NBA Comparison: Javaris Crittenton/Terrence Williams

Strengths: Stat-stuffing athlete with ideal size for either guard position … Stands 6’5.5" in shoes with a wingspan of 6’9.5" … Extremely athletic … Explosive leaping ability, recorded a 42" vertical leap at the 2011 NBA Draft Combine … Very fast in the open-court, able to pull down a rebound and go coast-to-coast in a matter of seconds … Very strong for a point guard … Uses his strength well on both offense and defense … Scary in transition … Excellent slasher … Defenders practically bounce off him when he drives in the paint … Able to finish in spectacular fashion at the rim, displaying fantastic hang-time and body-control … A capable, though unsteady, playmaker … Has good drive-and-dish potential at the next level … A tenacious defensive player that works very hard to shut his man down… With his length and athleticism he could guard any of the 1-3 positions in the NBA … Has "lock-down defender" potential … Forces a ton of turnovers (2.7 SPG) … A very good rebounder at the guard position, averaging 5.9 a game his junior year… Solid free-throw shooter (80.6%) that gets to the line a lot (5.64 FTA per game) due to his aggressiveness … A stat-sheet stuffer, had a 22 point, 12 rebound, 11 assist, 7 steal performance against Virginia Tech on January 15th, 2011 …

Weaknesses: Lacks stability/discipline on the court … Inconsistent … Not efficient at all … Horrid shot-selection … Liable to shoot at any time, even when being closely guarded … Likes to shoot off the dribble on a good deal of his isolation possessions, despite only connecting on 20% of these attempts … Shoots nearly 5 three pointers per game, despite only shooting 27.8% from behind the arc … Will often go for the flashy play instead of the easy play, which can lead to unforced turnovers … Very poor jump shooter, and hasn’t shown any improvement in this area during his three-year career with Georgia Tech … Needs the ball in his hands a lot to be effective on offense and he certainly won’t have as many isolation opportunities at the next level … Should look to take advantage of his size and strength more in the post, but has yet to add this dimension to his game … Attitude has been questioned in the past, but to his credit he appears to have matured over the past year …

Overall: Shumpert has rare physical tools for a guard on any level of basketball … His defense should get him on an NBA roster and possibly into a rotation, but his poor basketball IQ will certainly hurt his effectiveness … Should be an early-mid second round pick this year …

Tyler Ingle 6/1/11