Are we in the era of the NBA's greatest shooters ever?

[jlip]

Thread title...

I was looking at league shooting averages on bballref and when viewing 3pt% throughout history, as of today, this season has the highest league average for 3 pt% in history with a slight advantage over the 2009 season and the 1996 season that featured the shortened line. The 2017, 2018, and 2020 seasons are all in the top 11 along with the other seasons in which the line was shortened (e.g. 1995 and 1997.)

One could chalk the increased 3pt% in the modern era up to more spacing, more open 3 pt shots, and the increased focus on the 3 ball. This would not necessitate there being better shooters in this era, just different strategies.

In light of this, I decided to look at league averages for free throw shooting. Free throw shooting percentages are not impacted by defenses. Five of the top eight seasons for overall ft% in history are 2021, 2020, 2017, 2018, and 2019, in order. I think that only one of two conclusions can be drawn from this.

(a) The current era has the best shooters overall in league history.
(b) In the era of wings being the top scorers as opposed to big men, the better free throw shooters (wings) are shooting a higher proportion of the free throws as opposed to the worse free throw shooters (big men) which would bring down the average.

Thoughts?

[FultzNationRISE]

I think that's pretty obvious.

In the 90s they had to move the line in to accommodate MJ bc he couldn't shoot from too many feet away from the cup, wahhh

Fast forward to today and we got LeRange raining no-look logo shots like he's tossin crumpled up paper into a wastebasket.

There is no comparison.

[Reggie43]

Problem is you never accounted for the rule changes that enabled guys to be easily open for their shots but I agree that the increased focus on threes obviously made them better at that aspect of shooting.

[Marchesk]

Answer: players practice threes way more than they used to, so three point shooting ability has gone up. However, overall shooting has not improved that much.

[Spurs m8]

Probably...Its not like you're allowed to defend them

[Axe]

Did curry just tried to shoot a lot of threes because he's too lazy to do any other kind of shots

[72-10]

No, the NBA probably peaked as what was once the world's pre-eminent shooting league back in 1997-98. Most of the top 20 and top 50 shooters of all-time played in the 1980s and 1990s, including Drazen Petrovic, Allan Houston, Sam Cassell, Dan Majerle, Dale Ellis, B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson, Craig Hodges, Trent Tucker, Glenn Robinson, Steve Smith, Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Alex English, George Gervin, and Kobe Bryant.

a look at the best shooters the sport has had would look like this:

2. Ray Allen (90s and 00s)
3. Reggie Miller (80s and 90s)
4. Larry Bird (80s and 90s)
5. Dirk Nowitzki (00s and 10s)
6. Michael Jordan (80s and 90s)
7. Chris Mullin (80s and 90s)
8. Glen Rice (90s and 00s)

What would make you think that all-time top 20 shooters such as Bill Sharman, Jerry West and Pete Maravich didn't shoot well from great distances well beyond the three-point arc just because the line didn't exist yet?

Today's players have no mid-range shooting skills and instead resort to chucking up threes. Today's teams predicate an offense around three-point shooting because they think it's a more efficient offense due to the extra point, and cheat by setting hundreds of illegal screens in the process, which allows more open looks and allows the shooters a chance to set their feet on the shots, opening up relatively easy scoring opportunities for athletes with professional skill level at the sport.

[TAZORAC]

No, the NBA probably peaked as what was once the world's pre-eminent shooting league back in 1997-98. Most of the top 20 and top 50 shooters of all-time played in the 1980s and 1990s, including Drazen Petrovic, Allan Houston, Sam Cassell, Dan Majerle, Dale Ellis, B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson, Craig Hodges, Trent Tucker, Glenn Robinson, Steve Smith, Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Alex English, George Gervin, and Kobe Bryant.

a look at the best shooters the sport has had would look like this:

2. Ray Allen (90s and 00s)
3. Reggie Miller (80s and 90s)
4. Larry Bird (80s and 90s)
5. Dirk Nowitzki (00s and 10s)
6. Michael Jordan (80s and 90s)
7. Chris Mullin (80s and 90s)
8. Glen Rice (90s and 00s)

What would make you think that all-time top 20 shooters such as Bill Sharman, Jerry West and Pete Maravich didn't shoot well from great distances well beyond the three-point arc just because the line didn't exist yet?

Today's players have no mid-range shooting skills and instead resort to chucking up threes. Today's teams predicate an offense around three-point shooting because they think it's a more efficient offense due to the extra point, and cheat by setting hundreds of illegal screens in the process, which allows more open looks and allows the shooters a chance to set their feet on the shots, opening up relatively easy scoring opportunities for athletes with professional skill level at the sport.

Your list is a joke

Curry, Durant, Redick, Thompson, shoots better then everybody on your list