Early Redraft Sees Reed Sheppard Go First Overall, Rockets Land Stellar Defender

This makes a ton of sense, based on the buzz heading into the draft.

Jun 26, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Reed Sheppard shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected in the first round by the Houston Rockets in the 2024 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 NBA Draft is officially in the books, so much that NBA fans have started looking ahead to the 2025 draft class, which is headlined by Cooper Flagg, of course. The Summer League gave fans their first glimpse of the newly-drafted rookies, while also prompting early criticism for underperformers.

CBS Sports put together their all-too-early redraft, which saw Reed Sheppard go first overall to the Atlanta Hawks. The writer, Kyle Boone, gave his reasoning.

"What we saw from Risacher in Summer League was impressive -- and maybe even better than I anticipated -- so maybe Atlanta would roll with him again.

But No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard looked nothing short of a superstar in his own tier for the Rockets' Summer League team.

CBS Sports' Gary Parrish ranked Sheppard as his No. 1 player in the class for months leading into the draft in June, and while, yes, it's way too early to draw anything from the class, he's so far looking like he might've nailed his eval. Sheppard looks awesome."

It was reported that the Hawks viewed Sheppard as a Patrick Mahomes type of player prior to the draft, so this isn't a surprising selection in a redraft. Especially after Sheppard's Summer League showcase, in which he averaged 20 points, 5.3 assists, and 50 percent from the field in four games, making First Team All-Summer League.

As for the Rockets, they walk away with Donovan Clingan, the former Connecticut big man, who went seventh overall to the Portland Trail Blazers in last month's draft.

"There was steam into the final day that Clingan might go No. 1 overall to Atlanta. Clingan wound up falling all the way to No. 7 on draft night, though, which in the moment seemed absurd and in hindsight seems mind-boggling. He led all players in blocks and rebounds and has been every bit the defensive anchor we expected he'd be in the NBA like he was at UConn."

The Rockets registered significant interest in Clingan heading into the draft, so much that many penciled him in as the franchise's third pick. Chances are, this won't be the last redraft that'll get crafted from this year's class.

We'll see if those look any different.

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