Best Three Point Shooter of All Time: Bird, Allen or Miller?

bc legends · Post #1 » by **bc legends** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 4:14 pm

Who do you guys have as the best three point shooter of all time and why?

Dirty Water · Post #2 » by **Dirty Water** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 4:26 pm

I voted Miller. I don't know tho really. They all have their strengths.

BRUNiNHO91 · Post #3 » by **BRUNiNHO91** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 4:50 pm

Sugar Ray...I don't really like comparing players of today, with players from the past. But Ray Allen is the best shooter ever..the guy is ridiculous..and it seems like he shoots even better in clutch time with a hand in his face.....

Rocky5000 · Post #4 » by **Rocky5000** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 4:58 pm

If we're talking 3 point shooting only, guys like Peja and Mitch Richmond should also be thrown in there. For bench specialists, Tim Legler and Jason Kapono are pretty good.

Post #5 » by **Hilltop** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 5:17 pm

I'll go and say Miller.

vct33 · Post #6 » by **vct33** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 5:52 pm

If you are strictly talking about catching and shooting open threes, there are a lot more guys in the conversation. I'd probably have to go with Steve Kerr myself.

MaxwellSmart · Post #7 » by **MaxwellSmart** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 5:53 pm

All are Great---but I'd put my money on Bird if they actually could all compete in an All-Star-like competition in their primes....He'd psych the other guys out.

King Of The 4th · Post #8 » by **King Of The 4th** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 6:17 pm

I voted for Bird. The game that he played against the Hawks in '85 convinced me that when Bird got the hot hand, he was near impossible to contain. Although, it was a hard choice as Ray and Reggie are also fantastic 3 pt. shooters.

P.S. With my vote, Larry Bird has 33% of the vote.

Zin5 · Post #9 » by **Zin5** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 6:56 pm

I voted Ray, mostly for how much he has to create his own shot or how he makes them contested.

Guys like Jason Kapono don't belong in this discussion. It's one thing to catch and shoot, it's another to create that three pointer, which is something he can't do. When Kapono has the ball, he'll pass it up if he doesn't have an open look, which is why his percentage is so bloated.

Havlicek17 · Post #10 » by **Havlicek17** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 8:04 pm

If the question is "of all time", then it's gotta be Ray. He's not quite caught up to Miller yet, but he will before he's done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Na ... ng_leaders

Now, if the question was worded as "who would you pick to win a three point shootout if all three were in their prime", then my money would be on Bird.

Post #11 » by **sully00** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 8:41 pm

Ray shoots a better percentage on more attempts, the only reason to go with Reggie is that it is really the only thing he is known for. Ray also has some ridiculous numbers closing out games when he turns 3's into FT's.

If you base it on someone's career then it clearly is Ray. That said during Bird's prime he was pretty awesome. And beyond that this list is missing a couple of guys, that were much better than Bird and were not simply specialists like Kapono or Kerr. The guy with the biggest beef would be Steve Nash, and two others would be Dana Barros and Dale Ellis even Brent Barry.

I think Bird and Ray are neck and neck as the best pure shooters I ever saw. It didn't really matter the game situation, the spot on the floor, or who was guarding them.

Ben-N1ce · Post #12 » by **Ben-N1ce** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 9:56 pm

Steve Kerr is the best spot up 3 shooter ever. Off the pick I like Ray Allen.

SashAlex · Post #13 » by **SashAlex** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 10:30 pm

Ray Allen ! Kobe may be my favourite player ever, but I strive to shoot the ball the same way Ray does for a couple of years now. His technique is absolutely cleen !

bc legends · Post #14 » by **bc legends** » Fri Sep 4, 2009 10:32 pm

sully00 wrote:
If you base it on someone's career then it clearly is Ray. That said during Bird's prime he was pretty awesome. And beyond that this list is missing a couple of guys, that were much better than Bird and were not simply specialists like Kapono or Kerr. The guy with the biggest beef would be Steve Nash, and two others would be Dana Barros and Dale Ellis even Brent Barry.

The thing with Dale Ellis is that his career includes the years of the shortened line; his best 3PT% came with the shortened line, which included his third-best season and his fifth-best. So three of his 5 best shooting seasons came with a shorter line, making them invalid for use in the comparison.

You could make a case for Nash but Allen and Miller are known for their three point shooting seeing as how they attempted thousands more than he did and managed to still do it on a consistent/efficient basis.

Id go with Allen, especially when he passes Miller on the all time three point makes list.

SonicYouth34 · Post #15 » by **SonicYouth34** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 12:53 am

BRUNiNHO91 wrote:Sugar Ray...I don't really like comparing players of today, with players from the past. But Ray Allen is the best shooter ever..the guy is ridiculous..and it seems like he shoots even better in clutch time with a hand in his face.....

^This

hairybyrd · Post #16 » by **hairybyrd** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 2:04 am

Tough question...can't really go wrong with any of the 3 but how about some consideration for Craig Hodges? "Best 3-point shooter" doesn't have anything to do with basketball skill but simply 3-point shooting ability. Of the 3 players mentioned, I'll go with Ray Allen because of his shooting form and the fact that he will probably break Reggie Miller's record in the next 2 seasons. Hopefully Cheryl's brother will be assigned to color commentary for that momentous occasion.

1 more name...Dave Hopla. He never played in the NBA (or even college, maybe D3, I can't remember) but he is unconscious with the rock and shoots a 98% clip unguarded. If someone gave me 10-1 odds on Hopla I would take him over Bird, Allen, and Miller in the primes in a game of HORSE.

Rocky5000 · Post #17 » by **Rocky5000** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 2:11 am

Hopla was actually Ray's shooting coach at UCONN (you probably knew that), he's a big reason why Ray is the shooter he is today. After getting notoriety for coaching Ray he moved to the NBA where he worked with Kobe. Right now I think he's still a shooting coach for the Raptors. Jose Calderon came into the league a pretty poor shooter and Hopla turned him into the league leader in FT% and a pretty damn good 3 point shooter. He's the guy who had Calderon shoot with his elbow up against a wall.

chakdaddy · Post #18 » by **chakdaddy** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 1:48 pm

Did Dale Ellis' prime really coincide with the shortened line? I thought Ellis' prime was LONG before that.

I can never remember the exact years of the short line - apparently it is 94-95 through 96-97. I wonder if part of the rule change was to entice Jordan to unretire. I always presumed the rule change was designed to favor Jordan and Pippen in the first place, since the best players team the league always tried to prop up/glorify were great mid range shooters but a little shaky at the legit 3 point length.

Yeah, Dale Ellis apparently was playing pretty decent minutes for Denver in those years, in his mid to late 30s, but his pct wasn't much off his career numbers and that was a good 7 years after his prime.

It's interesting how much worse 3 point shooting was in the old days compared to now - it just wasn't stressed or not. You could certainly make an argument for Bird that his pct should be handicapped by that. But, you can't really get around the fact that Ray and Reggie made so much more and a higher pct.

One thing we can agree on though, of all the three point shooters, Larry Bird is the greatest overall player. You can argue that the 3 poinit shooter qualification is unnecessary too.

A great tribute to Bird is the idea that guys like Dirk Nowitzki approach his skill as a scorer; Dirk has been an MVP candidate and led nearly led his team to a title. His scoring and shooting are close to Bird's - but unfortunately for Dirk in the overall comparison, Bird was also one of the best few passers in NBA history and elite rebounder!

Dirk becomes an elite player by approaching Bird in one aspect, while Bird was also elite or all-time great in two additional categories - incredible.

keltickings · Post #19 » by **keltickings** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 6:46 pm

Strictly 3's i say Ray Allen but I could make a argument for all three. This is a tough one. At least we had to of the three play for us. Larry is the better all around shooter and player but Ray Allen beyond the arc is the best of all-time.

Captain_Caveman · Post #20 » by **Captain_Caveman** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 10:37 pm

Ray has the best stroke I have seen, but a very strong argument can be made for Steve Nash.

Eliminate all those specialist guys and limit this to players who actually get covered by the other team. Big difference between knocking down 3s when you face double-teams as opposed to when your teammates do.

Not quite the same volume of shots as Miller and Allen, but Nash has, by far, the best 3-point shooting percentage out of the NBA stars in this discussion:

43.2% Nash
39.8% Allen
39.5% Miller
37.6% Bird

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... areer.html

Bird, ironically, has less attempts than Charlie Ward.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... areer.html

Whose the best three point shooter of all time?