true or false, Julius Erving did not have a good midrange game

[tommyhtc]

I wasn't old enough to watch him on a daily basis,

but from the games I've watched so far,

most notably the 1977 finals, 1980 finals and some 80s games,
it seems that Julius erving lacked a good midrange game that could have put him in another level.

he was absolutely amazing in driving to the rim,
but I barely saw him having amazing footwork in the perimeter, or have a go-to move in the perimeter.

like MJ and Kobe's fadeaways, T-mac or durant's pull up jumpshot..

is it true that Dr.j didn't have an elite midrange game or is it me who is ignorant?

[Teanett]

he never had a dog either.

[tommyhtc]

he never had a dog either.

[Legends66NBA7]

I remember reading an article by Charley Rosen back on Fox Sports, about the various interviews and quotes he had from numerous ex-pro basketball players.

I can't find that link right now, but Rosen asked Erving a similar question about why he didn't work on a jump shot during his earlier years (if IIRC) ?

Erving's answer: "Because, I don't have too."

So yes, I believe going by that alone, I don't believe he had a good mid-range game.

[tommyhtc]

I remember reading an article by Charley Rosen back on Fox Sports, about the various interviews and quotes he had from numerous ex-pro basketball players.

I can't find that link right now, but Rosen asked Erving a similar question about why he didn't work on a jump shot during his earlier years (if IIRC) ?

Erving's answer: "Because, I don't have too."

So yes, I believe going by that alone, I don't believe he had a good mid-range game.

and that I believe really affected his game late in his career...

with less athleticism, his game was much less effective...

by the way, it was his stupid 1 on 1 game with kareem that really exposed his terriblie jumpshot.

[heavensdevil]

Haven't seen a lot of dr.j games, however from the ones I did see, his jumper is mediocre @ best, and he wasn't all that impressive except for plays where he was in transition.

[Rake2204]

I'd be curious to learn more about the specific in's and out's of Erving's game as well. Through one means or another, he was a 22ppg NBA scorer for his career (24ppg overall). If he couldn't shoot well, it almost makes that number more impressive. Teams had to have known he was a slash-first guy, but it did not seem to matter much.

Also, interesting random post from someone regarding Erving's ABA highs:

The 1975-76 ABA Guide shows Erving's ABA career highs, through the 1974-75 season, as follows. Regular Season: PTS 63, REB 28, AST 11; Playoffs: PTS 53, REB 32, AST 15. As noted above, it is possible that Erving may have exceeded these totals during the 1975-76 season.

I personally did not know Erving's ABA highs, so that's all news to me (if accurate).

[madmax17]

Nothing strange about that, when you're so good at doing one thing, driving to the rim in this case, you don't need to work on other areas.

[tommyhtc]

Haven't seen a lot of dr.j games, however from the ones I did see, his jumper is mediocre @ best, and he wasn't all that impressive except for plays where he was in transition.

again, from what I've seen, Dr.J has a killer first step and pretty good handles, so he can still do pretty well in half-court games... but I don't whether it's the lack of defense, or whether he is simply too good, it seems that he seldom, if not never, had to pull-up for a jumpshot.

Nothing strange about that, when you're so good at doing one thing, driving to the rim in this case, you don't need to work on other areas.

I can actually be confident in saying that rose and westbrook are better shooters than Dr.j, and they were pretty good in slashing as well.

Prime Jordan was virtually unguardable when he drives,
but that didn't stopped him from developing an elite jumper..

[CavaliersFTW]

False, he could dunk from mid-range thus making all mid-range shots if he wanted too

[chips93]

he could make a lot of tough floaters from the mid range, and had a nice back shot, from the limited games ive seen

[eliteballer]

The Doctor didnt have much of a shot, common knowledge.

[Owl]

Haven't seen enough to say authoratitively. Certainly not on midrange game as a whole.
His shooting touch from the line 77.7% indicates his shooting touch was fine for a small forward from midrange.

But I do recall a story about Erving and someone else (Pete Vecsey I think, maybe) and Erving was saying he wasn't sure about a very young MJ and the other guy (Vecsey?) says "He's you with a jump shot.". Which indicates a lack of respect for his jumper as weapon.

Perhaps his J was okay, but with quite limited range. Not entirely sure.

[Kblaze8855]

Depends on the standard set. he couldnt shoot like Jordan, Kobe, or anyone who comesu p when we talk the top midrange shooters. But nobody was surprised when he wet a pullup jumper. It wasnt a "Oh...well if hes gonna make that hes unstoppable!" thing that happened once in a blue moon. You watch some of the ABa finals on youtube hes seen pulling up for jumpers from good ranges and making shots with nobody acting surprised by it. Out about 15 feet making turnaround bank shots early in the shot clock. 77 finals game 6 he just came down and rose up from 16 or so feet and made plenty of jumpers. he didnt drop 40 off all dunks.

Im reasonably sure the last shot of his career was a 3 vs the Bucks that hardly caught anyone by surprise. Plus he was a decent to good Ft shooter and got up as high as 85% one season.

He wasnt a guy you were shocked to see make a midrange jumper in traffic like say...Sonics era Desmond Mason.

It just wasnt noteworthy.

[bwink23]

and that I believe really affected his game late in his career...

with less athleticism, his game was much less effective...

by the way, it was his stupid 1 on 1 game with kareem that really exposed his terriblie jumpshot.

If you judging his jumpshot in his PLAYING DAYS by his old-ass man jumpshot...you got ISSUES.