{"id":220046,"date":"2025-10-17T11:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/220046\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:04:07","slug":"houston-rockets-might-have-found-perfect-replacement-for-fred-vanvleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/220046\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Rockets Might Have Found Perfect Replacement For Fred VanVleet"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being poised to emerge as a title contender in the West, the Houston Rockets<\/a> suffered a significant blow to their rotation. After suffering an ACL injury during training, Fred VanVleet<\/a> is expected to be sidelined for a large portion of the season, if not all of it.<\/p>\n

To address this loss, the Rockets have been linked to several potential targets to replace the former All-Star<\/a>. However, due to their salary cap constraints and summer signings, completing a trade before Dec. 15th would not be possible<\/a> without moving some of their untouchable players.<\/p>\n

Although this leaves Houston in a relatively tough position, the team may not need to look beyond its roster for VanVleet\u2019s replacement after all. With a talented young guard in Reed Sheppard<\/a>, the Houston Rockets could realistically consider having him step into the starting spot to replace the former All-Star.<\/p>\n

While these could be big shoes to fill for a sophomore guard, Sheppard has shown a lot of upside in his recent outings this preseason. Coming off an impressive performance to lead Houston to a 133-115 win against the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, the 21-year-old could be making a solid case for himself to earn more playing time in the rotation.<\/p>\n

In 29 minutes played against the Hawks, Sheppard posted 29 points, six rebounds, six assists, four steals, and three blocks, while shooting 12-for-22 from the field and 5-for-13 from three-point range.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Having already established himself as a promising sharpshooter, Sheppard demonstrated more layers to his game against Atlanta. From playmaking and distribution to defensive contributions, he is living up to his reputation as a former lottery pick.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should The Rockets Commit To Reed Sheppard\u2019s Growth?<\/p>\n

In his rookie season, Reed Sheppard didn\u2019t receive many opportunities to establish himself in the Rockets\u2019 rotation. In only 12.6 minutes played per game, the 21-year-old averaged only 4.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game on 35.1% shooting overall.<\/p>\n

Although these aren\u2019t inspiring figures, the young guard showed flashes of brilliance when given the opportunity. One of his highlight performances from last season featured a scoring outburst against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. In 31 minutes, Sheppard put up 25 points, two rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block on 58.8% shooting from the field and 42.9% from deep.<\/p>\n

While this could be considered an outlier, it could equally be perceived as proof of potential. To that point, his development over the offseason has also been worth acknowledging.<\/p>\n

In the Summer League, he averaged 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 4.0 steals per game on 36.4% shooting from the field. Considering that he was only pulled after two games<\/a>, there is evidence to suggest that the Rockets were convinced of his growth.<\/p>\n

While this is a small sample size, the 21-year-old has sustained his form into the preseason as well. After four games, he is averaging 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals on 51.2% shooting overall and 40.7% from three-point range in 23.1 minutes.<\/p>\n

Sheppard may not have the playmaking upside that is typically expected of a point guard. But considering that Houston\u2019s offense typically runs through Alperen Sengun<\/a>, the sophomore guard may find himself in a favorable position to maximize his versatile scoring ability while acting as a secondary playmaker instead.<\/p>\n

When the franchise was being linked with players to replace Fred VanVleet, Rockets forward Kevin Durant<\/a> displayed immense faith in Sheppard<\/a>. To that point, the guard has also highlighted how Durant\u2019s influence has impacted his development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even without VanVleet, the Houston Rockets still feature enough talent on their roster to create a formidable starting lineup<\/a>. However, the opportunity to cultivate Sheppard\u2019s talent could prove quite worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being poised to emerge as a title contender in the West, the Houston Rockets suffered a significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-220046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}