Iman Shumpert's Enigma

[TrueWarrior]

Make your call right now. Is this guy going to be a good player?

Is Iman the next under the radar late pick gem out of Knicks land? Another Wilson Chandler, D Lee, Ariza, Fields, Douglas, Nate? Or another Mardy Collins?

There seems to be a lot of polarization on the pick. Some experts think he was underwhelming in college offensively (he was) and other experts think his game is more tailor made for the NBA. He shot the lights out in the Knicks and many other workouts, displaying a pretty and quick stroke . Was that real or just a flash in the pan?

Dantoni seems hell bent on fine tuning Iman's shot into a deadly weapon. Its all the kid has been working on for months. Now we can say he didnt improve much shooting in 3 years, but if theres one thing ol' Pringles is good at its been straightening out a J.

PG wise his decision making is questionable, but thats why we have grand master Chauncey, who isnt a pure point himself, to show him the ways. The good thing about Shumpert though is that if he doesnt workout as a PG he more than has enough size to play SG, if he improves that shot of course. Hes the good kind of combo guard.

I dont see why Shumpert isnt just as good a prospect as Singleton, Brooks, Faried, or Motie, and hes arguably the best fit for my Knicks. There just isnt any room for some of these guys to play unless Amare plays center, which hes made clear after the season he doesnt want to do anymore (for good reason cuz our defense goes to sh*t).

Shumpert wasnt a reach to me either since he was rising very fast. Either hes just a workout warrior or he really opened up some eyes. Im cautiously optimistic nonetheless, but in a weak draft we took a shot with an incredible athlete and defender, with some playmaking ability and a workable shot. Iman has good potential (our favorite word) and if the worst thing about his game is his shooting... that can be improved the easiest of any skill in basketball. Phil Weber (our infamous shooting coach) is licking his gelled up chops as we speak.

Expect Iman to be in the rotation and maybe starting at SG at some point this season. Fields is solid but not much of a defender and more of a SF, while Douglas is an undersized 2. So we really have no SG or backup PG on the team, two things Shumpert can help with. I was indifferent when we made the pick because all my top guys were gone and we didnt trade up, but I gotta say Im excited about Iman's future.

Sure the guy's got some question marks but so did everybody who was left. At least we went defense for once. Give us that . So what say you? Yay or Nay?

[Jazzfan12]

He was part of the worst guard rotation I've ever seen back in 2010 so I hate the pick.

[Ruzious]

He was not a good college player for most of his career. Singleton or Faried would have been much better choices.

[TrueWarrior]

Singleton and Faried have nowhere to play. IDK why this is such a hard concept to grasp. Amare isnt playing center anymore. Himself, Dantoni, and the whole team acknowledged we have to have a center on the floor more. No more small ball. Amare wants to play PF exclusively, Hes mentioned it about 8 times this offseason. Melo = system change. Most dont know the Knicks. We werent going to spend our highest draft pick, and one of the few we have left, on a backup tweener lucky to get 15 mpg who really isnt that good anyway. Right now I dont see much of a difference between Singleton, Shumpert, and Faried as overall prospects, but I guess we'll find out.

This could be another Wilson Chandler type pick, aka how he ended up being better than the more well known SFs taken ahead of him like Jeff Green, Thad Young, Corey Brewer, and Al Thornton when nobody would give him the time of day.

Why cant Shumpert be better than Alec Burks and Brandon Knight? As far as physical tools/defense go he takes the cake pretty handedly, and hes not a lost cause on offense either. There is room for improvement amirite? We dont need him to be a star or nothin. Just lock your man up and hit the open jumper. Be that guy every team has.

How good is Shumpert w/ a jump shot? Yea man. If he shot better he would have been an easy lotto pick (der) and we think we can help him with that, like we've done with pretty much every player who has put on a Knick jersey under Dantoni (Melo, Shawne Williams, Bill Walker, Wilson Chandler, D Lee, Douglas, Fields etc). Iman's jumper isnt broken, and Dantoni raved about his form. He hit 20-25 from distance with us.

FYI Bruce Bowen shot 30% from three in college. So.... yea.

[23-7]

Are you asking for an opinion or are you campaigning?

[TrueWarrior]

Are you asking for an opinion or are you campaigning?

By all means I want opinions, but I can tell when posters have no clue about the Knicks since they talk the same ish over and over. Im making a case for Iman, and you're free to make one against as long as you actually understand the Knicks' situation a little.

The only way I can see somebody not liking the Shumpert pick is if they think hes clearly a couple steps below Singleton and Faried or whoever. I dont think he is, and when you factor he would actually get playing time it was a no brainer in the end.

[Yuri Vaultin]

TD is your back up point guard. Iman is your back-up (or starting) 2. I do not see him ever playing the point. Him and TD will provide some stellar D off the bench.

[TrueWarrior]

TD is your back up point guard. Iman is your back-up (or starting) 2. I do not see him ever playing the point. Him and TD will provide some stellar D off the bench.

TD is probably less of a PG than Iman, sadly. Believe me we've tried to make TD into a PG, but he never was one even in college. Hes solid and can get hot shooting the ball once in a while but hes the farthest thing from a 1. At least Shumpert might be able to penetrate a little more. Either way they can play together since Iman can guard 2s, and they should be a pretty nice defensive backcourt off the bench like you said.

Dantoni has hinted that Iman will be developed as a PG and he might push Chauncey/TD off the ball for stretches. At Iman's size he clearly has a bigger ceiling/advantage as a PG than a SG, so we'll see what happens. I think ultimately he will be a guy who can play both guard spots, but will probably lean towards SG if he can learn to hit that spot up corner three Dantoni craves and develops so well.

I expect our 1-3 rotation to be something like this at first:
PG: Chauncey 32 / Shumpert 12 / Douglas 4
SG: Fields 18 / Douglas 20 / Shumpert 10
SF: Melo 37 / Fields 11

Shumpert could easily start at SG though if his jumper improves like Fields' did, since he will be so much better than Fields on defense.

By the end of the season I suspect it will look like this:
PG: Chauncey 32 / Douglas 8 / Shumpert 6
SG: Shumpert 22 / Fields 16 / Douglas 10
SF: Melo 37 / Fields 11

* Melo can play some PF too which will open up even more minutes.

There is obviously more room for Shumpert than Singleton, as Shumpert has every opportunity to start while Singleton will never be more than a backup behind 2 stars. Chauncey will be gone after this year or in a trade most likely, and Fields/Douglas are FAs soon. Our guard spots are very much up in the air, which is why we wanted a guard from the beginning of the draft process. Only time will tell if we "reached."

[niffoc4]

I think Shumpert could be quite good. Hewitt was not a great coach the last few years for GT, and the Tech offense was terrible. I've seen some blame that on Shumpert, and say that he was a gunner who couldn't/wouldn't distribute for Tech, but I think that falls on the coach.

[MambaTime]

I don't get the pick solely because of the way New York plays. Are they focusing on defense all of a sudden? Last time I checked, Shumpert couldn't shoot worth a lick and his decision-making in college was average at best.

[TrueWarrior]

I don't get the pick solely because of the way New York plays. Are they focusing on defense all of a sudden? Last time I checked, Shumpert couldn't shoot worth a lick and his decision-making in college was average at best.

Yes we are trying to go defensive and trying to go away from small ball too, aka no Singleton/Faried. Dantoni was actually the tie breaking vote for Shumpert, as the Knicks' war room was split on Shumpert and Singleton supposedly. If he has the coaches' backing thats huge, cuz we know how stubborn Dantoni's pringley self is. Like I keep saying Iman has a good/fast shooting form and snapped the net at workouts, not just ours but others too which is why he was rising so fast.

Shumpert also shot 80% from the FT line this year, which is a good sign for his J.

When point guard Iman Shumpert arrived in Westchester for his workout on June 9, Knicks brass knew he was a big, rugged backcourt defender at 6-foot-5. What coach Mike D'Antoni wanted to see was if Shumpert could shoot it just a little after going a ghastly 27 percent from 3-point land as a Georgia Tech junior.

What transpired had D'Antoni's jaw drop.

"His knock was he couldn't shoot, but as soon as he got the ball, his form was perfect and he made shots," D'Antoni said. "You can say it's one day. But by his form, we think he can become very good shooter. If that's the knock on him, we're excited about that. His best qualities are defensively and athleticism, but his workout is one of the best we've ever had and we've been drafting high the past three years. We all turned together at the same time and said, 'Wow, this is pretty good.' "

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/h ... z1RNtkA242

Dantoni thinks his shot is very improvable, and if it does get better he can be a true force on both ends, exactly what we need. Coaches said Shumpert ran the pick and roll well at our workout and when they watched tape of him, so thats a huge plus for any system. Ol' Billups can help him as a PG too. Basically Iman is in the perfect situation for him to get better right now with the Knicks, having 3 All Stars and all.

Overall Iman is a wildcard pick, but I admire Donnie for taking the slight risk. At the very least he will be a good defender who can guard 3 positions and slash on offense, but if he improves his shot/decision making he has all the tools to be a special player.

In a draft like this one, which was a crap shoot from the 1st pick, why not take a chance? The Knicks have no pick in 2012 or 2014, so we didnt settle for a backup.

[knicksfan84]

He was not a good college player for most of his career. Singleton or Faried would have been much better choices.

Singleton would've been a great pick if Amar'e were a center and Melo was a SG. Faired would've been a great pick if Melo were a center. But when the 2 best players on your team are a PF who isn't a center and a SF who isn't a SG, then there's no reason to draft a foward, unless it's a reach to do anything else.

IMO, Shumpert wasn't a reach. Singleton was a steal because he could've went a bit higher, but Shumpert was around 20 or so in most mocks, even 17 to us by draftexpress.com.

As far as what Shumpert brings to the table, he brings defense. He can guard PGs and SGs, better than Singleton, which is what we need. If he can develop a consistent jump shot, then he fills a huge void for us and will start over Landry Fields.

[NO-KG-AI]

It's not a premium pick, and he has high potential at a position of need. I see no harm.

[jman3134]

They drafted him for his physical tools and defensive focus. I do believe that some undrafted free agents have more potential than he does. I would have regarded him as a second rounder for sure- even in this draft. So, if I had to guess, I would not say that he is all that enigmatic.

[vinnie_vegas69]

I do believe that some undrafted free agents have more potential than he does.

Name one, so I can laugh at you.

[Teen Girl Squad]

Personally I don't think he's going to be particularly good in the NBA. I just don't think he's a basketball player. His athleticism and desire is there, hence the defense, but everything that requires basketball IQ/skill he does poorly at. Maybe he's a late bloomer (hope he is, always root for more quality basketball talent, not less) but put a gun to my head and I say no.

[WhatsaTDot]

Will he be willing to take it hard to hole and play through NBA level contact or will he settle for his mediocre jumper ala Sonny Weems?

I think he's a short but athletic 2 guard who wont see any significant time at the point in the NBA. Then again, Paul Hewitt proved his incompetence at the U19s so maybe poor coaching had a lot to do with it.

Best case scenario - Tony Allen which the Knicks would be thrilled with
Worst case scenario - Getting drinks and towels for Andy Rautins to give to the real players.

[knicksfan84]

Will he be willing to take it hard to hole and play through NBA level contact or will he settle for his mediocre jumper ala Sonny Weems?

I think he's a short but athletic 2 guard who wont see any significant time at the point in the NBA. Then again, Paul Hewitt proved his incompetence at the U19s so maybe poor coaching had a lot to do with it.

Best case scenario - Tony Allen which the Knicks would be thrilled with
Worst case scenario - Getting drinks and towels for Andy Rautins to give to the real players.

6'5 with shoes is an undersized 2?

[WhatsaTDot]

Relative to most SGs, yes?

[DRK]

Last time Mike D had a defensive minded pg who couldnt shoot, he was benched then sent to Boston. Mike D is an arrogant, clueless man. He'll end up benching Iman Shrumpert just like he benched RAjan Rondo in Phoenix.