Jessica Shepard Keeps Outsmarting Her Opponents

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Jessica Shepard: F, 6’4, Notre Dame

College Stats in 2018-19 (as of March 1, 2019): 

28 games, 28.6 MPG, 16.0 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 59.9 FG%, 0.0 3P%, 69.8 FT% 

Where she’ll go: 

Shepard will be a late first round or early second-round pick.

The Rundown:  

Shepard might be the smartest player in this draft. Despite playing on an absolutely loaded Notre dame squad, she’s managed to shine, delivering great production with awesome efficiency on just 11 shots per contest. Don’t be fooled by her rather modest 16.0 points per game, Shepard can score.

The 6’4 forward has the size to compete in big minutes in the WNBA and she has developed great strength which she uses to set hard screens and bully opponents in the paint and on the boards. She’s constantly improved over the course of the season as well and she’s turned in double-digit rebounding efforts in six of her last seven games.

There’s no such thing as a sure thing in the WNBA—roster construction is just too hard to predict—but it’s almost impossible to imagine Shepard not finding a role on a team. She’s the type of dominant post player that could absolutely kill opponents off the bench, and eventually as a starter. Her ceiling is Rebekkah Brunson and her floor is extremely high because of her brute power, intelligence, and rebounding and finishing abilities.

Teams should not expect a floor spacer with Shepard—she does not shoot threes and hasn’t really shown any indication that she wants to add that to her game. Additionally, Shepard is not an elite defender right now. That being said, it’s hard to imagine her not eventually growing into a plus defender with her work ethic and athletic ability. As long as the team that drafted her lets Shepard do what she does well (almost everything, just not shooting threes), they will be very happy.

Shepard has improved her stock dramatically this season, so teams drafting her will have to make sure they’re doing so based on data and not on hype, but Shepard just looks like someone who will have a WNBA future, even if it takes her a little while to adjust to the WNBA game. The biggest thing she has going for her is between her ears—by all accounts she has a great basketball I.Q. and should be able to figure things out quickly. When she does, she’ll be dangerous.

Check out the rest of our prospect profiles, plus more Lynx-related draft coverage at lynxbasketball.com’s Draft Central.