Mike Woodson, who has appeared loath to start Iman Shumpert, said the third-year swingman will get the nod at shooting guard for Thursday’s preseason game.
But he also stated Shumpert and J.R. Smith will both have an equal shot at the job once the latter gets back from his knee injury and the suspension that will follow.
Shumpert is a withering defender who Woodson wants to see improve his pick-and-roll offense and point-guard skills. Smith is an explosive scorer who clearly must improve his defense.
“I like to think J.R. will have gotten better and learned from last year … from a defensive standpoint,’’ Woodson said. “Iman brings it defensively, and I think Iman has gotten a bit better offensively too in terms of how he’s doing things on the floor. But I want more. I want him to be a better pick-and-roll player, I want him to run our team when he has the ball in his hands.
“I want him to be smarter defensively. Tomorrow night, when we leave here and head to Baltimore, he’ll be in the starting lineup. I’m working his way in. A lot of it early in camp, he wasn’t healthy enough. He was struggling with some things, too. Those are some things you guys don’t know.’’
Whether it’s because of newcomer Andrea Bargnani’s noted defensive woes or simply personal preference, Woodson has repeatedly and steadfastly maintained throughout training camp he’d prefer to go with a bigger, more traditional shooting guard rather than the two-point guard lineup he often used last season.
“I’ve always said I wanted to go this year with a bigger two [guard],’’ said Woodson. “Unfortunately J.R. hasn’t been in camp to fight for it, and right now Iman’s ahead of schedule, so he’s going to be the guy who’s going to end up being in there. So that’s kind of how it’s looking right now.’’
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Point guard Beno Udrih practiced Monday and Tuesday, signs his elbow is doing fine. … Woodson said the three-way battle for the last big-man spot on the roster could well go right down to the wire. He also thought 15-23 minutes was a good figure for managing Amar’e Stoudemire’s playing time, but until the 30-year-old actually starts playing, it’s hard to tell exactly how best to manage him this year.
“We’ve just got to figure out if it’s going to be 10 minutes, 15, 20,’’ said Woodson. “We don’t know at this point until he’s back on the floor and seeing how things are going.’’