Owen:
I am excited about Shump’s return but I am expecting much much less than most on this board it would seem. I see him being a nice average-ish player at best, which is a good thing to have, but it’s going to take a lot to convince me there is any kind of star potential there. The offensive skills are so raw….

I think he’s a gamechanger on defense just because he’s big, long-armed, and so quick. He gets steals without overgambling (although he did foul too much last year). And I think without a doubt our defense’s biggest problem has been the complete inability to contain dribble penetration- and Shumpification should definitely help that.

Re: his offense? I would be perfectly content with:

TS 52
12points/36
33% on 3P
4 rebounds and assists per 36
TOV% <14

These are all basically just mild improvements from his rookie year during which there was no training camp or practice time, and he was playing PG for much of it.

If we get the old Shump back on defense and these limited offensive contributions, I think he will be perfect for this team.

Re: "star potential" – I think there is plenty of star potential there. If I had to guess on his career, I'd say he's a fringe all-star eventually. Of course, this is all based on him being physically what he was prior to his injury.

Shumpert at pg: 428 efg%/ 4.8 turnovers

Shumpert at sg: 454 efg%/ 2.2 turnovers

Shumpert at sf: 550 efg%/ 4.7 turnovers

http://www.82games.com/1112/11NYK5.HTM

Yeah, exactly. Just moving him off the point should definitely help. I just don’t know if it will help enough. If his jump shot has improved, then yes, obviously he will improve, but we don’t know if it has yet. But man, if his jumper has actually improved, what a great addition he will be. He’s already going to be a great addition because of his defense, but if his offense is not bad…wow.

Juany8:
New Orleans is starting to look like a good team, Eric Gordon and Vasquez are a pretty good backcourt. Davis has been solid, I like Drummond a little more so far, although Davis has some pretty incredible potential on defense.

Davis is slightly over-hyped to me as well. Lopez is pretty underrated. They’re one player away.

@Dallas win
San Antonio win
Houston win
Minnesota win
New York loss
@Philly win

ruruland: Look at the strength of the correlation:

http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=J.R.%20Smith

’07 – 58.6 ts/ 76.4 assisted

’08- 60.3 ts/ 64.6 assisted

’09- 57.6ts/ 53 assisted

’10- 51.5/51.6

’11- 55/51

’12- 50.8/52

’13- 50/32.9

Obviously, these are assisted makes, not assisted attempts. These numbers don’t capture unassisted attempts, so the correlation is probably a lot stronger.

Why can’t the Knicks get JR anything close to the level of assisted attempts he got in Denver? It can’t just be Felton’s absence, he’s only been out a handful of games. I don’t mean to rag on JR, he’s been a huge piece of the puzzle this year for someone whose efficiency is in the toilet, but it doesn’t seem sustainable to have him and Felton throwing up like 30+ combined FGA/36 with awful efficiency.