Many around basketball were surprised that the NY Knicks passed on players like defensive standout Chris Singleton or rebounding and defensive demon Kenneth Faried in in favor of selecting Georgia Tech swingman Iman Shumpert with the #17 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Singleton or Faried would have fit nicely in the New York frontcourt alongside Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire for the foreseeable future. The Knicks were supposedly also very high on NY native Jimmer Fredette leading up to Draft night but were beaten to the punch by the Sacramento Kings who made a trade to move up and select the National POY.
Knicks management went out on a limb to take the defensive minded Shumpert to the dismay of most of the Gotham fanbase. But with Chauncy Billups not getting any younger, Toney Douglas too small to defend bigger guards, and Wilson Chandler now in Denver, Shumpert definitely fills a need defensively on the perimeter.
In fact, the NY fanbase should get used to hearing Shumpert’s name because once the NBA season finally begins, the Knicks are pretty thin from the wing positions. Rumor has it that newly hired defensive minded assistant coach Mike Woodson is enamored with the former Yellow Jacket’s outstanding size and length to play lock-down defense on opposing guards.
While Shumpert did average 17.3 ppg and dish out 3.5 assists for a sub .500 Georgia Tech team, he was regarded as the best defender in this year’s Draft. So getting any sort of offensive production has to be a plus for Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni.
Judging by some of his recent individual workouts that were somehow put to video, the Knicks may be getting a much more well rounded player than they originally anticipated. Some have even compared Shumpert to a young Vince Carter because of his innate dunking abilities:
Check out Shumpert Channeling Vince with 2 highlight reel dunks:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
