Tom Hart Joins And Talks Rockets New Prospect Reed Sheppard And More

Following some huge headlines throughout the week, SEC Network play-by-play announcer Tom Hart joins the show in talks of the new prospect the Rockets have gained in last nights first round Reed Sheppard. Tom also weighs in a bit on the head coaching controversy at A&M regarding Jim Schlossnagle. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I had The Shawn Salisbury Show continued, Tom Hart sec Network join us here
on the Sean Salisbury Show. Tommy, how are you doing, buddy?
Well, I'm pretty good. Didyou get your lift in today or is
that gonna happen later? Like later? You need to make sure you're swollen.

(00:20):
I'm trying to I'm trying to getto that point. I mean,
you know, I'm not quite likethe guy that usually sits in this chair,
Malima. He's a workout warrior.Hey, Tom, they called himself
swool mates. You know that oldcheesy saying. He walked here. He
walked in here with a tank top. I told him to put a T
shirt on him. He's jacked.When's the last time you saw him?
Tom? Uh? Probably year ago? Yeah? Right about then that Andros

(00:48):
kicked in. Tom. He's goodto go. Listen. The number one
rule we learned at summer basketball team. If you're gonna wear tank tops,
you're not allowed to visit the saladbar. Okay, don't your reach and
your drift getting on the Yeah,don't pit out on my let Tom,
don't let him pit out on mylettuce, right exactly right. Got gotta

(01:10):
stay away, gotta think of everybodyelse. So, Reed, Shepherd,
you got to see him quite abit during your games calling when he was
playing for Kentucky. What other Rocketsgetting, well, number one they're getting
They're getting a dude that knows howto play the game. You know,
everybody who got drafted last night canscore everybody. And so to say he

(01:36):
was a thirty four hundred points scorerplaying Kentucky high school basketball as a shrug
of the shoulders, like, yeah, of course he was. But he
has a mind for the entire floor, which it really impressed me. He's
an elite open court pastor. Heknows how to push it, he knows
how to get it ahead. Hefinds guys open and transition, and these

(01:57):
are the things that you know,you will notice when you see him play,
but you won't really see written about. So I think that vision will
really pay off at the next levelbecause you've got guys that can finish,
you know. He he went toa small school in the mountains of eastern
Kentucky and played with the same guysthat he had been playing with since he
was you know, eight ten yearsold, if not younger. And I

(02:21):
asked him about his court vision lastseason at the SEC tournament, and he
said, my guys knew that whenthe other team either missed a shot or
went through the net, they knewto run, and they needed to run
full speed because I'd find them away. I'd find a way to get them
the ball. And so it's kindof like a quarterback who can fit it
in a tight window like he's he'slooking to push it ahead. He's an

(02:43):
elite shooter. I think the numbers. The numbers show that. But he's
got a great mind for the game. And while he may not be able
to lock up the absolute best playeron the other team, he's not going
to get beat much. And he'sgonna he's going to play the lanes and
come up with steals because he's gotthat high basketball IQ. And everybody I

(03:05):
talked to about him over the courseof the season raved about him from day
one, and I was thinking tomyself, listen, this is a six
to three guard from the six Hsix area code, Like how good could
he really be? And he endsup being the first college player taken off
the board. All right, SoTom, with that, think about what
we've said about about him. Weknow elite shooter, great hops, and

(03:27):
a top line athlete can get tothe rim, great vision and pretty elite
passer, and enough that he canplay good perimeter defense with great basketball IQ.
When you hear that, what's thefirst thing that comes to your mind?
Superstar in the making, right,and can score from anywhere on the
floor. So with that, threeyears from now, are we looking at

(03:49):
a superstar in the league or aglue guy that's a seventeen point scorer,
gets you some assists can start comeoff the bench. Who is he three
years from now? Well, Ithink it's it's unfair, but it's what
we do because we're human beings.We look at a six three white guy
and we say, okay, who'sthis comp right? Right? I mean,

(04:11):
that's just how we see the game. And I don't care what color,
race, or creed you are.That's just kind of human nature.
So early in the season, Kentuckyplayed Saint Josephs their head coach Billy Lang.
Billy Lang was a long time assistantwith the Sixers, and so using
that mindset, I said, listen, you coach TJ McConnell, you coach
JJ Reddick at the NBA level,how does read match up with those guys

(04:33):
like, could he have a TJMcConnell like career? Could he have a
JJ Reddick career? And he kindof laughed, and he goes bro He
is way past where those guys areway past. First of all, he's
way more athletic than McConnell, andhe's a better shooter than JJ. Reddick
now reached out fifty two in thecollege game this year. Reddick is last

(04:54):
year at Duke, and I rememberwatching JJ play at college. He was
elite shooter. He's got forty twopercent and forty two is really good,
so reads ten percentage points better thanthat. So is the comp Once again,
sticking with this theme, is itcloser to Mark Price for the old
heads out there, a guy whocan have the ball in his hands,

(05:15):
who can knock them open jump shots, who can you know, distribute the
ball get up and down the floor. Or is it closer to Jalen Brunson
from a size and scoring capability.And I don't know the answer, And
you know, I think there's Listen, there a lot of question Mark's taken
in the draft last night. Nobodyknows based on the scope of the draft
and the talent that was available,but I think you look back in three

(05:36):
years and go, Wow, thatwas for that draft. That was a
great pick. Is this an elitethird overall pick year in and year out
in the strongest of drafts. No, probably not, to be perfectly honest,
but for this draft, taking third, Yeah, I think we're going
to look back in three years andgo that that was a great pick for
that draft. Yeah, Dan soundslike the Astros. Astros sounds like the

(06:00):
Buckett's got a guy that they cancount on right now and expect some early
contribution from. Yeah, no doubtabout it. As so, we continue
to talk along with Tom Hart atyou can find him on Twitter at Tom
Underscore Heart and Tom, I mean, I think that's kind of one of
the things that you've mentioned as well. I mean the size. A lot
of people get caught up on asix' three, but I mean,
if it makes any sense, doeshe play bigger than six to three?

(06:26):
Well, he doesn't, and Idon't have the measurables in front of me,
but he never struck me as theguy that had great length. Right,
that's a term that's thrown around moreby NBA guys than any other sport.
What is your reach you know,what are your arms like? Alan
Iverson could touch the floor standing straightup right. It didn't matter how tall
he was, he could. Hecould get his hands on a lot of

(06:46):
basketballs. And that what's made hiswhat made his crossover killer because he crossed
over and covered three feet. Butwhat he lacks for in that length,
especially on the defensive end, hemakes up for in that iq in anticipation.
In the first bucket of his collegecareer, unless I'm mistaken, came
on a steal in a dunk.He anticipates better than most because I think,

(07:12):
especially with young players, and I'lluse as a comparison in this conversation
Rob Dillingham, his teammate that wentin the first round as well, he
wants to play defense. He thinksabout playing defense. I asked him early
in the season, where did youyou know? Where did you learn to
play defense? Because most dudes whoscore thirty points a night in high school
don't give a lick about defense.And his dad, who's most outstanding player

(07:33):
of the final four. His momwas an elite defensive player, which he
played at Kentucky. I think shewas sec defensive player of the year.
He said, my dad taught mefor an early age. If you're going
to be good at something, begood at everything, Like, don't just
be one dimensional and only be ascorer. So he he thinks, with
the defensive mind, he's going tojump in the passing lane. He's gonna

(07:54):
get some skills, some steals ongreat passes and steals on lazy passes.
That happened, I don't know,on a Tuesday night in Salt Lake,
you know, first of a backto back where people are just kind of
have their head into clouds. SoI think he makes up for it that
lack of length in size with greatanticipation and able to kind of predict where

(08:16):
that ball is going to go beforethe point guard lets it go. Tom,
let me get to just like whetherit's personal or emotional or baseball cover.
Let me switch sports for a second. Obviously around here you can imagine
the talk with A and M andwith Aggie and Longhorn fans and now obviously
both of them in the SEC andyou cover all these sports so well,
whether it's from an emotional fans standpoint, human being standpoint, or as a

(08:39):
broadcaster with the Schlasnagel stuff. Whenyou heard that how it's come down.
Give me your first reaction. Myfirst reaction was not one of surprise,
because the idea that the Texas jobwas going to open was banned about early

(09:00):
in the season, and the ideathat Schlasnega would be a fit for that
I discussed with numerous people throughout thecourse of the year. You know,
never on the record, never onthe air, because the job wasn't open,
and we don't talk about jobs likethat publicly before they're open. It
was a perfect fit with Crystal Contivery quickly thereafter, the discussion turns to

(09:24):
and I just had this conversation onthe phone last night with a buddy of
mine. Why did Texas feel theneed when they had made up their mind
that they were going to replace DavidPearson. That decision was I think finalized
after the Big twelve tournament. Whydo they feel the need to release that
information the day of the championship game? Was that a this is just Texas

(09:46):
being Texas move? Was there somesort of timeline that they were trying to
fit And the previous idea, guys, was well, they don't want to
announce it earlier because one of theircandidates, if not one that was written
in stone was going to be playingin Omaha, and they don't need to
sit there and stew for two weeksand not fill their position for two weeks,

(10:07):
ten days, whatever it might be. So let's announce this as late
as possible. Then we get ourguy and we turn around, and so,
yeah, I was not surprised bythe majority of it. I'm confused
by the timing of it because Ithink by announcing it when they did and
then forcing Schloss ended up postgame pressconference where you know he's going to be

(10:28):
asked about it, all they didwas borrow a lot of trouble. This
could have all been solved if Texasdidn't need to put themselves first and say,
hold on, let's just pump thebrakes. Let's announce the firing.
When things are done, he won'tbe pushed for answers about it. We

(10:48):
can go through whatever process we wantto go through, if fast tracked or
not, and then we just borrowourselves. We prevent ourselves from having all
this trouble and this pr night nearon our hands when it's all perfectly avoidable.
But it feels to me like theego got in the way for a
lot of different parties from a timingperspective, and especially when the deal Dan

(11:09):
was done long before it was announced. Let's just put it that way.
That's yeah, exactly up anyway,right Tom, he's he's already on there.
You've got him all. You know, you don't have to recruit him
anymore. It's it's basically on paper. Yes, agreed. You don't have
to worry about other candidates. Well, okay, if he says no,

(11:31):
can we get by Tello, canwe go over here? Can we grab
this guy or bring the louis book. You don't have to worry about any
of that stuff. Listen, theprevious job, the previous time, this
sexist job came open when they forcedAugie Gurito out, the late great Augie
Gurriedo, five time national champion.The previous time it came open. By
my count, nine different head coachesgot raises before they hired David Pierce.
And you could go down the list, but it was Vanderbilt and Louisville and

(11:54):
LSU and Florida. All the elitecoaches went to their A D and said,
you know, Texas is a open, and boom, they all got
raises. They didn't that didn't happenthis time around. Now they got guys
other raises and they lifted the marketbig time. And now A and M
is going to have to overpay,probably probably for Final Connor at Virginia to
get an elite guy in there,or Tom Walter from Wake Forest. And

(12:18):
you got college baseball coaches making twoand a half million dollars. Now,
yes, it's it is a sportthat is a true revenue sport, and
it's an economic driver at this point. Awesome, it's a hell of a
tide to raise those boats. There'sno doubt about it. Tom, you're
the best buddy. And look,you know it's one of those things too.
Before I get you out the door. If Texas fans didn't know what

(12:39):
life in the SEC is, especiallyonline, they know it now. Oh
well, they knew what the rivalrywas. What they what it did was
it opened the door to the restof the league. And now you got
columnists in Alabama riding about Texas oversteppingthe line when they made quote the most
dastardly high in the history of theSEC. And but yeah, A and

(13:01):
M. People knew about it.Aggie's new full Well, now everybody else
is aware and the Psycho and me. Tom loves every friggin bit of this
because he gives us, gives usgreat. You ain't lying, Tom,
great stuff. Man. We appreciatejoin us again come football season. We'd
love it any time. Appreciate it. Thanks, Thanks buddy, Tom Hart
again, SEC Network, SEC SaturdayNight. That is where you can find

(13:22):
him, all right. Coming upnext, we'll continue the Astros conversation,
maybe a little bit of what Tomtalked about with Reed Sheppard, maybe even
a little bit of the Texas TexasA and M stuff. We'll do all
of that as we wrap things uphere on the Thursday edition of The Sean
Salisbury Show.