Shamgod
If the two terrible puns didn’t turn you away, can I interest you in some…Landry Shamet? This space has been a Shamet fan for a while, from thinking the Clippers got a terrific piece in the Tobias Harris trade to being thrilled at the Nets swinging the draft night trade for him (even at the price of Saddiq Bey.)
There was some worry earlier in the season that the Nets may be shredding Shamet’s confidence by playing fast and loose with his role and minutes. Those worries have diminished over the last few games as Shamet has established a solid role in the Nets rotation. He landed on the national radar when he stonewalled Devin Booker on one of the game-sealing plays in Tuesday night’s big Nets comeback.
The Suns got exactly the look they wanted, with the play calling for Booker coming off a Chris Paul screen that got him the switch onto a Shamet empty side post-up. The outcome has to feel good if you’re Shamet.
Two nights later, Shamet again played a taller, more athletic player to a standstill in single coverage:
Kyle Kuzma makes the shot, but you tip your hat if the best look they can produce is a Kuzma fadeaway long two. Credit Shamet for moving his feet, getting his hands up in Kuzma’s line of vision, and absorbing the contact when Kuzma tries to make space.
Shamet is no lockdown defender, but he displays really solid fundamentals, doing the little things like showing help early and boxing out on the defensive boards. He moves his feet well and is smart about not biting on pump fakes. When he does, he is mindful about avoiding contact with the shooter.
In the clip below, Shamet is exactly where he needs to be to deter a Lebron drive down the middle. When Shamet’s man, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope lifts far enough away, Shamet is active in communicating to Kyrie Irving to zone up behind so that he can commit to the nail.
(Side bar: How unstoppable is Lebron? The Nets defended this reasonably well, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is early enough as the weakside low help and gets rewarded for his troubles with a poster and a foul.)
Shamet shows good awareness and timing on defense. Here, he is early in helping Jeff Green deal with Lebron in the post while still staying within contact with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. When KCP cuts below the basket, Shamet is quick to shift over to prevent an easy dump-off from Lebron.
Teams generally don’t help off a strong side shooter, but Shamet’s timing on KCP’s drive minimizes any risk here. He stunts right as KCP’s dribble is farthest from him; even if KCP did try to pass to Talen Horton-Tucker out of this position, generating any speed on the pass would be difficult and allow Shamet time to put in a good contest. Moreover, Shamet’s stunt forces KCP to pick his dribble up in an inefficient spot, leading to the offensive foul and turnover.
Landry Shamet isn’t going to be making any All-Defense teams, but these are the sorts of things (along with his knockdown shooting) that make him the perfect complementary piece on this Nets team.
Alex Caruso Easter Egg
While on the subject of role players on star-studded contenders, I love everything Alex Caruso does on this play:
The cut nips a developing Shamet double-team on Lebron in the bud, while taking him out of the play. Lebron scored out of the same set-up on the previous play, so this play is primarily about getting Lebron iso-d on *insert Nets victim* in the post. But Caruso isn’t done, waving Kyle Kuzma to sink down into the corner while he sets up to screen Kuzma’s man (Jeff Green), giving Lebron the baseline pass option.
Alex Caurso finished eighth amongst Western Conference guards in the fan vote and his cult status seems to uncomfortably tip into mockery sometimes. I come here to praise Caruso, not to mock him.
On deck
Sixers-Raptors on Sunday should be interesting. The Raptors are surging right now and they really seemed to have Khris Middleton’s number in the twin victories over the Bucks this past week (stay tuned for something on that coming soon in this space.) The 5 has been a sore spot for them all season long though and while Chris Boucher has been delightful, I am curious to see how he holds up against Joel Embiid. The answer is probably that we see a lot of Aron Baynes. And do we really want to count out the possibility of Nick Nurse devising some effective “janky” defense to slow down Embiid?