I agree that Shump could eventually be as good a scoring threat as Smith and a better player overall...He already pretty much has better shot selection than Smith (most players do in fact) and I already think he has a better, more consistent shooting stroke. I actually think Shump's shooting form is downright flawless, esp. when he gets his feet set...And you can tell he's gaining a lot of confidence in his one-on-one game. To me, the only thing with Shump is being able to finish consistently at the rim. There have been times this year where he's been right there at the rim only to blow the finish, sometimes very awkwardly. He cleans that up and begins to finish better with more force (maybe it's a question of learning how to absorb contact better), he's an all-star in my book.
JR Smith -- don't even know what to say, man. I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't go tonight. Can't go crazy on him too bad though, I guess -- I've got a 4-yr-old home sick along with a wife who has a sinus infection and pink eye right now.
If he's sick, he's sick. Nothing you can do about that if it's legit... But it's just a culmination right now with this guy -- the elbow to Terry, getting thrown out and the suspension; 2x going out late before games; the horrible shooting slump at the most important time of the year (and remember he was terrible last year during the playoffs too); and now he may not play with an "illness" (weird, right? I mean what's he got? The flu?? Then tell us he's got the flu! By not divulging, it makes it sound like the team and their doctors don't even have a clue what's wrong with him). Bottom line here is that this dude has cost himself millions this offseason with this whole stretch of questionable behavior and ineptitude. Still time to turn it around -- hopefully it's tonight. I'd take him back, even with this brutal slump, but if it didn't work out with us and JR next year, I wouldn't be that broken up about it, gotta be honest. If I were Grunwald, I'd actually look forward to the challenge of replacing him and as I've said on many other threads, I think we could do it on the cheap. Quite a few nice options out there:
Draft -
potential 1st round targets around 24 (guards): Erick Green, Sergey Karasev?
potential 2nd round targets if we could grab an extra pick: Reggie Bullock, Carrick Felix, Durand Scott, Dwayne Davis, maybe we even take a shot at this Ricky Ledo who just entered his name in the draft
Host of real solid, cheap FA alternatives: Jermaine Taylor, Jamelle Horne, Scotty Hopson, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Austin Freeman, Derrick Byars, Dominique Jones (just waived by Dallas), Chris Johnson (not the big from LSU -- the 6'6" wing from Dayton that had a cup of coffee with Memphis this year), Othyus Jeffers (loved him before he got hurt, fighting his way back now), DJ Kennedy, Travis Leslie, Lazar Hayward, Glen Rice Jr. (Shump's teammate at G-Tech), Lester Hudson...
All will not lost -- There will be options if JR bolts on us. I'd argue Erick Green + Jermaine Taylor = better than JR Smith for example.