SHUMPERT: "It's embarrassing to get scored on"

mafra

Legend
"I wanted New York to pick me," he said. "I wanted New York to take me at 17. I didn't want to tell anybody. I didn't want it not to happen. I was quiet about it, but I wanted to come here."

The Knicks, however, are convinced that Shumpert is an elite defensive player. Plus, after working out Shumpert last week, the Knicks think his shooting form is good and that he'll improve his perimter game.

"His workout was one of the best we've ever had here," D'Antoini said. "And we've been drafting high."

Shumpert grew up a Bulls fan but says the transition to the Knicks will be an easy one "my high school team was orange and blue, so I'm okay with wearing it again."

Shumpert was too young to fully appreciate the intensity of the Bulls-Knicks rivalry of the 90s, but his two older brothers obviously clued him in.

Shumpert says that playing defense is in his blood and that "in Chicago, it's embarrassing to get scored on." Actually, that used to be the rule Shumpert's new address at 33rd between Seventh and Eighth. And that's why Walsh drafted him.

"If I was going to play with my brothers and play on their team in a pickup game... I can't be getting scored on or I can't play because I was the young guy," Shumpert said. "It was something I developed: a pride of not getting scored on."


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...aking_him_in_2011_nba_draft_over_chris_s.html

12-19 his freshman year (playing with Lawal)
23-13 his sophmore year (playing with Favors & Lawal)

Shumpert averaged 17ppg, 3.5apg, 6rpg, 2.7spg this season. Pretty decent numbers for a sophmore in the ACC. This is the one year he had legit talent around him. So, we will forgive his junior season.

He was 37-110 from 3-point range this year.

Ga Tech won it's first round game but lost to Ohio St in the 2nd round. This was the only time he played in the NCAA tournament.

13-18 his junior season, in a weak ACC and lost to some bad teams (like Kennesaw). At quick glance, He was 42-151 from downtown.

What we noticed here... was he took a lot more shots and averaged about the same amount of points as he did the previous year. In other words, he forced a lot of shots.

His SOPH season he had Favors and was a lot more efficient. His junior campaign, he didn't have much help and he was asked to be more of a SG than the PG he appeared to be his first 2 seaons.

You cannot overlook the fact that he pretty much averaged the same amount of assists as well.

THE GOOD NEWS is he will always rebound and awill always get some steals.

He also appears to be a solid free throw shooter.

IN CONCLUSION: I think his college career was filled with good and bad. He proved that he can't be the man, and he seemed to thrive when he was asked to differ to those around him.

AGAIN, he averaged the same amount of points his junior season when he pretty much took half the amount of shots.

This bodes well for his time in NY. He can be an efficient scorer. Knock down open looks, and get the most of his limited opportunities to score.

It wont happen overnight... But I suspect he'll be a high 30ish pct 3-point shooter by his 3rd year in the NBA.

I'm more confident in his ability to shoot than I am right now in his talent to be a PG, but for now... Asking him to run the show WITH Douglas... That will work enough for the 2nd unit.

You saw real growth from his freshman to sophmore year, and I hope his growth was stunted the next year b/c of the lack of talent. He might have tried to hard to be the man, something he isn't... which isn't bad.

Like his childhood, he thrives on that role playing with his brothers. let Carmelo and Amar'e do the heavy lifting... Knock down open jumpers, score on the break, run the pick and roll, make the pass, play defense, rebound and play some more defense.

This is something Shumpert can do. He can score 12ppg on 8 or so shot attempts. We wont get a ton of boards from SF, so getting alot of them from SG (Shumpert and Fields) is nice.

Shumpert's jumper is smooth enough where he will benefit from the fact that we take decisions away from him. He wont be asked to carry the load, so he wont force shots. He shot poorly his junior year because he did just that, and when his team was trailing he probably chucked up a bunch of ill-advised 3s.

"There's definitely that need to play defense here," Shumpert said. "The way the veteran guys are scoring the ball, they can't play defense all the time. I'm a young guy with all the legs, so I'm going to come and play some defense."


It is music to Knicks' fans ears, but Shumpert still was a controversial pick, as outgoing president Donnie Walsh selected him over the higher-rated defensive forward/LeBron James-stopper Chris Singleton. The decision was made because Singleton plays Carmelo Anthony's and Amar'e Stoudemire's positions. The 6-foot-9 Singleton was taken at 18 by Washington after the Knicks.

Singleton admitted after his Knicks workout he shot poorly, but one source said there were "energy issues," too. The source added Shumpert's workout "was the best I've seen in 10 years."


http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/he_no_shump_sVhXxliuLUYQ9gpiwxhv5L#ixzz1QLnC7at0
 
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