They Gone: Kyle Shanahan and Dowell Logains officially out in Berea
January 8, 2015Marc Trestman a possible offensive coordinator candidate for the Browns
January 8, 2015Let’s talk about the most recent Cleveland Cavaliers trade. Wait, what? They made another one? But I’m still talking about the first one! This world moves too fast sometimes.
A quick refresher on the deals: Monday, the Cavs sent Dion Waiters to Oklahoma City and Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson, and a 2019 second-round pick to New York. They received Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith from the Knicks and a first-round pick from the Thunder. Wednesday, they sent that Thunder pick, along with a Memphis Grizzlies pick, to the Denver Nuggets for Timofey Mozgov, whose contract they absorbed into a trade exception. Got it? Good.
Of the three new Cavaliers, I am most excited about Shumpert. He’s 6-foot-5, 220 pound swingman. He’s hurt right now and he’s a worse shooter than I thought, but he could the athletic wing defender that the Cavs have been wanting for.
In the spirit of Scott’s piece on J.R. Smith, let’s figure it out: Who is this guy?
Who is Iman Shumpert?
Iman Asante Shumpert, 24 years old, son of Odis and L’Tanya Shumpert, grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, just west of Chicago. He was a high school star, a 2008 McDonald’s All-American, and he played his college ball at Georgia Tech.
He played three seasons as a Yellow Jacket before jumping to the pros. He averaged 17.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.7 steals in his junior campaign, and in the process became the seventh player in ACC history to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, and assists. He earned a second-team all-ACC selection along with an ACC All-Defensive team spot.
The Knicks took him with the No. 17 pick in the 2011 draft. He played in 59 games in his rookie season, averaging 9.5 points and 1.7 steals in 29 minutes. He made the All-Rookie team and was fifth in Rookie of the Year voting.1
And the Knicks just gave him away?
They sure did, but it was a cost- (and J.R. Smith-) cutting move more than anything. The Knicks are the very worst team in the NBA, on a 12-game losing streak and 5-33 overall as of January 7, and president/Zen Master Phil Jackson wanted to free up future payroll so they can try to cobble together a team that will win more than 14 percent of its games one day. New York wanted badly to part with Smith and his $6+ million player option for next year, and giving up Shumpert was the cost of doing such business.
Shumpert’s contract is up at the end of this season, at which point he will enter restricted free agency. He was a good bet to bolt the Knicks—another reason why they traded him—but the Cavs may be able to keep him around. They may need to pull off some salary cap trickery to do so, but his restricted status means they will at least have some say in his next contract.
Shump sounds pretty good.
There are some caveats, starting with his injury history. He had arthroscopic surgery on the meniscus in his right knee during his sophomore year at Georgia Tech, which caused him to miss six games.
In April of his rookie year, he tore both the ACL and meniscus in his left knee. He missed the rest of that season and didn’t return until the following January. He missed eight games in his second year: five because of a sprained left MCL, two due to a sprained right shoulder, and one more with sickness.
Now he’s out with a dislocated shoulder. He picked up that injury in a December 12 game against the Boston Celtics and hasn’t played since. GM David Griffin thinks he could be back in two to three weeks, though he is officially out indefinitely.
It’s something to keep an eye on. You might be encouraged, however, by what he said after that Celtics game, which the Knicks actually won: “I’m just happy we won. If I’ve got to separate my shoulder or dislocated my shoulder to get wins, I’ll dislocate it every day. I’m just trying to get wins.”
Those injuries are kinda scary. Anything else?
He’s also not much of a shooter. His career field goal percentage is below 40%, and his career true shooting percentage is a shade under 49%. He especially struggles in the midrange. He has shot 26% in the 3-10 foot range and 29% from 10-16 feet. Not one of those numbers is encouraging.2
He is, however, a serviceable three-point shooter. He has shot 34% from downtown for his career, a bit below league average. He shot over 40% from deep in his second season, when he took about three triples per game. He hit 36% of his catch-and-shoot threes last season.
Shooting, however, will not be his primary job on the Cavs. That is the territory of guys like Mike Miller, James Jones, J.R. Smith, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving.
So what would you say he’ll do here?
He’ll defend. Defense, defense, defense. That’s what he’s established a reputation for, anyway.
He was, for instance, an unheralded star of 2012’s Linsanity. On Valentine’s Day of that year, Jeremy Lin hit a game-winning three to beat the Toronto Raptors. Those were happier times for New York basketball. Lin scored 27 points and rightly earned heaps of post-game kudos.
Earlier in the game, however, Toronto’s Jose Calderon was torching the Knicks. He scored 25 points, many of them coming against Lin. Shumpert took over defending the Spaniard in the fourth quarter, and—I’ll let the New York Post game story tell the tale:
Without Shumpert, Lin never has a stage to dance on, never has a curtain call to make. Guarding Calderon for 10 minutes in the fourth quarter, he only allowed the Toronto guard to get off two shots, both of which missed badly.
Then, with the Knicks down five, with Amar’e Stoudemire having been rebuffed in his attempt to cut that lead to three by having a layup blocked, Shumpert seized the moment. He flicked the ball away from Calderon, he caught up to it, and he delivered a rim-rattling dunk that stunned the 20,092 inside Air Canada Centre and energized the Knicks completely.
“Without Iman,” coach Mike D’Antoni said, “Jeremy never has the chance to win the game because we never put him in a position to do it. That steal did it for us. That steal allowed us to win this game.”
As with many defenders, his reputation may have exceeded his actual production. His play was up-and-down before getting hurt this year, and Phil Jackson gently suggested that he needs to give a full effort more consistently.
Still, the Knicks allowed 101.8 points per 100 possessions with Shumpert on the court last year, and 111.1 points per 100 possessions when he sat. Such stats are to be taken with a grain of salt—more can be found here—but he didn’t get his reputation out of nowhere.
If nothing else, give him this: he inspired a YouTube video entitled Iman Shumpert – Defensive Assassin.
Cool. Can we talk about his hair now?
Absolutely. Shump’s hi-top fade is among the most distinctive hairstyles in the league. It has inspired multiple t-shirts and was featured on his mixtape cover (Yes, he has a mixtape; you can listen to it here). Say what you will about the hair, but he owns it.
He wore a tight cut his rookie year, but wanted to change it up after he got injured. He didn’t want to go with braids like he did when he was a teenager. With help from his brother Ahrii, who happens to be a barber, he decided to go with the hi-top, as described in this New York Times article.
He buzzed it off early in the 2013 season as a self-imposed punishment. He felt that he was getting too distracted by non-basketball matters, and losing the fade was a symbol of his re-commitment to pursuing a championship. It’s all a little weird, but it’s also true:
He’s done some other fun stuff with his hair, including shaving a cross into it for Easter and shaving an Adidas logo into it to promote his sponsor. The NBA told him to remove the latter, as league rules dictate that a player cannot wear a commercial logo in his hair or anywhere else other than on his shoes.
For now, the hi-top fade is back. We can only hope that his dedication to winning basketball is too, regardless of hairstyle.
Will we remember him for more than his hair?
I think so. He’s young, he’s athletic, and he could get much better. LeBron compared him to Jimmy Butler, and while that’s optimistic, you can see it if you squint. The odds are against him becoming a 20-point scorer like Butler has this year, but the Cavs are having a tough time fitting in their existing 20-point scorers together already.
The player I would like Shumpert to emulate is Memphis’ Tony Allen. The Grindfather is in rarefied air as a perimeter defender, and few players have his single-mindedness when it comes to stopping opposing stars. But Shump is similar in size (Allen is listed at 6-4/213) and has shown a knack for getting after it.
The Cavs needed an athletic wing, and they’ve got an athletic wing. There are questions as to how Shumpert will fit in with this team, but what else is new? Only four current Cavaliers were on the roster last year. What’s a few more pieces to the puzzle?
- The winner that year was the Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving. [↩]
- Stats from Basketball Reference and NBA.com. [↩]
17 Comments
He likes the defensive dirty work. On offense easy to imagine his defender helping out elsewhere and LeBron feeding him some back door cuts. Nice fit if he’s healthy. If not, Griffin pretty much gave away Dion even while dumping JR Smith’s epic malignancy on the locker room floor.
One thing I don’t think has been mentioned enough. The Cavs just received 3 players who like to dunk the basketball. Nothing is more energizing than seeing a powerful dunk as the result of a good play. After years of guys like Kyrie, Dion, Bennett, and Tristan who seem to refuse to dunk, we now have 3 more guys who love to throw them down. I approve.
Completely agree, wrote something about that before cutting it out.
Shumpert is my guy. I am vouching for him right now.
Sure you did, Will. Sure you did.
just tell me that he has requested #18 (stupid Mike Miller, move aside son)
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/1207/cleveland.cavaliers.classic.photos/images/hot-rod-williams.jpg
Less arguing, more dunking please…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd-iTy01Amk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fdkdWncKI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpEHATybh3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fUy37CUBco
get out my face, Bird!!
🙁
The Hottest of Rods… no wait that’s no good, scratch that.
Should we call JR Smith, the Piper?
Larry Nance gonna break that up 😉 Loved the Hot Rod!
Hahahahaha… undoubtedly!
Although, didn’t JR Smith lose in a High School dunk contest to Candace Parker?
Reminds me of Chris Rock’s sketch “Daddy Still Has a Flat-Top”. But seriously, he seems like a potential steal (rim shot)
I didn’t realize Shump (sort of a 3 stooges slant…) had that many injuries. Good read.
Send him down to Miami to rehab with LeBron – get him on the court!