Wednesday evening, the Arkansas Razorbacks welcomed head coach John Calipari to Fayetteville, embarking on the new era of college basketball in Bud Walton Arena.
Well, Coach Cal didn’t stick around to do “Call the Hogs,” to the dismay of some. However, he did drop a final joke surrounding his star freshman, Reed Sheppard.
While talking in his introductory press conference, Cal made a joke about not starting Sheppard as the BBN pleaded for all season. Even so, Cal expects the freshman guard to be a lottery pick in the NBA Draft this summer.
Despite the flaws, Coach Cal played a crucial role in making Sheppard the player he is today. Likely a top-10 pick in this year’s draft, not starting Sheppard and Rob Dillingham was the talk of the country and especially the fanbase.
Now, the Cats just need their next coach, who can hopefully find a way to sway the star guard into a return to Lexington.
But assuming Sheppard does go pro, we should all wish him the best and thank him for making the BBN proud!
As the heavily favored Kentucky got beaten by Oakland, the page is now flipping for guards Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, who will test the NBA draft waters this June.
March Madness
While an early loss won’t reflect well on their college record, given that both are projected to be lottery selections, NBA teams are more likely than not to ignore this loss, and instead focus on the body of work the two put in during the regular season. There is, after all, much more data to draw on from those games.
As for the duo, neither played well. Dillingham went for 10 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes, with Sheppard collecting three points and four assists in 26 minutes.
It’s a tough way to go out, and NBA teams will surely ask both players what they’ve learned from that experience, when they interview them during the draft combine in May.
However, the loss shouldn’t deter teams from having significant interest in either player.
NBA Prospects
Dillingham remains one of the quickest jump shooters in the world, both off the catch and off the dribble, and kept up great shooting efficiency all year, hitting 44.4% of his three-pointers, and sporting a true shooting percentage of 59.5%, which is more than encouraging.
Add in the fact that Dillingham is also just a freshman, with loads of potential to still squeeze out, and it should practically be written in stone that his draft stock won’t be much bothered by the upset loss.
If anything, teams will have more questions about his size (6’2 and 170 pounds), than the game. While Dillingham is quick, and run teams around in circles, his lack of size could present a problem at the next level, particularly defensively.
However, this was well-known before Kentucky’s early exit, and as such, expect NBA teams to mostly raise the same concerns they’ve had most of the year.
Sheppard, too, should find himself on stable ground despite the lackluster production in the loss to Oakland. The 6’3 guard has added to his game over the course of the season, improving as a play initiator, while being the best shooter in college basketball.
Sheppard connected on a whopping 52.1% of his 144 three-point attempts this year, and 53.6% overall, which is a serious skill to offer NBA teams given how the game has evolved in recent years.
Not unlike Dillingham, Sheppard doesn’t offer great size if teams view him more as a shooting guard, or a wing. It’s likely that whatever team gets him in the draft will try to mold him into a point guard, similarly as to how Utah has worked with Keyonte George.
A byproduct of being beaten this early in the tournament means a shift in narrative. Fans are unquestionably going to raise questions about the competitiveness of both players, reducing their season to one game, which naturally NBA teams won’t as the pre-draft process ramps up.
How both Dillingham and Sheppard respond to this level or criticism might even be used as an indicator of how well they’re mentally geared for the NBA, where every player is continuously under the microscope.
For now, the Kentucky duo will be best served licking their wounds before they transition into the NBA way of thinking. There is a lot of financial incentive to keep the ship steady, as players selected in their expected slots (between 4-7) are looking at a salary of between $6-8 million in their first year alone.
Fortunately for both, their loss to Oakland isn’t likely to see him slide down the draft board.
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