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Originally Posted by Rake2204
I am in agreement with you. Like most topics, I think there's two sides to this story. All players obviously cannot be so choosy that they only opt to shoot when it's a wide open dunk. On the flip side, they also can't opt to shoot every single time down the floor.
The entire game of basketball consists of finding the right mix. Flat out chasing a points per game average without at least kind of taking efficiency into account would be and always has been very misguided. I had a teammate who seemed to be chasing a points quota my sophomore year. He took 70 more shots than anyone else on the team and shot at a 27% clip. It wasn't pretty.
Again though, on the other hand, if players are constantly thinking about their running field goal percentage, I can see how that'd be a detriment as well. I'd say the best goal would be to worry about taking good shots, period. If a player's taking shots that are of the highest quality for their team on a given possession, they should not worry about a thing. But if they're just out there firing up terrible shots because "that's how they play", then yes, a change might be in order.
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Agreed... especially with the bolded.
And some players rise from average to All-Stars once they start doing this.
A prime example is Tony Parker.
His first few years in the league, he was attempting a large amount of three pointers (trigger happy). And it wasn't always pretty because he had a faulty jump shot.
01-02: 2.5... 9.2 ppg (.42 FG%)
02-03: 3.0... 15.5 ppg (.46 FG%)
03-04: 2.7... 14.7 ppg (.45 FG%)
04-05: 2.0... 16.6 ppg (.48 FG%)
Then, in 2006, he stopped taking three's (in part due to Pop's orders), he became the most efficient PG in the league, one of the best finishers of all positions, and it opened things up for the Spurs shooters (as defenders collapsed on Parker).
05-06: 0.5... 18.9 ppg (.55 FG%)... first AS appearance
06-07: 0.5... 18.6 ppg (.52 FG%)... second AS appearance... Finals MVP.
Since then, Parker has been living in the paint and been the PG we pretty much all recognize today as efficient and taking the best shots for himself and the team. He's taken no where close to 3 three's a game since his sophomore season. At that time of his improvement, 05-07, Parker was also working with Chip Engelland to revamp his jumper, and it helped immensely (see: 07 playoffs). Nowadays, Parker's jumper is solid, but it took discipline and hard work.
Re: wade with a revealing quote about the changing mentality of NBA players
