Alexey Shved impressed Phil Jackson
Alexey Viktorovich Shved is a Russian professional basketball player who plays for Khimki of the VTB United League. Standing at 1.98 meters, he plays at the shooting guard and point guard positions.
Shved recently inked a three-year, $10.2 million deal with Russian basketball team Khimki Moscow. And the Knicks recently signed former Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic to play the guard role that Shved filled briefly last season. But Shved impressed Phil Jackson, but not enough to net him the money he wanted to stay in New York.
26-year-old guard, expected more, over the vet Vujacic, Jackson said to the sources “You never know what he’s going to do every time he has the ball, but he’s tricky when he gets to the hoop and he’s an outstanding interior passer,” Jackson tells Rosen. “He’s an erratic shooter because his release is a little low, so most of his misses are front-rimmers. Also, he’s not very strong so the slightest bump can derail him. It’ll be up to him how hard he wants to work on his strength during the offseason. But he’s certainly a welcome addition.”
He also mentioned about why two other Knicks free agents, Jason Smith and Shane Larkin, didn’t return. On Smith, who signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the Magic in the offseason, Jackson says: “You can tell by his demeanor that he’s not happy coming off the bench. He was pressed into a starter’s role because Andrea Bargnani was out, but since he’s been coming off the bench, Jason hasn’t been shooting well and is much less active on defense,” and Larkin signed with the Nets in the offseason.
