That with Ben Sheppard He is undoubtedly loyal.
The Pacers’ second first-round draft pick (No. 26) spent four years of his college basketball career at mid-major Belmont, located in Nashville. The Bruins competed in the Ohio Valley Conference for the first three years of Sheppard’s career and moved to the Missouri Valley Conference before his senior season in 2022-23.
As the Bruins switched conferences, Sheppard had a bigger decision to make — leave Belmont to go to a high-major Division I program, or stay with the Bruins during their transition to the MVC?
“This is a day where everyone is chasing the highest level, chasing the collective money of the NIL and all the prestige that comes with those things,” Belmont coach Casey Alexander said. “Ben was tempted … But he loved the Belmont and I think he would admit that we gave him a great experience there and he chose what he thought was the right thing over the easy thing.”
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‘He is a man of many endeavors’:The Pacers select Ben Sheppard with the 26th pick in the NBA Draft
Alexander, who has been Belmont’s head coach since 2019, knew Sheppard long before they both joined the Bruins program. Alexander actually tried to recruit Sheppard to his former school, Lipscomb University, when he was there. Obviously, Alexander was losing out on Sheppard at that point. But when Alexander was hired at Belmont prior to Sheppard’s freshman season, he still remained loyal to the Bruins.
Sheppard slowly advanced in the Belmont. He averaged 2.9 points per game. game in his first year coming off the bench, but fought his way into the Bruins’ starting lineup in his sophomore season, starting 26 of 27 games and averaging 10.5 points.
“He was kind of a thoroughbred, kind of a classic late bloomer, so to speak,” Alexander said. “He was one of those guys that went from 6-4 to 6-5 overnight. He had a really young body, but he had a ton of skill, and we could all see it.”
His junior year was when he really broke through. The 2021-22 Belmont roster had five fifth-year seniors, Alexander said, so Sheppard was one of the youngest on the highly skilled team. The junior started every game and made the All-OVC first team and averaged 16.2 points.
After his breakout junior season, Sheppard had a lot of interest from major Division I programs.
Instead, he stayed with the program that took him as an 18-year-old out of Atlanta and helped further his development into an NBA-caliber player.
“I just felt like I was needed and I was honest with Belmont,” Sheppard said. “The grass is not always greener on the transfer portal, I was home in Nashville and it felt like the best place to be, especially for my dreams and my goals and what I needed to do. So it all worked out.”
With the five fifth-year seniors and two others leaving the program, Sheppard was the only one of Belmont’s top-eight scorers to return for the 2022-23 season. He was the star of the program he loved, rather than a third or fourth option if he had transferred. And it helped him stand out as an NBA prospect.
“His ability wouldn’t be different, his skill level wouldn’t be different, his size wouldn’t be different,” Alexander said. “But he had the chance to prove all year long, game after game after game, what he could do. To have that focus on him in a really good mid-major conference … I think his role at us and his ability to execute it was really important.”
Review the process
Sheppard wasn’t at the NBA draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday night, but he made sure to experience the Big Apple anyway. He and his family hosted a small draft party at an STK Steakhouse in New York City to watch him be selected 26th overall by the Pacers.
“We just celebrated there,” Sheppard said. “It was a good time.”
He then joined Jarace Walker, the Pacers’ first pick of the draft at No. 8 overall, on a flight from New York to Indianapolis on Friday morning.
“It’s still surreal, it’s a lot to process,” Sheppard said Friday in Indianapolis. “Throughout this whole process, I just tried to prove myself in every practice when there were eyes on me.”
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After Sheppard declared for the draft, Alexander said he and his team just hoped Sheppard would be selected. After all, players from mid-sized programs typically don’t make much noise in the draft. The last Belmont player selected in the draft was Perry Meridian grad Dylan Windler, who went 26th overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019.
But Sheppard had a steep rise in the draft following the NBA Scouting Combine in May.
Sheppard measured in at 6-5.25 with a wingspan of 6-7.75 at the combine in Chicago, recording the fastest shuttle run of any prospect at 2.94 seconds. However, where he really turned heads was in the five-on-five matches.
Sheppard shot 8-of-10 from the field in his second game in the combine and scored 28 points with four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block.
“I was just trying to be myself, the player that I am, the person that I am,” Sheppard said. “Don’t change anything in places like the combine and practice and stuff, just show them that I can compete and that I belong.”
After the combine, Sheppard came in for a workout with the Pacers on June 8 — a platform for him to showcase his skills on both ends of the floor. It was also a chance for Sheppard to learn about the Pacers as an organization, including what they could offer him as an NBA player.
“There is a sense of family in everything the organization brings,” Sheppard said. “Right when I came through those doors, everybody opened up with love.”
Fits into Indiana’s plan
The Pacers front office has watched Sheppard for years.
“(Our scouts) first noticed him at the conference tournament his freshman year,” Buchanan said. “They thought he might be someone to keep an eye on and he just kept going up every year. We saw progress in his game, his body, his confidence. We had several scouts knocking on the table and it made the rest of us want to see him. I think we all bought into what we saw and what he could get at.”
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Sheppard’s style of play fits the Pacers. He is fast, good with the ball and versatile. He shot 48% from the field in his career at Belmont, including 42% from 3-point range.
“He’s a unique prospect because he has length, speed and really good ball skills,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Sheppard. “It looks like he could play point guard in a pinch, but his natural position is the 2 and 3. But that kind of versatility is very important in today’s game.”
Perhaps most important is his defensive ability, which is something the Pacers desperately need to improve on. The Pacers were 29th in the league with 119.5 points allowed per game. game, and opponents hit .485 against them in the 2022-23 season.
And Sheppard was far and away the best defensive player on Belmont’s roster.
“He was the guy we gave the toughest assignment to,” Alexander said. “There’s a lot of ways to evaluate the defense – some guys are better on the ball, some guys are better on the ball, but Ben is so quick and has a really good toughness level that he took that job every game, whether that was the starting point of it other team or the biggest wing or someone in between.”
Sheppard will join an already crowded roster in the Pacers organization, with Buddy Hield, Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Martin taking the majority of backcourt minutes
But it will also give Sheppard time to develop and adjust to the NBA game, including fitting into the 3-and-D role the Pacers want.
“I’m super competitive and I think that side of the ball is where I come into my own,” Sheppard said. “When I get going on defense, that will translate to offense and I describe myself as brave and relentless.”