Inside The Heat

No NBA Draft Hopeful Has Shot From Arc Like Reed Sheppard Since This Miami Heat Draft Pick

Shandel Richardson

RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Reed Sheppard needed only one year at Kentucky to show he was an NBA lottery pick.

His name will be called early during Wednesday's draft, mostly likely in the top two or three picks. While Sheppard impressed in many areas, one stat that stood out was 3-point accuracy.

Last year he shot 52.1 percent from the arc, something that hasn't been done by a first-round pick in 36 years.

"He's the best shooter in this draft," ESPN's Jonathan Givony said on the Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst. "He made 52 percent of his threes. No first round pick has done that since Glen Rice in 1989."

That would be the same Glen Rice, who the Heat drafted No. 4. Rice shot 51.6 percent from the 3-point line during one of the best seasons in college basketball history. Rice began his senior season at Michigan as a mid- to late-first-round pick. After leading the Wolverines to the national title, his draft stock skyrocketed.

He averaged 25.6 points and 6.3 rebounds, helping Michigan upset top-seeded Illinois in the Final Four before defeating Seton Hall in the title game. Rice ended the season shooting 51.6 percent from the arc.

Those stats were enough for the Heat to take him over power forwards J.R. Reid and Stacey King. It's a toss up between Rice and Tim Hardaway, who also played for the Heat, as the best player from the draft.

Hardaway was inducted to the Hall of Fame last summer while Rice, a three-time All-Star, is still waiting on the call.

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Inside The Heat. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson

SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here