As the Houston Rockets posted a 4-0 record in the preseason, the highlight of these matchups was getting to see Kevin Durant suit up with his new teammates, taking the young core onto his shoulders and clearly taking on the mantle of a veteran leader.
Yet, Reed Sheppard, in the Rockets' final preseason matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, had something to say about this, and his eye-opening, 29-point performance served as one of the highlights of the preseason for the team.
While he almost certainly won't garner this sort of volume in the regular season, given the fact that he was playing with the team's bench unit for the vast majority of his minutes, Sheppard sent a clear mesage to head coach Ime Udoka.