DALLAS — When God Shammgod returns home to the people who watched his dribbling brilliance, there’s shock that he became famous for a move so low on his list of tricks — a swipe back crossover built with a quick redirection that’s still known as “The Shammgod.”
“It’s probably the worst move I’ve ever done,” Shammgod told The Post. “In New York, they’ve seen so many other stuff that I’ve done, they’re like, ‘They know you for that? With all the other stuff you were doing?’
“And I laugh. I relate it to 50 Cent. 50 Cent will always say he made all this great music, but everybody only wants to hear ‘In Da Club.’”
It was fitting that Shammgod, now an assistant coach in the NBA Finals for the Mavericks, compared himself to a rap artist. As he acknowledged in an interview before Game 2, hip hop shaped his life and career.
The influence was inevitable growing up in the 80s and 90s in Harlem, where his neighborhood friends included Mase, Cam’ron and Big L.
Shammgod was especially close with Mase, a quadruple platinum-selling rapper in the late 90s while on the Bad Boy label with Puff Daddy and Biggie Smalls.
“I remember one night, me and Mase being so close, we’re arguing, and I’m like, ‘You think you’re going to be Biggie Smalls? You’re never going to be Biggie Smalls.’ This is before he met Puff,” Shammgod said before his Mavericks fell in a 3-0 hole, falling 106-99 to the Celtics on Wednesday night in Dallas. “And he’s telling me, ‘Aww, you think you’re Isiah Thomas? You’re not Isiah Thomas. And then 10 years later, he’s Mase and I’m Shammgod.”
Shammgod starred at Providence, where his namesake move was presented to the masses during a 1997 game against Arizona.
But the point guard’s NBA career never took off after being selected 46th by the Wizards.
He believes the dribbling wizardry was ahead of his time and his NYC rubbed coaches the wrong way.
“I used to get ridiculed and benched in the NBA, ‘He dribbles too much, he’s over-dribbling,’” Shammgod said. “When I first got in the NBA — I left my sophomore year, I’m right before Jason Williams, White Chocolate, and stuff like that.
Villanova’s John Celestand during a Big East game in 1997. New York Post
“And I’m arguing. And they’re like, ‘He’s from New York, he’s arrogant, he’s cocky, he don’t want to listen.’ Because that’s our rep. So now 30 years later, I guess I was right. Because now if you don’t dribble the way I dribble, you can’t play in the NBA.”
Shammgod’s pro career was mostly overseas and finished in 2010.
He transitioned to coaching/training at Providence, where he was preparing Ricky Ledo for the NBA draft and was noticed by Mavericks player development director Mike Procopio.
A few years later, Mark Cuban hired Shammgod as specifically a player development coach. He works closely — and fittingly — with another dribbling savant, Kyrie Irving, whose father grew up in the same Bronx housing projects as Tiny Archibald.
Serendipitously, Archibald was Shammgod’s physical education teacher in middle school, becoming his inspiration for pursuing basketball.
It’s a New York City connection that Irving appreciates.
“[Shammgod’s] been imperative in just helping me grow, enjoying the game every single day, competing,” Irving said. “I feel like he’s just one of my uncles just from Harlem, New York, that’s there to give me a little s— when I need it but be honest all the time.”