Too many 3’s

[elmer_yuck]

My prediction:
This season the majority of teams will shoot 40+ 3’s per game, and multiple teams will take over 50% of their shots from 3.
We’re already seeing this in preseason.
The Celtics won the championship using a volume 3 strategy. They’ve proven that it works, but it’s mind numbingly boring.
I’m not advocating getting rid of the 3 pointer, that would be ridiculous. But something needs to be done to bring the game back into balance.
Moving the line back won’t make much of a difference. Shooters are just too good.
Get rid of the corner 3.
If that doesn’t work, limit the number of 3 point attempts to 24 for the first 3 quarters. No limits in the 4th quarter.
They already keep track of 3 point attempts in the box score, so it would be easy to implement.

[Snappycoocoo]

We arnt much of a 3 point threat

[ontnut]

[Shakril]

My prediction:
This season the majority of teams will shoot 40+ 3’s per game, and multiple teams will take over 50% of their shots from 3.
We’re already seeing this in preseason.
The Celtics won the championship using a volume 3 strategy. They’ve proven that it works, but it’s mind numbingly boring.
I’m not advocating getting rid of the 3 pointer, that would be ridiculous. But something needs to be done to bring the game back into balance.
Moving the line back won’t make much of a difference. Shooters are just too good.
Get rid of the corner 3.
If that doesn’t work, limit the number of 3 point attempts to 24 for the first 3 quarters. No limits in the 4th quarter.
They already keep track of 3 point attempts in the box score, so it would be easy to implement.

Perfect example how not to analyze the game.

Celtics didnt win, cause the where shooting 3s, they won cause they have the complete package. Defense, Midrange, 3s, quality Players, etc.

Also, pre-Season is time of experementing. I doubt we will see that many 3s as soon as the season starts. Teams definitly will increase importance on chasing of the shooters from the 3 point line.

[elmer_yuck]

Celtics won because they had a great all around team, AND because they shot a ridiculous number of 3’s.
You can’t ignore the strategy they used.

[tsherkin]

Celtics won because they had a great all around team, AND because they shot a ridiculous number of 3’s.
You can’t ignore the strategy they used.

Boston was top 3 at either end during the playoffs. THey had been the best O and the 3rd-best D during the RS. Whilst they did lead the league in 3PAr, they were also the 2nd-best team in the league on 2pt FG%, and the 7th-best at FT%. They were the 6th-best team in the league shooting from 3-10 feet.

IOW, they did a lot more than just shoot a lot of 3s. It is also worth mentioning that they won the title with Tatum absolutely cratering in the Finals, he posted 22.2 ppg on 38.8% FG, 26.3% 3P and 50.5% TS. And they were STILL +2.6 ORTG over the Mavs. And a lot of the 3s they were taking were the product of other action. PnR, ball reversal into drives into kickouts, Tatum post-ups, that sort of thing. It's important to remember that a lot of the 3s get generated from classical action, but they're 3s instead of long 2s, that's the only real difference. Boston was fairly exaggerated in its usage, since nearly 50% of their shots were from 3, but they also lacked the talent to really hammer home shots at the rim, and they don't have someone like SGA who's an assassin from the elbows and the nail.

[ontnut]

The premise fails because GS and and SAC were the 2nd and 3rd teams with the most 3p makes last year, and neither made the playoffs.

Top 10 last year:
1 Boston 16.1
2 Golden State 14.7
3 Sacramento 14.4
4 Dallas 14.0
5 Milwaukee 14.0
6 Atlanta 13.7
7 Brooklyn 13.3
8 Okla City 13.2
9 Cleveland 13.1
10 Memphis 13.1

Half of the top 10 teams didn't make the playoffs. Maybe...the Celtics did something else OTHER than volume shoot 3 pointers on their way to a championship? Maybe it was more nuanced than that. Maybe there's more than one skill needed to win a NBA championship?

[ruckus]

While I agree that something should be done to normalize points per possession (ppp), I feel your prediction is flawed.

10 of the 16 playoff teams were in the bottom half of 3PA's per 100 possessions last season. 11 of the 16 playoff teams had a 3 pt attempt rate of under 40%. Thats not magically going to change over the course of a single season.

To your point however, those numbers will continue to creep up and we aren't that far off from the first 50% 3 pt attempt rate team.

Which goes back to normalizing the PPP. Last season the ppp for a 3 pt shot was slightly higher than that of a 2 pt shot. Any shot outside of the restricted area that isn't a 3 is a "bad" shot and is only useful to keep defenses honest.

I'd like to see a league experiment with getting rid of the paint and utilize scoring zones. Anything within 10 feet of the basket is 2 points, from 10 to 25 feet is 3 points and 25 feet out is 4 points. This system would also do away with free throws due to the removal of the paint.

[CPT]

While I agree that it is (or could be) a problem with the game, limiting the number of 3s is a crazy solution. I mean, I guess they just stop counting, as opposed to “you can’t shoot from there,” but still.

[HumbleRen]

Making a bunch of 3’s isn’t the answer.

It’s making those 3’s with a bunch of 2 way players on your team.

[elmer_yuck]

I think some of you are missing the point.
Whether Boston won because they have a great team, or they shot a lot of 3’s, or both, is not the point. The point is that all these 3’s make for a really boring game.
And it’s indisputable that teams are shooting more and more 3’s every year.

[UnRealGM]

I think some of you are missing the point.
The point is that all these 3’s make for a really boring game.

boring isn't always bad. i mean you could introduce a second ball in the 4th quarter, that certainly wouldn't be boring - doesn't necessarily make it better though.

[Brinbe]

the celtics can shoot well but they can do a lot well.

the 3s taking over the game thing is a seperate argument that has nothing to do with the celtics, that's the entire league. blame math and curry

[ontnut]

While I agree that something should be done to normalize points per possession (ppp), I feel your prediction is flawed.

10 of the 16 playoff teams were in the bottom half of 3PA's per 100 possessions last season. 11 of the 16 playoff teams had a 3 pt attempt rate of under 40%. Thats not magically going to change over the course of a single season.

To your point however, those numbers will continue to creep up and we aren't that far off from the first 50% 3 pt attempt rate team.

Which goes back to normalizing the PPP. Last season the ppp for a 3 pt shot was slightly higher than that of a 2 pt shot. Any shot outside of the restricted area that isn't a 3 is a "bad" shot and is only useful to keep defenses honest.

I'd like to see a league experiment with getting rid of the paint and utilize scoring zones. Anything within 10 feet of the basket is 2 points, from 10 to 25 feet is 3 points and 25 feet out is 4 points. This system would also do away with free throws due to the removal of the paint.

This will work until it takes people 24 hours to realize 4 points are worth twice 2 points, and start practicing 25 foot shots. Trying to ignore simple math is never going to work.

You want lower PPP, stop making all-star calls. Allow hand checking. Revert foul calls to the 90s. Then....OH...you get the 90s game....and oh....interest in the league completely vanishes like it did then, and player salaries plummet, they go on strike, and it plummets further.

Yay! Now a couple old heads who are tired of 3pt shooting are happy, while 99.9% of the rest are indifferent or upset.

[ontnut]

I think some of you are missing the point.
Whether Boston won because they have a great team, or they shot a lot of 3’s, or both, is not the point. The point is that all these 3’s make for a really boring game.
And it’s indisputable that teams are shooting more and more 3’s every year.

Boring to who?

Caitlin Clark is revitalizing the WNBA largely on the basis of bombing deep 3's.

I entirely reject this premise of the NBA being boring. It's as popular as it has ever been. Basketball as a sport has grown immensely since the Steph Curry era showed that shorter players CAN dominate the game without having to be athletically godly, or sacrifice their body and health.

I mean, just come out and say that you'd rather watch the 87-85 games of the 80s and 90s which everyone else hated watching. You're basically a basketball hipster at this point lol. Maybe there's a Rucker Park team you can follow where hard fouls and no shooters are allowed to star...but the NBA game has evolved, either get on board, or get off the boat.

[mihaic]

I think the corner 3 should be gone. It's a long 2 in disguise, after all .

[ReggieSlater]

Someone will win with a different strategy and the league will change. I think it's mostly personnel. The league just doesn't have a Shaq right now.

[Potential]

Making 3 pointers should be harder to achieve but now it's become easier and easier. The reason is because the floor is spaced out and everyone through 1-5 can shoot threes. Silver needs to find a solution to this by allowing handchecking

[ItsDanger]

Quality centres can change it.

Too many 3s makes the game boring. I'd prefer more importance to each possession. Or else, I tend to tune out and wonder why I watched. An underrated rule change was the landing space rule. That gives the shooter more time and space by default.

Personally feel the league is marketing more to international fans these days. Much like other industries.

[dagger]

Quality centres can change it.

Too many 3s makes the game boring. I'd prefer more importance to each possession. Or else, I tend to tune out and wonder why I watched. An underrated rule change was the landing space rule. That gives the shooter more time and space by default.

Personally feel the league is marketing more to international fans these days. Much like other industries.

Yes, the problem isn't the Celtics taking 50 3's, it's that the league is heading to every team taking 50 3s. I don't have a problem with the landing space rule but I do with the failure of officials to enforce the jump in rule on three point shots by the shooter hunting a foul or four pt play.