|
He admittedly isn’t the player he was last season when he ranked seventh in the NBA in steals, made the All-Rookie first team and was the only first-year player to receive Defensive Player of the Year votes.
The explosiveness isn’t there. The lateral quickness isn’t the same. Things the athletic Shumpert would do easily, like finishing at the rim, aren’t happening nearly as much.
“It [ticks] me off,” he said.
In 20 games, Shumpert is averaging 4.7 points, shooting 30.8 percent from the field, 34 percent from three-point range and 64.7 percent from the foul line, and collecting 0.90 steals a game.
He’s playing fewer minutes and doesn’t have the ball as much. Most of his stats are markedly down from last year, when Shumpert averaged 9.5 points, converted 40.1 percent of his shots, 30.6 percent from three-point range and 79.8 percent from the line and averaged 1.71 steals.
— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday
