raptors individual leaders

[Shaazzam]

Shooting 45% from three is disgusting. 50% is obscene.

[Rhettmatic]

Shooting 45% from three is disgusting. 50% is obscene.

Agreed. Kind of off-topic, but Carlos Delfino is currently shooting 40.5 per cent from three (on four attempts per game), versus 40.6 per cent overall (on 7.9 attempts). Strange.

[Duncanfan]

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And, lest we slip entirely into the realm of fantasy, let's not talk about Jose creating his own shot shall we? Calderon is a wonder coming off screens, either to shoot or drive, but he couldn't create his own shot with a set of detailed instructions. (Sarcastic? Yes, but also mostly true)[/url]

That says it all. You'd never agree with anyone as you clearly don't like Jose. Whatever floats your boat man. So lets just throw stats and common sense out of the window and why not just admit that your dislike for Jose will never let you even consider the possiblity of his becoming an even better shooter. Ofcourse, Kapono shot 50% right out of his mother's womb and constant improvement with his shot has nothing to do with it. And since Jose didn't come out a dead-eye shooter when he was born, he'd never become a better shooter. How dare he even think of becoming an even better shooter? He's supposed to be a below-average backup PG and doesn't deserve to improve... You win man.. I can't win when clearly, Kapono is the second coming of Sharp-shooting Jesus..

[Fenris-77]

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That says it all. You'd never agree with anyone as you clearly don't like Jose. Whatever floats your boat man. So lets just throw stats and common sense out of the window and why not just admit that your dislike for Jose will never let you even consider the possiblity of his becoming an even better shooter.

Egad man! Whatever gave you the idea that I don't like Calderon? Just because I said he can't create his own shot? (and he can't) Calderon has been absolutely superb for the Raps this season, and I'll be the first guy to say his production, from a stats perspective this time, is fantastic.

My assertion that Calderon is unlikely to become a .500 from three guy also has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not I like him. It's not my fault you've chosen such an unlikely accomplishment for him, is it? Nor is my fault that you seem to lack perspective when you start casually tossing stats around. Lot's of fantastic shooters never shoot .500 from three, and that fact doesn't detract from their skills in the slightest.

Ofcourse, Kapono shot 50% right out of his mother's womb and constant improvement with his shot has nothing to do with it. And since Jose didn't come out a dead-eye shooter when he was born, he'd never become a better shooter. How dare he even think of becoming an even better shooter? He's supposed to be a below-average backup PG and doesn't deserve to improve... You win man.. I can't win when clearly, Kapono is the second coming of Sharp-shooting Jesus..

Wow. That's a lot of bile there son. Chill. Don't hate because you didn't do your research before you posted.

Kapono's shooting at historic levels, and none of your sarcasm changes that. Nor will your sarcasm change how difficult it is to shoot .500 from three. You do what you like, but I'm going to enjoy Calderon's game more or less the way it is, without the hyperbole.

[I_Like_Dirt]

However, I think both he and Kapono would be more effective if they took more shots, even if it caused those superhuman percentages to dip a bit.

That's pretty much the long and the short of it. On offense you ultimately want to get the best possible percentage shot possible. Right now the Raptors have some players shooting absolutely ridiculous percentages from 3 including Kapono, Parker, Calderon, Delfino, Dixon ( !!!! ) and even Bargnani. The biggest issue is that most of them won't take very many of them even when they're open.

Dixon and Bargnani clearly have no issues taking their share of shots although it could be argued that both would be more effective taking more 3s and less 2s (Andrea, though, really needs to work on his 2s). Both players average over 18 shot attempts per 48 minutes and Andrea even averages 6 attempted 3s per game. All those shot attempts despite both guys shooting below .400 overall for the season.

Delfino gets pretty shot happy at times and is amazingly inconsistent with his shot but he still manages to pump up a team-high 7.9 3-pointers per 48 minutes. This has a lot to do with the fact that he's solid at creating his own 3-pointer but not very good at creating anything else for himself so despite shooting a lot of 3s he only averages 15 shots per 48 minutes (over half of his shots are 3s ).

This brings us to the last, and arguably best of the bunch: Kapono, Parker and Calderon. All of these guys are shooting epically high percentages (has there ever been a team with 3 guys who shot better than 46% on 3s?). Despite their ridiculous percentages, they're some of the most hesitant shooters on the team. Kapono, who can't create his own shot and hasn't quite fit into the ball-movement schemes run towards Calderon's strengths, only takes 16.1 shots, including 4.7 3-pointers, per 48 minutes. Parker seems to fit in better with the setup so he manages to get 5.9 3 point attempts per 48 minutes but his shot is so slow that he's only able to take wide-open 3s and is of very little use inside the 3-point line where he takes less than 10 shots per 48 minutes.

Calderon, however, is by far the worst of the bunch. Part of this is the fact that it's his responsibility to ensure a diversified offense, but part of that responsibility includes getting the ball to the most effective offensive option and there's no denying that there are plenty of times where he's it. Despite his insane shooting percentages he averages a ridiculously low 13.7 shots per 48 minutes including a paltry 3.6 3-pointers per 48. Shot selection is an incredibly important part of being a great team player in the NBA however it is definitely possible to carry it too far. If Jose can maintain those percentages while shooting more then it's on him to actually do so (within reason) and improve the overall efficiency of the offense. If he can't, then perhaps he really isn't the great shooter that his percentages would initially indicate and, although he's still a great shooter, perhaps he's more than a step or two behind Kapono.

Edited to add:

The amazing thing is that the poster who suggested that it was a matter of sample size (i.e. that Jose plays more minutes and therefore has taken more 3-pointers) has a lot less of a point than might at first be assumed. Despite playing ~60% more minutes than Kapono (1553 to 996) this season Calderon has only managed to take ~22% more 3-pointers (443 to 334).