5 things analytics say about Landry Shamet’s game

5 things analytics say about Landry Shamet’s game originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

This offseason featured a ton of turnover for the Wizards at the shooting guard position. They traded longtime star Bradley Beal to the Suns after he spent 11 years with the team and they acquired Jordan Poole from the Warriors to take his place. In that deal with Phoenix, they also brought in Landry Shamet, who figures to be Poole’s backup.

Shamet will bring 3-point shooting and an overall track record that could make him a real plus in his role. Here is a closer look at his game using advanced numbers that go beyond the box score…

Lots of threes, few midrange shots

Shamet is a 3-point specialist by trade and that is reflected not only by where he likes to shoot from but also his effectiveness from different areas on the floor. Of the 2,189 field goals Shamet has attempted in his career, 71.2% of them have come from beyond the arc. Only 16.8% of his attempts have been from the midrange.

Shamet is a career 38.8% shooter from three, so it’s no surprise why he takes the vast majority of his shots from the perimeter. He’s also much better from a distance than he is in the midrange. Last year he shot sub-30% from three feet to the 3-point line and is under 40% for his career. He was 22.6% on midrange shots (only 31 attempts).

Catch and shoot

Shamet is a much better shooter when he is passed the ball rather than when creating for himself off the dribble. Despite shooting a career-worst 37.7% from the field last season, Shamet still boasted a 60.4 eFG% (which values threes over twos) on catch-and-shoot plays, including 40.4% on catch-and-shoot threes.

In Shamet’s five-year NBA career, 95.2% of his 3-pointers have been assisted by other players. That means only 4.8% of his threes were created independently by Shamet himself.

Always on the run

Shamet’s ability to make threes off-the-catch should help the Wizards space the floor, as they can shift him around the perimeter to create gravity for the defense. Shamet also does an excellent job of moving without the ball. That is evidenced by his ranking fourth in the NBA last season in average speed on offense (5.06 mph) among players who appeared in at least 20 games.

Corey Kispert also stays in constant motion when he’s on the floor and is also a dangerous catch-and-shoot scorer. Now the Wizards have two players like that, which should give head coach Wes Unseld Jr. more options as he aims to balance lineups with shooters. Both guys need little daylight to make teams pay for leaving them open.

Corner threes a specialty

As Shamet moves around the court looking for catch-and-shoot opportunities, he often ends up in the corners where he has a knack for making shots. Shamet shoots 43.5% for his career from the corners. Over a quarter of his total 3-point attempts (25.5%) have been corner threes.

Both the ceiling and the floor for Shamet as a corner three shooter are very high. Last season he knocked down 46.7% from the corners, a career-high. The year before was a career-low, yet he still made 39.6% of his corner threes. He’s at-best elite and at-worst still very good.

Fast start as a 3-point shooter

In spite of being a role player and having been traded four times already in just five NBA seasons, Shamet has found remarkable consistency as an outside shooter. For his career, he averages exactly two made threes per game in 22.9 minutes.

Keeping that pace has left him in some exclusive company. He has 605 made threes in 302 career games, one of only 18 players in NBA history to have that many at this point in their careers. Only five players have done so with a higher 3-point percentage than Shamet (38.8%); Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Buddy Hield and Duncan Robinson. Shamet has played the fewest minutes of the 18 players by a long shot (6893).