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This season has been a disastrous one for the New York Knicks through 16 games and turning it around does not look to be on the horizon. One person who has been under fire constantly is third-year guard/small forward Iman Shumpert. Shumpert has been in the middle of trade rumors for the better part of the season thus far, even having at least one trade with the Denver Nuggets for Kenneth Faried in exchange for Shumpert being turned down. This all has began to weigh on Shumpert on the court it would seem but even through all the negativity surrounding him he has found a way to bring it on the court night in and night out. But Sunday he may have finally punched his ticket out of here.
The Knicks were playing quiet well
Sunday through the first half and caught quite a break with budding New Orleans
Pelican superstar Anthony Davis suffering a displaced fracture in his left
hand. Things looked to be adding up to a Knicks victory but Knick killer Ryan
Anderson was forced into more playing time and he did what he does best; knock
down three pointers and send Knicks fans home upset. Anderson went off on the
Knicks, something that has become common for him, knocking down seven three
pointers and grabbing six rebounds. The only person who seemed to care that the
Knicks were crumbling again in the third quarter and letting an opponent go off
on them was Shumpert, who during a timeout went off on Carmelo Anthony for playing lackadaisical defense on Anderson, resulting in him knocking down a
three pointer and Shumpert picking up a foul attempting to cover up for him.
Check out the video below of what happened during that Knicks timeout:
You can see Shumpert and Anthony having
a disagreement about what happened and Mike Breen hits the nail on his head
about the effort and reaction of both players. In most cases this is something
that would be lauded; a player showing some passion on a team lacking in it and
calling out the best player to be better than what he is giving. Shumpert
showed guts in doing so but it may also result in nothing but more negativity
towards him.
Coincidentally Shumpert did not see the
court for the remainder of the game after the timeout. Shumpert did what he thought was right being
one of the better defenders on the team, he most likely lost his cool a little
bit taking all things into account and looking at it in hindsight. Anthony is
by far and away the most powerful person in the Knicks organization outside of
owner James Dolan. Anthony has more power than any coach or front office person
being Dolan’s handpicked player to bring the Knicks back to prominence.
Shumpert on the other hand has seemingly been in Dolan’s doghouse for the
better part of his career, hitting its high point this past summer when
Shumpert did not want to take part in the NBA Summer League against Dolan’s
wishes. Shumpert appeared in only one game and Dolan became incensed to the
point that he attempted to trade Shumpert because of his actions.
Shumpert also had knee surgery this offseason that supposedly angered many within the Knicks organization because of the timing of it. It is worth noting that Shumpert did not miss any training camp because of the surgery while J.R. Smith missed all but one game and a handful of practices in training camp because of his own knee surgery. Smith also admitted that he withheld the information trying to secure a more lucrative contract. Which player would you be more upset with, Shumpert or Smith? The level-headed person would choose Shumpert in most cases as it did not directly hamper him from seeing the court while Smith missed almost all of training camp before serving a five game suspension to start the season and has looked awful while on the court.
Both Anthony and Shumpert downplayed the incident,
with Shumpert calling it a “defensive miscommunication.” Anthony has stated in
the past that he would like for Shumpert to remain on the team but Knicks
management might not see it the same way as their main goal is to make sure
Anthony is retained once he either opts out of his contract or is free agent
eligible after next season. From a purely basketball standpoint keeping
Shumpert is a no-brainer. He is the best perimeter defender the Knicks have and
does not demand the ball on offense, instead feeding off his teammates which
are what you need on a team led by Anthony. He also helps in all areas of the
game and has the makings of a Tony Allen-type player, something the Knicks
should love to have as Allen is a winner and respected player around the
league. But once again this is the Knicks we are talking about and them making
decisions based solely on basketball does not happen.
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| Howard Simmons/New York Daily News |
Another layer to this story is the play
of Tim Hardaway Jr., someone the Knicks organization is very high on; high on
to the point they feel trading Shumpert wouldn’t hurt them much with Hardaway
Jr. ready to step in right away. Hardaway Jr. took advantage of the opportunity
given to him Sunday with what looked like Shumpert’s benching, scoring a career
high 21 points in his extended minutes and knocking down five of eight three
point attempts. Hardaway Jr. looks to have the makeup to be a good NBA player
but right now he does not help the Knicks anymore than Shumpert does. He is not
the defender that Shumpert is and he does not have the discipline on offense to
perform night in and night out; his shot selection needs work and there are
times he looks like another J.R. Smith who will shoot you out of as many, if
not more, games than he shoots you into you.
All in all Shumpert took a chance in
calling out Anthony during a timeout for his lack of defense and he suffered
for it. A benching for the better part of a second half could be the least of
Shumpert’s problem though as it would not be shocking to see Hardaway Jr. start
getting more consistent minutes while Shumpert’s wane. How Smith still gets
away with what he does on the court is a question for another day but it looks
more and more likely with each passing day that Shumpert’s time with the Knicks
may be coming to an end with the Anthony timeout incident being the last straw. The next article written on the site very well could be Shumpert getting moved to another team.
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