Reggie Miller vs Moses Malone

[70sFan]

Could he shoot like Jarrett Allen or could he shoot like Al Horford? Big difference.

Neither, there are many options in between. Comparing Moses shooting ability to Allen is just ridiculous to be honest.

Against elite teams, it's very difficult to play a guy who isn't a spacer in closing minutes and be successful, it just is.

Sorry, but that's just nonsense.

Allen is like a 48-50% shooter between 10 and 20 ft the last couple years. You think Malone is better?

Precisely, Allen is 44.3% from 10-16 range and 43.3% from 16-3P range in 2021-23 period. We should add that he does that on staggering 0.5 FGA from the first range and even more so 0.2 FGA from the longer midrange. I mean, come on - that's not even one midrange per game (an 8.3% of total attempts) and he's guarded by teams like a complete non-shooter, which he really is.

I only tracked 22 1982-83 Moses games, but he took 3.7 midrange shots (21% of total attempts) in these games and he made them at 37.5%. It's not an amazing percentage, but he was better from long midrange than from close up and he was a much better FT shooter than Allen. On top of that, almost all of his midrange jumpshots came from isolation possessions, where he was actually guarded. You know, shooting selection is a part of the equation - otherwise you can call Allen a comparable midrange shooter to Kobe Bryant.

When Moses slowed down physically, he started to rely on his jumpshot more in the later 1980s seasons and although I don't have shooting data for these seasons, it'd be very tough to prove that Moses is comparable shooter to someone like Allen.

[70sFan]

No moses wasn’t Dirk or Jokic as a shooter, far from it but with time to adapt I don’t think he’s any worse than Giannis in that area.

I think Moses was a better shooter than Giannis with no time to adapt, period. I'm not sure if he'd develop a three point shot, but he had a good shooting touch from long midrange area.

Probably comes down to how Moses’ defense translates. Maybe 70sfan can chime in that one.

That depends highly on a system he'd play in. He wasn't a great rim protector, but he could give you some resistance inside, especially with smart teammates. He had a surprisingly light feet and quick hands, but he didn't use them often (which I think would change today). He didn't have high defensive IQ, but if we're talking about peak Moses then he improved a lot because of the experience and he was a good learner. I don't think he'd be elite today, but I don't agree with people who call him liability either.