LA Clippers: How Landry Shamet fit in
By Paul Headley
Room for Improvement: Defense
Landry Shamet wasn’t great defensively in his rookie season. He’s slight, given his height, and needs to add strength over the offseason. Defensive Real Plus-Minus is far from a perfect stat, but Shamet’s minus-1.59 backs up the eye test.
He’s not very attentive off-ball, and gets roasted in one-on-one coverage.
Here are Shamet’s defensive numbers against some specific play types:
Post-up: 1.28 points per-possession (6th percentile)
Isolation: 1.19 points per-possession (8th percentile)
Spot-up: 1.05 points per-possession (38th percentile)
Shamet graded out well as a pick-and-roll ballhander defender with the Sixers (0.96 points per possession, 82nd percentile), but didn’t have enough possessions with the LA Clippers to qualify.
Shamet at least tries on D. Any player, within reason, can get better on defense with an appropriate level of effort, coaching and attention to detail. Shamet should improve as he gains experience and his body fills out.
While Shamet could stand to improve his play-making and ballhandling, defense should be his main priority. Shamet will have an opportunity to learn from some of the best perimeter defenders in the history of the game next season. Speaking of which.