Shooting guard Landry Shamet looks to be the perfect piece to play next to both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for the LA Clippers.
One of the most talked about things surrounding the LA Clippers since the acquisition of both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George has been the team’s complimentary pieces. The Clippers already had a solid group of players ready to compete with the addition of two superstars. Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley often dominate the conversation and justly so. However, the perfect piece to play next to these two stars comes in the form of Landry Shamet.
Shamet may not be a household name just yet, but real NBA fans know what he is capable of. Nominated to the All-Rookie Second Team last season, Shamet made history. He joined Stephen Curry as one of only two rookies to shoot 4.5 threes per game and make at least 41.6% of them.
Speaking of Curry, Shamet hit arguably the biggest shot of the game in the LA Clippers’ historic 31 point comeback versus the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. To top off his great rookie campaign, Shamet was invited to participate with the Team USA Select Team this summer.
All of this is to say the 22-year-old can already play some ball. He started the season with the 76ers, so by being around Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, he understands what it is like to play with superstars. None of those three are quite on the level of Kawhi or even arguably George.
Starting next to those two, Shamet should see an increase in space he’s allotted by defenses. Couple that with Doc Rivers‘ constant actions to open shooters and Shamet could become one of the deadliest sharpshooters in the league.
According to Shamet, he won’t be just a sharpshooter though.
"I was a point guard in college; people forget that. Being able to re-work that back into my game [would be good]. I play off the ball a lot, but I want to be a threat off the bounce and off my catches, off pin-downs, dribble handoffs where I can get downhill and create ball screens, and just being more aggressive in transition."
With that in mind, he may see an uptick in usage, especially on nights where one or both of Kawhi and PG are out for load management. He also may get a chance to run the second unit, which currently has uncertainty at the point guard position.
On the defensive end, Shamet struggles a little. However, assuming Patrick Beverley is the starting point guard, Shamet will have three other wing players on the court who can take the harder assignments. This will allow him to work less on that end while still wreaking havoc on the offensive side.
Landry Shamet probably won’t be as talked about as the Clippers other, more proven role players. However, given his skillset, he looks like the perfect guy to have on the court with the team’s new superstars.