 pick in any other draft? Is there a recent draft where he wouldn't have even been a lottery pick?

Agree, not to put a damper on it but I’d say there have been plenty of drafts where he wouldn’t have been a lottery pick.  I read where several people said this was the worst draft in NBA history 

1 hour ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Agree, not to put a damper on it but I’d say there have been plenty of drafts where he wouldn’t have been a lottery pick.  I read where several people said this was the worst draft in NBA history 

Much of it is dependent on how players develop, and I’m sure there will be some hidden gems. But by most calculations teams were drafting at the top of the boards for players 5-7 on rosters. That ain’t good.