mreinman wrote:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/sports/basketball/18threes.html?_r=1&In Its 30th Year in N.B.A., 3-Pointer Is No Outsider
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By JONATHAN ABRAMS
Published: October 17, 2009
Raja Bell used to approach 3-pointers with trepidation. Before and after each shot, he looked for Coach Mike D’Antoni’s approval when they were with the Phoenix Suns. D’Antoni nudged, then pushed him to take more 3s. And Bell, like a lot of his peers, finally let loose beyond the arc.
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David Richard/Associated Press
The Cavaliers’ LeBron James making a 3-pointer against the Magic in the playoffs last season. But it was Orlando, which emphasizes 3-point shooting, which made it to the N.B.A. finals.
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The Rise of the 3-Point Shot
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The Rise of the 3-Point Shot
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Knicks Try to Make Progress on Court and With the Fans (October 18, 2009)
“I’d always tell him if he thought he could make it, then go ahead,” D’Antoni said recently. “When they know they can let it go, there’s no turning back.”
The N.B.A. has hardly looked back since introducing the 3-pointer 30 years ago. The shot and its usefulness have revolutionized the game. It has evolved from a gimmick adapted from the American Basketball Association to a tactic for overcoming large deficits, and now is a focal point in many N.B.A. offenses.
The 3-pointer does not guarantee success. But evidence suggests that it does not prevent success, either.
Much to D’Antoni’s delight, the Orlando Magic dispelled the notion that a team that relies on the 3-pointer could not reach the N.B.A. finals. Orlando reflects the trajectory the league has taken on the 3-pointer. Teams attempted a record 44,583 3-pointers in 2008-9. They made 36.68 percent, the second-highest success rate in league history. Teams converted 36.69 percent in 1995-96, when the 3-point line was a uniform 22 feet from the basket. Since 1997-98, the arc has ranged from 22 feet at the corners to 23 feet 9 inches.
Last season, D’Antoni’s Knicks set an N.B.A. record with 2,284 attempts, or nearly 28 a game. His Suns made the most 3-pointers in N.B.A. history with 837 in 2005-6. Bell’s attempts rose to 446 in 2005-6, his first season with Phoenix, from 134 with the Utah Jazz a season earlier.
Some purists bemoan the lost art of the midrange jump shot, a sign that fundamentals are being extinguished beneath a mix tape of long shots and slam dunks. As the N.B.A. slowly turns toward more analytical measures, the 3-pointer is viewed under a new prism.
The most ideal shot, Nets Coach Lawrence Frank said, is from the free-throw line because it almost always results in at least a point. The next-highest-percentage shot is at the rim. Three-pointers are next. But a team would have to shoot 60 percent on 2-pointers to match the offensive output of a team that shoots 40 percent from beyond the arc.
“Teams have all caught on to the whole points-per-possession argument,” Frank said.
The Magic successfully blended Dwight Howard in the post with potent 3-point shooters. Of all the Magic’s shots last season, 33.5 percent were 3-pointers, eclipsing the record of 33.1 percent set by the 2002-3 Boston Celtics.
“We all try to copycat each other in a way,” Magic General Manager Otis Smith said. “But there’s more versatility in our roster this way. We can play multiple ways. You have to make teams pay for their inability to rotate to shooters.”
The N.B.A. adopted the 3-pointer on a one-year trial because executives from the A.B.A. pushed for it after the leagues merged. Three seasons after its introduction in 1979-80, the Philadelphia 76ers, who took only 1.5 percent of their shots beyond the 3-point line, won the N.B.A. championship.
“Everyone thought you could affect the end of the game with a 3,” said Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president, who coached Denver at the time. “I don’t think anyone foresaw that teams would come down looking for it.”
In some ways, the Magic can be viewed as an evolved version of the successful Houston teams of the mid-1990s. The Rockets flanked Hakeem Olajuwon in the middle with shooters like Clyde Drexler, Robert Horry and Sam Cassell. The Magic broadened the approach, a reflection of the league over all.
In the place of the gritty power forwards like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, the N.B.A. now has the Magic’s Rashard Lewis, Dallas’s Dirk Nowitzki and the Knicks’ Al Harrington, chameleons who can post up, take defenders off the dribble and shoot from the perimeter. And the league freed offensive players from defensive hand checks, allowing smaller players to navigate the lane. Coaches use the 3-pointer to make the court longer and stretch defenses. Perimeter threats spot up while defenses break down, rotate and scramble.
“What has happened is kids have grown up with that line now,” said Boston Celtics Coach Doc Rivers, an N.B.A. player from 1983 to 1996. “And they’ve become excellent shooters behind the line, and it actually is a tool that teams can use. We didn’t shoot it because we couldn’t make it.”
Players love the freedom the 3-pointer gives them. When Antoine Walker was asked why he shot so many 3s for the Celtics, he memorably replied, “Because there ain’t no 4s.”
When Bell joined D’Antoni, he left Jerry Sloan’s bread-and-butter pick-and-roll system with the Jazz.
“Everybody wants a 3-point shot or a dunk,” Sloan told Utah reporters last season. “That’s the nature of coming out of college into this league.”
Bell is not the only player who flourished when given 3-point freedom. Harrington said Coach Rick Carlisle forbade him to take 3s when they were with Indiana. He went on to play for Don Nelson with Golden State and now for D’Antoni.
“When I first came in, you didn’t shoot them as much,” said Harrington, who entered the N.B.A. in 1998. “Now, you have teams that encourage you.”
As the 3-pointer has become more potent, defenses have had to adjust.
“Coaches teach that there are spots you don’t want to give up, like the corner 3 is one of the highest-percentage shots in the game,” the Nets’ Keyon Dooling said.
N.B.A. players are indeed most accurate from the corners. They shot 39.3 percent from the left side last season, 39.5 percent from the right side.
D’Antoni has played a part in the transformation. The basis of his offense, which emphasizes open looks, running and possessions, was developed in Italy, where D’Antoni coached for much of the 1990s.
“Guys just started shooting the ball so well from 3s, so why wouldn’t we shoot more?” he said. “If you do shoot 3s, then that’s really going to open up the basket, so it’s either layups or 3s.”
His philosophy is fairly simple, chaotic for defenses and emblematic of the changed perception of the 3-pointer.
“If we’re open, we’ll take it,” D’Antoni said. “No matter what. I’m not looking to see if we’ve got people under, I’m not looking for anything like that. If you’re open and you’re a good shooter, then take it.”
the best team shooting threes in the league were the spurs, they shot right at 40% and guess what, they shoot less threes than most teams in the league...
40% is not bad as DK and I stated that would be a starting point for us, and kevin love shoots 37% so what is your point..
no one is saying the three point shot is not needed. just that kevin love should be taking less.. why is that so hard for you to grasp... what is the point of this article?
It is funny that you are quoting Dantoni. He has some very good three point shooters on his team, but his offense started with pick and roll with amare, a very efficient offensive player inside and they worked inside out.. but again, look who he had shooting threes.. nash was a very good three point shooter, shot over 40% and at most he took only 4 per game... Raja Bell another 40+% shooter from three and he took only 3 per game.. the only guy he had shooting a lot of threes who really wasn't that accurate but hit volume was Q rich, and honestly he wasn't that good from two point range either..
5/28/2014 10:47 AM