Welcome to Houston: Sheppard introduced as a Rocket, to play Bronny James, Lakers on ESPN July 12 | Sports

HOUSTON, Texas — Former North Laurel High School and University of Kentucky basketball star Reed Sheppard held an introductory news conference with the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

Sheppard was joined by Houston head coach Ime Udoka and general manager Rafael Stone.

Sheppard let everyone in attendance know he was ready to become a Houston Rocket after being selected third overall by them in last week’s NBA draft.

“I can’t wait to finally get here and call Houston my home,” he said.

He also said his main goal as a Rockets player was to bring an NBA championship to Houston, while stressing the importance of being recognized as a good teammate on and off the court.

“Obviously, winning a championship (is a goal),” he said. “That’s the main goal. As a basketball player, you want to win at the highest level. You want to be the champion. But at the end of the day, being a guy that everybody looks at and knows that he played hard and he played with a lot of positivity and he was a good teammate. He was a good person off the court. You know, I don’t want to be known just as a basketball player.

“I think it’s really important to get out in the community and interact with the fans and have good relationships with your teammates and your coaches in management and everybody in Houston,” Sheppard added. “Just being a good teammate and a good community member that 20 years later you don’t think, ‘Oh, he just played basketball. He was a winner. He was a competitor, but he was also a good person.’”

Udoka said what struck him most about Sheppard was a number of things.

“A lot of the things Reed does are clearly remarkable,” he said. “The shooting, the IQ.”

Sheppard will also wear No. 15 on his jersey. It’s the same number he wore at Kentucky and the same number his father Jeff wore at Kentucky when he was a player.

Sheppard will now change course in the coming days as one of several rookies and young players attending a mini-camp in Houston due to the summer as the Rockets prepare for their games in Las Vegas.

It was also noted that Sheppard will make his Rockets debut in next week’s summer league, which begins Friday, July 12, in a nationally televised event on ESPN against second-round pick (No. 55 overall) Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In his lone season with the Wildcats, Sheppard averaged 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He shot an impressive 53.6 from the field and 52.1 from three-point range. Sheppard demonstrated his defensive abilities by averaging nearly a block and 2.5 steals per game.

“I’m super excited (to start),” Sheppard said. “They’ve got a really good team in Houston. The coach is really good. They’ve got a really young, athletic group of players, and we’ll be able to play fast. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m super excited to get out there and learn and take it all in, so I’m looking forward to it,” Sheppard added. “I think the biggest thing is to get out there and learn. There’s guys like Fred VanVleet that I can learn from. I’m going to go in there with an open mind, ready to learn, ready to do whatever it takes to win. I’m just going to compete, have fun and continue to go to the gym and work on whatever I need to do.”