Phoenix Suns shooting guard Landry Shamet is in the midst of a shooting slump.
Over his last five games for the Suns, Shamet is averaging 2.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists on 21.1% shooting which is clearly not up to the standards of a guy who is known for his ability to shoot.
Despite his recent struggles, Monty Williams believes in Shamet and knows he has more elements to his game aside from his shooting.
“Landry always gets this bad rap if he doesn't knock down three or four threes, but I think he's more than that," Williams said via The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin. “His ability to defend and we can switch a lot more with him because he’s 6-5 and he’s pretty strong, and then he spaces the floor. He hasn’t shot it as well as he’d like to, not tonight, but I think having him on the floor, teams have to honor that.”
Shamet missed 25 games due to a nagging right foot injury only making his return to the court on Mar. 19.
Since his return to action, Shamet has been benched by Williams at times including in games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Mar. 29 and Denver Nuggets on Mar. 31 where he recorded zero minutes.
It's been a rough stretch for Shamet, but he is remaining optimistic through the support given to him by his coaches and teammates.
“Obviously, that’s the easy thing to look at is the ball going in or not,” Shamet said after Wednesday’s practice via Rankin. “Even average basketball fans don’t understand the game in totality and that’s fine. That’s basketball. Put the ball in the hole, I get that from a fan’s perspective, but it feels good to know that my head coach and our staff trust me in all the facets of basketball that matter.”
In the Suns’ last game on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs, Shamet played the role of backup point guard, something he is usually not accustomed to. In that newly established role, he scored zero points in 13 minutes going 0-4 FG.
We will see how Williams decides to utilize Shamet tonight against the Nuggets. With some of the starters potentially resting it will be a huge opportunity for Shamet to step up and break out of his slump.
“Basketball is a rhythm and if you’re not playing for two months,” Shamet said. “With the injury I had, wasn’t like I could really ramp up. Just getting a feel. That and your conditioning, but I feel like I’m in good shape now. Still a little bit of rust to knock off, but that’s fine by me. We've got a couple of games left until it’s showtime. So, I’ll be right and ready here.”
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