Shaun Livingston Scouting Report: Anecdotes From Players, Coaches, And Writers (Photo: AP via CSNBayArea.com)
The Golden State Warriors and, in particular, general manager Bob Myers won’t be able to comment on the impending signing of free agent Shaun Livingston until after the NBA moratorium on free agency ends July 10th, so until then, here are some anecdotes from around the league and locally.
“Golden State made it clear,” reported David Aldridge on NBATV, “They thought he would make a signficant upgrade for them at the backup point guard position, behind Stephen Curry next season.”
“I love the move. He’s a versatile guard, who can fit right in,” Curry informed Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, by text message.
DraftExpress reported, after Livingston blew out his knee:
Can make plays for others. Has good ball handling skills. Sees the court very well. Can make passes that shorter points guards can’t. Rebounds the ball fairly well for his position. Developed his point guard skills at Peoria Central High School before declaring for the draft. May have to redefine his game once he returns. Could definitely stand to improve his jumper. Faces an uphill battle.
His height at 6’7″ is an obvious advantage. Before leaving for the NBA Draft from high school in 2004, before the NBA instituted its current one-year-of-college minimum, Livingston had committed to Duke University.
As told in a skillfully written tale of Livingston’s journey written by Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski emailed Abrams, “The main thing about Shaun was his ability to pass the ball. With his height, he was able to see some things that a normal point guard wouldn’t see. Even with his height, he was able to penetrate and make plays. He’s a beautiful player. Passing is one of the main things in our game that takes it to a whole other level. Shaun could do that as well as anybody.”
In Abrams’ story, Livingston’s first high school coach, Bobby Darling, said, “He didn’t take enough shots. He didn’t get enough rebounds. He didn’t dive on the floor. I would not be surprised when I saw the box scores: He would play 23 minutes and take three shots and have three or four rebounds. I would think that’s a lot of time to only take three shots and grab four rebounds. But I think some of that is just the way Shaun plays the game. He’s just very unselfish. To me, if you could put studs all around Shaun, then he would be great.”
His second high school coach, Chuck Buescher said to Abrams about Livingston, “His injuries, it has taken stuff away. But if I was a good team, if I had Kobe Bryant or I had Carmelo Anthony, why wouldn’t I want him to pass them the ball in a good place? Because he would.”
Taken on the whole, Warriors beatwriters have expressed cautious optimism.
Adam Lauridsen of the San Jose Mercury called the impending signing an “unqualified success”, while describing Livingston’s strengths on both offense and defense, and Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN said:
Livingston is a guy you can trust with the rock, as he can drive, dish and post up depending on the situation. What he can’t do is shoot 3-pointers, a staple of Golden State’s perimeter offense. Though he has yet to develop the skill, his .827 free throw mark might speak to some potential in that area.
However, Marcus Thompson and Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group have a few concerns.
“Yes, they need a back-up point guard, someone who can run the show. But they also need a playmaker, someone who can take-over, someone who can score when needed,” Thompson wrote, “I think they got the former in Livingston. I’m not sure they got the latter.”
“He will be the Warriors’ best back-up PG since (Jarrett) Jack)… and in a few ways he’ll be better than Jack. In several ways, he will be worse,” Kawakami wrote, “I just think Livingston came fairly expensively, but if he’s a 20-25-minute a game guy, and a plus on defense, I will revise that opinion.”
While these aforementioned beatwriters all felt that Livingston’s acquisition will have little impact on the pursuit of Kevin Love, which might necessitate losing Klay Thompson, Strauss wrote, “Should the Warriors cast aside their reluctance and deal Thompson for Love, they can ask Livingston to fill in for Thompson defensively.”
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