Landry Shamet has a fan in Knicks coach Mike Brown
Landry Shamet of the New York Knicks reacts after a three-point basket during the first half against the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If there was a common thread throughout Landry Shamet’s first season in New York, it was the belief that Tom Thibodeau had in the journeyman’s potential. That belief was there even after he suffered a shoulder separation in preseason; the Knicks waived him but brought him back when he was healed after missing the first 28 games of the season. With his sixth different team in seven seasons, Shamet seemingly had found a home.
Then Thibodeau was fired. Shamet was without a contract and came to training camp on a non-guaranteed deal, competing for the last spot on the roster and having to do it with a new coach who had no allegiance to him.
“This league throws a lot at you,” Shamet told Newsday late Friday night after putting together a career-best performance, scoring 30 of his 36 points in the second half to help a shorthanded Knicks squad beat Miami, 140-132. “Nobody feels sorry for anyone. There’s no time to. There’s challenges and they just look different year in and year out.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to find value, just hanging your hat on things that you can control outside of all of that stuff because that’s outside of my control. I can’t control who the coach is. I can’t control what deals I have coming in or don’t have coming in, if it’s guaranteed, non-guaranteed. All that stuff is beyond myself. And so at the end of the day, hanging your hat on what you can and trusting that that will play out and take care of itself.”
In camp, Malcolm Brogdon opted for retirement. Garrison Mathews was waived. Shamet was left standing and quickly found in Mike Brown a coach who, like Thibodeau, believes in him.
In the Knicks’ first 12 games, he already has started three times — after not starting once last season — and with Jalen Brunson sidelined with a sprained right ankle Friday and OG Anunoby lost after five minutes to a strained left hamstring, the Knicks needed help. It came from Shamet with a career-high scoring night.
He already had made a mark on Brown with his work on the defensive end as well as his ability to execute the cuts that Brown seeks in his offense, creating openings for himself and others. After shooting 39.7% from beyond the arc last season, Shamet currently is shooting a career-best 44.6%, connecting on 25 of 56 three-point field-goal attempts.
“As a new coach, you watch the tape from last year, and what I saw last year, I think he shot almost 40% from the three,” Brown said. “But more than anything else, defensively, you feel him defensively. He moves his feet very well. He’s longer and stronger than what you think. He plays his behind off chasing guys, playing the pick-and-roll, and then he plays with pace.
“His gravity is unbelievable. We do a lot of cutting in our offense, and when he cuts from point A to point B, he gets there like this,” Brown added, snapping his fingers. “He was open a lot just off of his cuts. But more importantly, because he cuts so hard, his feet are set. So it’s like a shot that we all practice every day, just a catch-and-shoot shot.
“His pace in the frontcourt, along with his gravity, is unbelievable, and then he’s a threat to shoot it. People can sleep on him if they want, but if you think about him at Wichita State, he was a point guard then, and he was extremely athletic.
“He’ll dunk on you in a heartbeat, so it’s not just about his shooting. He’ll snap drive because you’re closing out to him because he can shoot the ball unbelievably, and he’s making great decisions.
“Is he shooting the pull-up, which he can make, or is he getting to the rim and dunking on you? You could see that on film last year, and so I was definitely a fan of his. It’s just about all of us getting comfortable with him on the floor, doing the things that he’s showing he can do.”
If his teammates and his coach already had a belief and a knowledge of what he can contribute, Shamet earned the affection of the 19,812 fans at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. He got a huge ovation when he went to the bench after a 15-point third quarter, and when he returned quickly and immediately sank another three-point field goal, the crowd began chanting his name.
“These fans know I love them,” Shamet said. “I’ll say that until I’m blue in the face. I love it, I love the energy every night. [NBA] Cup game on a Friday, it’s about as good as it gets in the regular season, so it was a lot of fun.”
Big numbers in short time
Last week Brown paused his postgame media session to ask if anyone had ever seen what Mitchell Robinson had accomplished — grabbing nine offensive rebounds in 16 minutes.
Robinson followed that the next game by recording a +40 rating in 16 minutes and 36 seconds against the Nets. He became the first player in NBA history since the numbers began being kept to post that high a plus/minus in less than 20 minutes.
On Friday, Brown glossed over Robinson grabbing eight offensive rebounds in 14 minutes.
“I am getting a little jaded,” Brown joked. “I am because Mikal [Bridges] had seven steals. Landry had 36 [points]. Jordan [Clarkson] had 24. [Karl-Anthony Towns] had 39. Josh [Hart] had a triple-double. More importantly, we had eight turnovers.
“ . . . I’m a long-winded guy, as you guys all know, and I felt like I was going too long, so I didn’t want to rehash or revisit. Freaking Mitch Robinson! Oh my God! Eight freaking offensive rebounds! Way to go Mitch!”
KAT’s deep comfort zone
The NBA’s three-point line is as far out as 23 feet and 9 inches deep and as close as 22 feet in the corners, where most teams strive to find shots. But while Brown has tried to get Towns more opportunities in the corners, he hit all six of his three-point field goals Friday from the top — with room to spare. His first three came from 26 feet, then 28, 24, 26, 26 and finally 31.
When he was asked if there is a distance from which he has to adjust his form, he thought for a moment and said, “Past half-court. I just catch the ball and shoot it. It just feels comfortable to me at this point in my career.”
This isn’t new. Towns already has won a three-point competition at NBA All-Star Weekend, but when he scored 31 of his 39 points in the first half Friday, he seemed to be in a special zone.
He insisted it wasn’t. “That 31 in the first half, I didn’t feel like I was really in the zone,” he said. “I’ve had those days when I was in the zone: 44 in the first half [against Charlotte in January 2024] and 32 in the third quarter in San Antonio [in 2022]. Those are the ones where I felt I was in the zone. You just kind of lose perspective of life. You don’t feel nothing. You just shoot the ball and it goes in.
“I think [Friday] I was just being super-aggressive. In the first half, I got a lot of opportunities with the ball in my hand and just wanted to capitalize even when I missed. My teammates did a great job of getting the offensive rebound and getting it back to me, trusting me to shoot a two-for-one, and I was glad I was repaying that trust with actual makes. It was a good first half, but at the end of the day, what’s more impressive is we were able to close the game out and do it against a really good team, a team that’s had our number already once this year.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
