Point Taken: Iman Shumpert

When David Stern called Iman Shumpert‘s name at the 2011 NBA Draft, Knicks fans in attendance scratched their heads – some in disgust, and some in complete confusion. Seven months later, he’s silenced the critics and put the entire NBA on notice.

The feature printed below can be found in it’s entirety in our newest issue, Dime #68.

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Every player has a moment – a transformative realization that maybe those NBA dreams aren’t so farfetched, aren’t so distant. It’s empowering, frightening even. Except for Iman Shumpert, the Chicago-area native who, thanks to the 17th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, is now a New York Knick. He had to be told of his potential for greatness, even if he knew in the back of his mind that NBA dreams were in the cards all along.

“My sophomore year, going into junior year when I was playing AAU ball, I started to excel,” says Shumpert. “You know, my teammates started to tell me I was standing out, I was starting to do stuff they couldn’t do.”

His 24-year-old brother, Ahrii, possessed a keener eye for talent. But he was not alone.

“A lot of people that watched him play, when he was 10 or 12 years old, they could tell he was special,” says Ahrii. “Especially offensively, he was real polished. At 10, he was playing like he was 14 or 15 years old.”

The second youngest of four brothers, the 21-year-old Shumpert wasn’t always the lockdown defender that we now know him to be. Back in the days of playgrounds and backyard hoops, Ahrii remembers the natural order – when physicality and size proved just enough to take down his younger brother in a game of one-on-one.

“Probably about until his freshman year of high school, I would win (one-on-one),” says Ahrii. “But after that, we basically started splitting games; and then by his sophomore year, he would just win. But he was always close to winning. It was never a huge margin. That’s how good he was at a young age. I was always bigger than he was, physically, so I knew if there was a way to beat him, it was to post him up. Once he grew, he started to use the skills he had more effectively with his size. Even now, he uses his size a lot.”

It’s those skills, most notably his defense, that have earned Shumpert high praise from scouts everywhere, and prompted former Knick coach Mike D’Antoni to insist that he can stymie the likes of Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

“We’ve been playing since as far as I can remember,” adds Ahrii. “He’s always been tough. He used to take his toughness with a little bit of arrogance, and he was kinda annoying out there – especially defensively. That’s probably where he gets it.”

But the good always comes with the bad, and any draft prospect opens the door to criticism from every angle. Shumpert only listens to his coaches and his father, Odis.

“My father’s my biggest critic,” says Shumpert. “He always gives me an honest assessment of how I played. If I don’t have a good game, he’s gonna tell me about it.”

And so did the NBA coaches and GMs during the draft process. Coming out of Georgia Tech after his junior season and the leader of a 13-18 team, the questions were everywhere. But one repeated message from NBA circles kept floating to the surface.

“They felt that I had a lot of gifts, but I had to learn how to be more efficient,” says Shumpert. “In college, I sort of almost ran wild with my talents, but in the NBA you gotta sort of narrow it down, and know when to use everything.”

There’s no question Shumpert had, and has, his doubters. So much so that he only shot up draft boards late in the game. But the 6-5 point guard claims to ignore external perception. Maybe that’s true of real life, but the realm of video games paints a totally different picture. When the topic of NBA 2K12 came up, Shumpert, although not a gamer himself, was sweating his potential ratings.

“I just wanted to be good at what I’m good at,” he says. “I should be able to lock up and get a lot of steals, I feel like I should be able to rebound over a lot of big guys, I should be able to dunk, and be fast. I don’t want to be a slow guy that people could take the ball from. As long as I’m able to hold my own, I’m fine.”

The jump shot. A basic, elementary basketball skill that evades some and finds others. This, according to every draft expert, was the unshakable thorn in Shumpert’s side. The athleticism, the defensive capabilities, basketball IQ, everything – it was all there. But DraftExpress summed up the general consensus regarding Shumpert’s biggest flaw:

“Shumpert’s shooting still hasn’t caught up with his solid mechanics and remain by far his biggest weakness. … Unfortunately, Shumpert’s shot selection kills any chance of him being an efficient half-court player.”

Ahrii heard the critics loud and clear, and wasn’t as dismissive as Iman.

“Personally I was scared, just listening to what other people were saying,” says Ahrii. “Knowing how many people over the course of the season don’t really like the way he played on a regular basis. That he was too turnover prone, that he would rush a lot of plays, rush a lot of shots. He did take a lot of bad shots last year. It personally made me scared, and it made my dad scared.”

Ahrii wasn’t scared Iman couldn’t take it. He knew he could. That’s what happens when older brothers don’t give you an inch. Instead, he was the one with constant anxiety, clinging to the notion that Iman, at worst, would be scooped up in the second round. But that was hardly comforting. Iman had left Georgia Tech only because he believed he could make an immediate impact in the NBA. He wasn’t looking to ride the bench for a few years, find his way into the D-League and out of basketball for good by 25.

Then it all changed, and Shumpert was quietly confident. Although he downplayed the good news, a workout on June 9th with the Knicks was slowly changing his fortunes. Various reports indicated that Shumpert shot the lights out and left the Knicks brass with quite an impression. At Shumpert’s introductory press conference, D’Antoni confirmed the pre-draft rumblings.

“(Shumpert’s) workout was one of the best we’ve ever had here,” said D’Antoni. “When we were here, all the coaches, some of the scouts and the front office all kind of turned together at the same time and said, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’ From day one, we were pretty sold on him.”

Rewind one day, with Shumpert and 150 guests watching the draft proceedings at a Mexican restaurant so Iman could chow down on his favorite food, tacos. Sitting two seats away was Ahrii, who simply couldn’t take the pressure. And, as he describes it, neither could Iman.

“I sat about two feet away from Iman, and he looked about as nervous as I was,” says Ahrii. “I had my head down the whole time, I couldn’t eat – they were serving food and I couldn’t eat. And they had to force him to eat.”

Phoenix, Houston, Denver, New York and Chicago were all in play according to the soon-to-be NBA player, but as to where he was headed, no one knew.

“It got real serious for me when Houston didn’t pick him and Phoenix didn’t pick him,” adds Ahrii. “We thought almost for sure he was gonna get picked by Phoenix. When he didn’t get picked, it was almost a step back. And then it’s like, man, he might go in the second round.”

Cut to the 17th pick, with the Knicks on the clock and Iman waiting, helpless. Sitting in his chair, Iman is leaning in, hoping. But there’s a problem. This is the Knicks we’re talking about: John Starks, Patrick Ewing and one of the Bulls’ biggest foes during the ’90s. A native of Oak Park, Ill., Shumpert couldn’t shed his Chicago loyalty.

“It’s actually kind of weird because I grew up a Bulls fan and the Knicks were the bad guys, ” says Shumpert.

No matter. The Knicks took him at 17, and he couldn’t have been more excited to play at The World’s Most Famous Arena. But his big brother isn’t so quick to shed his basketball loyalty. At least that’s how Ahrii sees it, because he’s still undecided as to whom to root for when the Knicks and Bulls play in a clash of Eastern Conference powers for the first of four times this season on Feb. 2 in New York.

“I still haven’t come to a solid agreement with myself about that,” says Ahrii. “I gotta wear my Knicks jersey, but if the Bulls win, I couldn’t be upset. I’m still torn. I’m trying not to think about it at all. I’m a huge, huge Derrick Rose fan.”

With the lockout now a distant memory, Iman is just happy this is a game that will be played.

During his brief unemployment following June’s NBA Draft, Shumpert spent time back in Atlanta with fellow Georgia Tech alum Jarrett Jack, soaking up NBA knowledge and training for the season. Next stop, Florida, where he worked out at IMG Basketball Academy to hone his skills by any means necessary – weightlifting, swimming, basketball, anything. But that was only a portion of the day. The rest was up to Shumpert, who as an active member of the Twitter community with the handle @I_Am_Iman, decided to strike up a competition of a new kind.

A natural athlete, Shumpert has never been one to shy away from dunking – creative or otherwise. So he took to Twitter and set up a contest, asking his 14,000-plus followers at the time (now over 43,000) to tweet him videos of their best dunks. The best came from a kid, no more then 10 years old, converting a windmill on a bite-sized basket. Shumpert’s competitive edge forced him to respond. And he did, replying with a windmill of his own via Twitpic.

Shumpert does have more grandiose dreams, but it starts with simpler wishes. Make no mistake, he doesn’t plan on being just any NBA player. Nor does he want to call it quits without a ring.

“I want people to be able to compare a young player to me and be able to call me one of the greatest,” he says. “I also want to win an NBA championship, that’s always the biggest goal. I know a lot of guys that Michael Jordan ruined their careers ’cause they couldn’t get a championship. I don’t want to be one of those guys.”

Only a quarter of the way through a lockout-shortened NBA season and Shumpert has already begun to make his mark, scoring in double figures in all but two games. His defensive intensity and offensive aggression have earned him the starting point guard role and, most importantly, respect.

“It can be intimidating coming into the league and playing with guys that are already established,” says Knicks center Tyson Chandler. “He came in and believed in himself from Day One. When you believe in yourself, you demand respect from veterans. … He’s already exceeded the expectations anybody had for him.”

What kind of potential does Shumpert have?

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