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Second-Round Candidate: Landry Shamet

ID CARD: 6-foot-5¼ point guard, Wichita State, sophomore, 21 years old

DRAFT RANGE: Ranked 49th by ESPN.com; 50th by SI.com; 11th among guards by NBA.com

SCOUTS LOVE: His 3-point shot is Shamet’s carrying tool. His agent calls him the best shooter in the draft and Shamet exudes boundless confidence in his shooting ability. As the rare top-100 recruit to Wichita State, Shamet was on track to contribute behind the Fred Van Vleet-Ron Baker backcourt as a freshman but a foot injury limited him to two games and induced a redshirt year. Shamet hit 44 percent from the 3-point arc in both his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons while starting 68 of 69 games. Shamet also exhibited poise and floor vision, registering 5.2 assists and just 2.1 turnovers in more than 30 minutes a game while earning first-team all-conference honors. It probably won’t hurt Shamet’s evaluation that both Van Vleet and Baker made NBA rosters – and quickly moved into their team’s rotations – despite going undrafted out of Wichita State under Gregg Marshall.

SCOUTS WONDER: Though Shamet has very good size for a point guard, his relatively short wing span (6-foot-6¾), slight frame (188 pounds) and perceived middling athleticism casts doubt on his ability to make his way. Shooting overcomes plenty of shortcomings, but it’s tougher to judge the smarts and intangibles necessary to atone for athletic deficiencies. While Shamet has plenty of experience running a team in college, his ability to do it effectively at the NBA level is a question mark given the doubts about his quickness, explosion and strength. Those doubts were hardly dispelled at the NBA draft combine, where Shamet showed he could shoot but perhaps didn’t assuage misgivings about other parts of his game.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 65.5 – That was Shamet’s true shooting percentage – a figure that factors in free throw shooting and accounts for the value of a 3-point shot over a 2-pointer – which figures to endear him to front offices that place a premium on shot selection and efficiency, which is virtually every front office going today.

MONEY QUOTE: “I try to stay solid. I don’t ever try to make spectacular plays. I try to do just what I feel I can do, play multiple positions – on or off the ball, feel comfortable at either spot, honestly, whether it’s facilitating, scoring, whatever the case may be. I feel like I have a high basketball IQ, as well, just a cerebral player. Not going to wow you with crossing people up or doing things a lot of guys in the limelight do all the time, but I feel like I’m a solid player – pretty steady across the board.” – Landry Shamet at the NBA draft combine last month.

PISTONS FIT: The Pistons are pretty heavy in the backcourt for 2018-19 with Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith as the 1-2 punch at point guard, an option on Dwight Buycks’ contract to be the No. 3 point guard, Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard to occupy the 48 minutes at shooting guard and Langston Galloway as insurance at both spots. But they could still find Shamet intriguing for his shooting, intelligence, size and versatility with an eye toward 2019-20 and beyond.

BOTTOM LINE: Shamet isn’t the type of player who leaps off of videotape and he might not be the guy you’d pick out in layup line as being a standout. But his shooting range and discipline in shot selection give him a foothold on finding his niche in the NBA and his intelligence and demeanor should allow him to reach whatever his ceiling might be. He might not be a pure point guard but in an era that puts a premium on deploying multiple shooters, ballhandlers and playmakers that no longer should limit his appeal or his ability to contribute.