HOUSTON — With Fred VanVleet sidelined for most or all of the 2025-26 season due to an ACL tear in his right knee, the Rockets know they will need to entrust Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard with more on-ball responsibilities.
So far, so good.
After Tuesday’s opening practice of training camp, Jabari Smith Jr. described areas in which both young prospects have improved from last season.
Regarding Sheppard, Smith pointed to a maturity bump entering his second NBA season. Among Smith’s comments:
He’s gotten a lot better. The game is slowing down for him. You can just tell, when he’s playing a ball screen and he has the ball in his hands, he just looks more comfortable. Last year, he would look sped up. When people pressured him 94 feet, he would look sped up and shaky, at times. Now, he just looks more under control and more poised.
He just looks older. It’s kind of a natural thing, you’re not supposed to have it all figured it out your rookie year. I know I didn’t. He’s just getting older, stronger, and more mature, and he’s a hard worker. The growth is natural. He’s looking good.
Reed Sheppard, shooter
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— Ben DuBose (@bendubose.bsky.social) September 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
With Thompson, Smith said the growth is especially apparent in his mid-range shooting. When asked if Thompson is looking more confident as a shooter, Smith said:
One thing Amen does have is confidence. If he’s open, he’s gonna shoot it. That’s one thing he was working on this summer. He has a lot more confidence in it, especially his mid-range coming off pick-and-rolls. It looks a lot better, more fluid. He’s just a lot more comfortable with it.
If he’s making shots, it makes us a totally different team, and it makes him a totally different player. I’m with it, I say let it fly.
Should Thompson be able to hit mid-range shots at a more consistent clip, it could make defenders more hesitant to sag back against him. And once Thompson is respected more as a shooter, that should open up more driving lanes for him to attack the rim and utilize his elite size and athleticism.
Of course, making those types of shots in training camp at the team’s practice complex is different than making them in NBA games and arenas.
The first opportunity for Thompson and Sheppard to show whether the improvements will translate in real games comes in next Monday’s preseason opener versus the Atlanta Hawks.
Tipoff from Toyota Center is at 7:00 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised on Space City Home Network.
