The-Power wrote:eminence wrote:The-Power wrote:Could you provide a list of current players which have had dramatic improvements once they got to the NBA? If it's so common, it shouldn't be hard and perhaps we could add some more context to the claim. And I'm not talking about improving a couple percentage points from 3, improving on tiny samples from one year to the next or adding a spot-up 3pt shot after being solid in the midrange already – dramatic improvements to me implies something much more fundamental. And I hold that it's way less common than draft people tend to believe and contend.
Kawhi is the dream outcome (not counting bigs who'd never shot out there before but have adapted to the new NBA). But I agree it's quite rare (and potentially becoming more so with the increased focus on shooting at earlier levels).
Going much further back, for the Jazz Karl Malone slowly turned himself into a good shooter, though not out to 3 point range. So I always think of him when the conversation is had.
Kawhi is a good mention and saw a big improvement. But even his improvement in terms of efficiency mostly came from college to the NBA. In the NBA he was an efficient 3pt shooter from pretty much day one, albeit on low volume. He worked on consistency and enhanced his volume, in part because he added a pull-up shot to his repertoire which
may qualify him for the ‘dramatic improvement’ label.
This is kind of a silly discussion. The twins shot around 30% from 3 last season. Do we really need to list all the guys who shot 30% or worse from 3 in their pre-draft year and ended up being decent shooters in the NBA? Cause it's a long freaking list lol.
All of these guys end up being respectable shooters in the NBA:
Anthony Edwards shot 29% from 3 in college
Jaylen Brown shot 30% from 3 in college
Tyrese Maxey shot 29% from 3 in college
Kawhi 29%
Scottie Barnes 27%
Jimmy Butler 38% but on basically zero volume - way less volume than the twins
Middleton 26% from 3 as a junior in college
Caleb Martin 30% as a freshman in college
Caruso 26% as a freshman in college
Bruce Brown 26% his last year of college
Morant 30% as a freshman
De'Aaron Fox 24% in college
Kuzma 30% career shooter from 3 in 3 college seasons
Giddey 29% from 3 in his pre-draft year
Lamelo 27% from 3 in his pre-draft year
Lu Dort 30% from 3 in college
Jrue Holiday 30% from 3 in college
Baron Davis 30% from 3 as a freshman
Rajon Rondo 27% from 3 as a sophomore, and then shot the lights out in the bubble
Alec Burks 29% from 3 as a sophomore
Reggie Bullock 29% from 3 as a freshman
Isaiah Thomas 29% from 3 as a freshman
Jeff Green 27% from 3 as a rookie..and that was after playing 3 seasons of college ball
David Roddy 19% from 3 as a freshman to 43% as a junior
Kobe Brown 25% as a freshman, 20% as a sophomore to 45% as a senior
Should I go on?
Ok. All these guys either shot 30% or worse during their pre-draft year or they shot such low volume that their 3 FG% doesn't matter:
Grant Williams
Kelly Olynyk
Anthony Davis
Mike Muscala
Marc Gasol
Jusuf Nurkic
Brook Lopez
Al Horford
Jonas Valanciunas
John Collins
Agbaji shot 30% as a freshman, and then 40% as a senior.
Jordan Walsh shot 27% as a freshman, and 36% so far in the G League.
I mean, the average 3 FG% for all the guys in the 2023 draft class was 31% last season. The twins were around 30%. They weren't even that bad of shooters. Especially considering the volume they were shooting (especially Ausar) and the steady improvement in their 3 FG% that both of them (especially Ausar) showed throughout the course of last season.
Then there's also guards/wings who never really became very good shooters in the NBA but still ended up being very good NBA players:
Jimmy Butler
Demar Derozan
Marcus Smart
Westbrook
John Wall
Derrick Rose