LA Clippers: Players for Landry Shamet to study in isolation

Landry Shamet hasn’t yet found a steady role with the LA Clippers. For him to improve and find his place, he might want to pick up some tricks by studying these players.

The LA Clippers were able to get a key piece for their future when they received Landry Shamet as part of the trade that sent Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers. At the time, Shamet was a promising rookie guard who looked to fit in perfectly with the Clippers’ young, up-and-coming roster.

Things changed quickly for the Clippers, and Shamet, when the franchise flipped the script and become championship contenders in the here-and-now when they acquired Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. For the Clippers, their goals shifted to finding players who can complement their stars, fit in, and contribute to a championship-level team immediately. For Shamet, he suddenly had less time to develop his skills and more need to focus on what he could do to help the team right away.

Luckily for Shamet, he does have a valuable skill that any team in the NBA needs: shooting. The six-foot-four guard shot 42.2 percent from beyond the arc on five attempts per game in his rookie season. Numbers like that will earn you minutes in any team’s rotation.

Shamet began the year in the starting lineup for LA, as they waited for Paul George to return from injury. Since then his role with the team has varied, ranging from spot-starter, to key reserve, and at times being part of their clutch-time lineup. Since late February, his minutes have been reduced from his season average 27.5.. This is partly due to the additions of Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson and partly, according to Doc Rivers, due to increased healthy on the roster.

Currently, Shamet is getting a good percentage of his minutes in the small forward slot as part of a second-unit lineup featuring Jackson, Lou Williams, himself, JaMychal Green and Montrezl Harrell. He’s mainly used as a sharpshooter for the deadly second-unit squad that is currently outscoring opponents by 38.7 points per 100 possessions.

But Shamet is certainly capable of more. And if the team loses Jackson and Morris this offseason he’ll need to step up and take on an increased role. With a few small improvements and added skills, he can be up for the task. We think that by studying a few players Shamet might be able to pick up some tricks to help him add to his game.