The San Antonio Spurs have begun the preseason, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start getting prepared for the NBA Draft. Thus, the Spurs Prospect Watch is back and the first profile of the season belongs to Wichita State’s Landry Shamet. That’s likely a name most people haven’t heard of unless you’re a hardcore college basketball fan and fiend. You will once he gets back on the court though.
Shamet was predicted to make the All-American team this season even with the Shockers making the move from the Missouri Valley Conference to the tougher American Athletic Conference. However, he suffered a serious foot injury that has kept him off the court most of the summer. He is expected to be back on the court by mid-November so he won’t be missing many games.
Shamet is just the kind of guy that fits the Spurs’ profile as he’s a bit under the radar playing in a non-Power 5 conference and does a little bit of everything as a guard.
Here are his stats from the 2016-17 season
- 11.4 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.8 RPG
- 47.2 FG%, 43.9 3P% (on 4.6 attempts per game)
- 132.1 ORtg, 95 DRtg
Shamet is listed at 6-4 and about 190 pounds so he would have to bulk up before being able to get significant minutes in the NBA, but he’s everything a team should like in a point guard. He’s on the taller side so he can see over defenders, and assuming his numbers go up again this year, he could easily average five assists per game if not more. He makes good decisions, has a high basketball IQ and can comfortably operate at different speeds.
His ball handling is tight and he’s a solid shooter when it comes to pull-up jumpers. He’ll have to show that he can handle being a go-to guy this year though, as that was not really his role last year. Now he will be a bit of a hunted man even in a new conference as his name will start getting whispered around the country before people are eventually yelling for him to shoot up draft boards.
