LeBron James compares Iman Shumpert to Kawhi Leonard
By Tom West
LeBron James has given Iman Shumpert some high praise.
For Iman Shumpert to ever be compared to Kawhi Leonard in any regard is incredibly high praise. One is a solid shooting guard and good perimeter defender, the other is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, an NBA Champion and a Finals MVP. In short, there’s no way to really compare the two.
However, LeBron James has recently spoken very highly of his Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, and mentioned his energy and defense in the same breath as Leonard’s (per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com):
"“He probably has the best hands in the NBA along with Kawhi Leonard, as far as defensively,” James said, before the Cavs’ shootaround at TD Garden in preparation for an evening tilt with the Boston Celtics.“He just plays, it’s just very, very good basketball,” James said of Shumpert. “His energy level is at an all-time high, he doesn’t go below 100, which is incredible. He brings something fierce, a competitive nature to our team.”"
As teammates, it’s fair enough that LeBron praises others for their strengths. And now that Shumpert has finally returned to play after missing the first six weeks of the season due to wrist surgery, it makes even more sense for LeBron to be excited and throw around some compliments. Also, seeing as Shumpert scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the 24 minutes he played during his return, he earned a warm welcome.
While any scoring is helpful, he’s extremely valuable to the Cavaliers for his perimeter defense. As LeBron said, he plays with great energy, he gets his hands up to contest shots and bother opponents, and he’s their second best option behind James when it comes to ranking their perimeter defenders. Now that Shumpert is back, their defense instantly gets better.
Last season, players shot a slight 1.9 percent lower than normal from three point range when guarded by Shumpert, and the Cavs allowed an entire 6.8 less points per 100 possessions with him on the floor.
Yet, while that’s all well and good, is there any way he should be compared in any defensive aspect to Kawhi Leonard? Of course not. Leonard is one of the only players who can stop LeBron or any other elite scorer for that matter, and he can guard any perimeter position or smaller big men to incredible effect.
He can stop players on defense that few (if any) others can, and can create stops by smothering players on the perimeter or grabbing steals all over the floor to spark the Spurs’ transition offense. That’s why he’s the best defensive player in the game.
Yes, Shumpert is a good defender, but Leonard is on a completely different level.