Ben R: I wouldn’t be shocked if Shumpert is no more than a slightly more athletic Mardy Collins but I would say that is his floor.

I think that’s a fair point. And I’ll take that as a “worst case” from #17.

Truitt: Just for the record, I wanted Marshon Brooks…I guess I was alone though.

I think he looks like a solid-ish prospect. He wasn’t my first choice, but I wouldn’t have been upset if the Knicks drafted him.

ess-dog: I wanted Faried too based on his body of work, but he could just as easily be the next Malik Rose as the next Dennis Rodman.

Or the next Lasme or the next Dorsey or the next Balkman or the next… Come on ess-dog, you’re arbitrarily picking and choosing strong comparisons for Faried and weak ones for Shumpert. This is why I’m not a big fan of comparisons. It’s fun to compare them, but I don’t know if it’s in anyway useful. Good players are good players regardless of who they’re compared to, and same for bad players. Shumpert definitely has the skills to be good, though like any pick he could be bad.

ess-dog: Shumpert could easily be Larry friggin Hughes

Is that a problem? Shumpert has like 40 lbs on Hughes, so I don’t think it’s a perfect comparison anyway. Hughes was an alright player, though. The mistake was paying him so much $. Drafting him #17 wouldn’t have been a problem. And like Stuckey, Hughes is a guy who didn’t reach his own potential. Shumpert might never reach his, but he might.

When I when I saw Brooks’ combine measurements I thought that his athleticism and length would help him cover up for Chauncey’s age. I thought that his wet shot and fearlessness would make him a perfect fit for SSOL. Needless to say, I was very disappointed when we drafted Shumpert (because of last years Favors over Cousins rationale and his poor shooting ability).

Since then, I have been talking myself into Shumpert & found some solace in that he reminds me quite a bit of Billups’s old teammate, Rodney Stuckey. Shumpert is .5″ taller, has 2″ more wingspan, with about the same speed, but stronger and can leap about half a foot higher. Neither were great shooters or pure point guards. Stuckey out of college gets the edge on offense, but Shumpert has it with D.

While Stuckey still has trouble with his outside shot; he is a decent player, he even looks like a starting PG some nights. Stuckey was a great compliment to Billups in Detroit. I would take him on the Knicks if he was offered. If Shumpert’s game can grow under Billups and D’antoni into something resembling Stuckey’s he will be a great pick considering the options available. If he can do better, he will probably be considered the steal of the draft. If he can’t we will still have a super athletic 2 who can help play d and throw down some crazy dunks in garbage time.

As far as skills and size, there really isn’t a big difference between Shumpert and Alec Burks. Both are athletic, 6’5-6’6 guards with long arms, who can handle and pass but whose outside shots are suspect. Whereas Shumpert shot in the high 30s to low 40s from the field, Burks shot a very good percentage because he didn’t settle for tough outside jumpers time after time like Shumpert did but also attacked the basket and got a boatload of baskets in transition.

The lack of drives for a guy with his athleticism and handle is what mystified me most. He should have been a penetrating force in college. I suppose it’s possible he puts it all together in the nba because he has the tools. The stroke is good, the ballhandling is very good, the first step is fast, the explosiveness is there; it’s not farfetched to see him one day putting it all together and becoming a core player. It seems more likely that he could be a Ronnie Brewer type player, a defensive role player but one who handles the ball better and contributes with some playmaking.

http://www.twitvid.com/F4CRP

citizen:
THCJ,
Would you care to post a quick list of citations of Berri’s most important academic papers (in which he discusses his methodology) as well as the “comments” in journals publishing his work? And of course some of the “academic responses” of which you speak? (Not just the laudatory ones but the critical ones as well, which should go without speaking…)

I would actually/seriously be interested in seeing these too. THCJ would you mind posting a few of them? I’ve googled for stuff like this but have trouble finding it.

Re: Mardy Collins – one needed only to watch him play for 5 minutes to realize he was clearly a below-average NBA athlete. One only needs to watch Shumpert play for 5 minutes to realize that he’s a great athlete. Shumpert needs COACHING and to be on a team where he’s not the offensive focus. If anything, D’Antoni+staff are good at offensive coaching, and he definitely won’t be the offensive focus. Would be interesting to see his stats as a spot-up jump shooter, since my hope would be the only shots he would take would be those + transition hoops + drives to the hoop. Leave the pull-ups and isos to the big boys.

Re: Josh Harrellson – my lord do his advanced stats look prettier than he does. Check out this link –

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ericcrawford/2011/02/28/mr-efficiency-uk-version-josh-harrellson/

which leads to this link:

http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Kentucky

At the bottom are Harrellson’s numbers. His ORtg was 7th in the nation at over 130. He’s also an offensive rebounding monster. If that can even partially carry over to the pros, and if he can stay on the floor for 10-15 min/game, he could be very valuable. His 15% body fat tells me he needs to do lots of running this summer.

Overall the stats are very very similar but Shumpert has a couple things in his favor. The improving ft% suggest someone who has a developing jumpshot, Collins on the other hand shot 59.6%, the lowest in his college career, from the line his last year of college. Shumpert averaged 6.3 asts/40 his freshman season and 5.3/40 his sophmore which suggests that he can run the point when he needs to, Collins never averaged over 5/40.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Shumpert is no more than a slightly more athletic Mardy Collins but I would say that is his floor. Mardy Collins was a good defender and had a couple flashes just never developed. It will all depend on whether Shumpert develops or not.