Shumpert lighting up the Vegas League

[Brooklyn718]

Good Gawd this kid is athletic..I thought he was just gonna be a defender but maybe much more.

[truth serum]

Good Gawd this kid is athletic..I thought he was just gonna be a defender but maybe much more.

[islanders11040]

I don't think this got posted yet:

Rudy Gay & Iman Shumpert Put On A SHOW During Impact Day 7; John Wall, OJ Mayo & More!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzjPHTgs8P0&feature=share

[najeem37]

Nasty dunk by Iman. Skip to 0:26.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQVxDWhP6Q[/youtube]

[7-Day Dray]

I don't think this got posted yet:

Rudy Gay & Iman Shumpert Put On A SHOW During Impact Day 7; John Wall, OJ Mayo & More!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzjPHTgs8P0&feature=share

Slightly (okay, completely) off topic, but . . .

No one ever talks about this for some reason, but Rudy Gay and my other favorite bright star among small forwards, Kevin Durant, do not have strong handle. This kind of illustrates my problem with the way basketball is analyzed in the media these days, players are described as "efficient" and "dominant" and stuff like that which really doesn't do much toward describing their actual games. I've NEVER heard the media bring up Durant's handle (in fact I've heard it suggested that he could play point forward, which is complete crap), but doesn't everyone learn when they're like 8 that if you have strong handle your man can't play you close? And yet Durant's man always plays him close because he knows Durant won't cross him over, and somehow people still wonder why Durant isn't the best "closer" in the league . . .

Um, relating this to the thread: bad Iman for letting Gay beat you off the dribble.

+100,000,000. I keep on wondering why more people in the media don't bring this up. Like you said, the main reason why Durant isn't a great closer yet is because he can't consistently break down his defender using his handle. The reason why OKC lost vs. the Mavs in the WCF was because of Durant's poor handles. Late in the game, when his defender would play him tight, he would have to settle for contested 3's because his handle wasn't good enough to get into the lane consistently. I hate how the media exaggerates his handles.

In some of the SL mixes I've been seeing of him this summer, his handle probably looks slightly better. I mean, he has good handles for someone his size, but I don't think he'll ever have great handles because of his height and lankiness.

[KnicksScholar24]

Durant has good handles. His game is basically a 6'9" Jamal Crawford with better shot selection. Someone's opinion of whether he has great handles is just that an opinion. Some people might say LeBron James handles are great.

[GONYK]

Durant has good handles. His game is basically a 6'9" Jamal Crawford with better shot selection. Someone's opinion of whether he has great handles is just that an opinion. Some people might say LeBron James handles are great.

Then why can't he consistently score in iso situations?

[knicksosmoove]

Jamal was way better at creating off the dribble than Durant. It's not really just an opinion: you can tell by how high and far away from his body his dribble is that he is not an elite ball handler. A lot of times he loses the ball in traffic. He actually posted an obscene amount of ball handling turnovers in the 2010 season, something like 150, which is like 30 more than Amar'e had (and Amar'e had a lot). He posted way fewer this year (but still quite a few, something like 115); part of it is his handle improved, but part of it was he played off-ball more; he got assisted on over 60% of his shots, I believe.

There's a reason the Thunder don't just give him the ball at the end of games and ask him to create something . . . he is suspect to being stripped or being played too close to get a shot off.

[NYman15]

I don't think Durant has a great handle, but from the clips I've seen from the summer league games, its improved. He did a nice job against Lebron and had a very good handle. We'll see if it has improved, once the season really starts.

[eviL]

Just to get this thread back on topic

IMAN > DURANT

[BBALLER4FR]

Just to get this thread back on topic

IMAN > DURANT

What you see there? I did it.

[stuporman]

So is this league over already?

Man this sucks. The Knicks finally are a good team but we don't get to enjoy it.

[KnicksScholar24]

There is nothing that I saw from Durant to suggest his handles are much worst than any other SF in the league. His handles looked really good in the Melo league all-star game. I don't think anyone expects a 6'10" player to have the same exact handles as Jamal Crawford.

Anyway, I think there will be a final game with all of the best players from the two weeks, so we may get to see at least one more mix with like 5 secs of Iman Shumpert.

I hope there is some way for us to see what goes on during Amar'e October Faux Training Camp. I'll be interesting to hear about Fields and Shumpert and Douglas and Rautins battles for spots in the rotation.

[Fury]

His handles are aight. They aren't great or anything. I think Melo has better handles than Durant. Durant's handles are like pretty good for a SF.

[ibraheim718]

Durant's problem isn't his handle... (remember he's 6'10" so for a guy that size he dribbles the ball fine) His major problem especially down the stretch in a playoff game is not having the physical strength to get where he wants to go... his lack of upper body strength doesn't allow him when the clamps are put on by opposing defenders to get to spots on the floor where he is comfortable or where he can score easier.

[knicksosmoove]

Durant's problem isn't his handle... (remember he's 6'10" so for a guy that size he dribbles the ball fine) His major problem especially down the stretch in a playoff game is not having the physical strength to get where he wants to go... his lack of upper body strength doesn't allow him when the clamps are put on by opposing defenders to get to spots on the floor where he is comfortable or where he can score easier.

that's definitely a problem too, but I think his handle is also a problem. It's not entirely his fault; it's very difficult for someone who is 6'11 to have the handle to match Lebron and Carmelo who are both somewhere around 6'7-6'9 and played point guard until they hit growth spurts in high school.

I know it's kind of a subtle thing, but if you look at the game tape closely, you can see a pretty noticeable difference between his dribbling and Carmelo's (Lebron's too). Carmelo's dribble is a lot lower and more precise, and his dribbling moves are in another universe than Durant's.

Like I said, if his handle weren't an issue, then he would cross his man over when he got played close rather than chuck 30 footers.

The handle issue is I think the inherent problem with a 6'11 small forward; he's never going to have the dribbling moves that some other players at his position have. This is why I think Dirk might be a good model for him. Dirk's handle is good for someone of his height and he rarely loses the ball while dribbling, but he also never pulls out anything fancy. He's able to be a good isolation player more through smarts and patience and the one-legged fade-away.

[NYman15]

Iman was named to the all star team. Kid is definitely impressing.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... index.html

[Falstaffxx]

Iman was named to the all star team. Kid is definitely impressing.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... index.html

There's no "all star team" - that's just a sports writer's opinion about the standouts, which was written 6 days ago.

[Citris]

Iman Highlights!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuDyJF9oiMk#t=1m02s[/youtube]

I put in code to start at 1m02s .. not going through, 1:02 is when he starts.

[waya]

Iman Highlights!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuDyJF9oiMk#t=1m02s[/youtube]

I put in code to start at 1m02s .. not going through, 1:02 is when he starts.

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