In hindsight was the "Steph Effect" a good thing on the game?

[D.Brasco]

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2015 was not that long ago but the above highlights the seismic shift the heavy emphasis the 3 point shot has had on players.

[celticfan42487]

It is, but the rule changes that have dramatically limited the ability to play defense is not.

Bring back the ability for players to be able to use their strength as defenders on the court and you'd see it go back to the way it should be with a balanced act.

Steph will still dominate because he's a GOAT shooter and one of a kind, but all these quarter ass shooters wouldn't play like him if they were actually allowed to be defended.

[Mart1546]

Yes and no, I think this would've eventually happened anyways as 3PA were going up anyways in the late 2000s. I definitely understand the appeal of shooting 3s because 3>2 but I am not a fan of how nerfed defence has become to let these guys shoot 3s for 48 minutes. I personally miss big men posting up, fighting for boards, blocking dunks etc and it's crazy that guys like Gobert and Drummond are constantly made fun of when they would've thrived being drafted in 2006/07 instead of 2011/12. I would like to see at least some perimeter defense allowed (maybe not 90s style, but 2000s) so guards and forwards can work to get open shots instead of 5 out bigman standing in the corner with hopes he can get one 3 in a night to stay on the floor

[Flash Falcon X]

Depends. Fun to watch when great shooting teams play but ugly when it's bad shooting teams chucking a bunch of shots. Would be nice to see some post play but nowadays teams value bigs who can spread the floor.

[LarsV8]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

[CraftylikeaFox]

It's pretty crazy that it took this long to create a 3 point dominated NBA honestly.

That being said, it's definitely lowered the watchability of an average NBA game. What used to be battles are now just glorified shooting drills.

I know it'll never happen, but I wouldn't be opposed to some major rule change regarding 3 pointers. Either get rid of them entirely and make every shot worth two points, or the three point line is only active for the last two minutes of every half. Just something that balances out players skill sets and makes non 3 pointing shooting guys just as valuable as 3 point shooters. It's crazy to me that a guy like Buddy Hield, who sucks wildly at every level of basketball except shooting 3's, has more value than a guy like Drummond who would've been a generational center if not for the 3 point shot.

[jasonxxx102]

It depends on your personal preference. No matter if you like the era or not, Steph made it popular.

Although I’d argue with analytics we would have had this regardless

[dhsilv2]

I've always been a fan of the 3 back to the early 90's with Pitino at UK....so I'm glad we FINALLY got it in the NBA.

[dockingsched]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

It was definitely not all analytics and Steph had a huge part.

Analytics didn’t just all of sudden find out 3pters were valuable in 2015. What changed was that Steph and the warriors actually won. Before that there was always a stigma about teams that focused too much on perimeter shot, despite what analytics said.

talking heads and some front offices didn’t think it was winning basketball in the playoffs, that it was just a gimmick that wouldn’t translate to the physical play of the postseason.

[D.Brasco]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

It was definitely not all analytics and Steph had a huge part.

Analytics didn’t just all of sudden find out 3pters were valuable in 2015. What changed was that Steph and the warriors actually won. Before that there was always a stigma about teams that focused too much on perimeter shot, despite what analytics said.

talking heads and some front offices didn’t think it was winning basketball in the playoffs, that it was just a gimmick that wouldn’t translate to the physical play of the postseason.

Some people may not remember when the Nash/D'Antoni Suns were actually criticized for how many 3s they took and that a perimeter focused jump shooting team would never win a championship.

That argument was used against the Curry Warriors right up until they won in 2015.

[LarsV8]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

It was definitely not all analytics and Steph had a huge part.

Analytics didn’t just all of sudden find out 3pters were valuable in 2015. What changed was that Steph and the warriors actually won. Before that there was always a stigma about teams that focused too much on perimeter shot, despite what analytics said.

talking heads and some front offices didn’t think it was winning basketball in the playoffs, that it was just a gimmick that wouldn’t translate to the physical play of the postseason.

No, that isn't accurate.

The analytics movement, led by Morey, preceded the Warriors 2015 success.

[CharityStripe34]

It's made the product "same-y." It's worse, as others have said, when poor teams are jacking up 40+ threes a game building brick houses.

If the refs reverted to a more balanced style of officiating as opposed to emphasizing "freedom of movement" it might balance things out a bit. But then we wouldn't get average perimeter players becoming All-Stars.

[dhsilv2]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

It was definitely not all analytics and Steph had a huge part.

Analytics didn’t just all of sudden find out 3pters were valuable in 2015. What changed was that Steph and the warriors actually won. Before that there was always a stigma about teams that focused too much on perimeter shot, despite what analytics said.

talking heads and some front offices didn’t think it was winning basketball in the playoffs, that it was just a gimmick that wouldn’t translate to the physical play of the postseason.

No, that isn't accurate.

The analytics movement, led by Morey, preceded the Warriors 2015 success.

After a period flat lining the league was increasing 3's before the warriors won in 15, that's an absolute fact.

[Statlanta]

No because the difficulty of 3’s have been trivialized. Now teams use it as a stamina crutch when they can’t go to the rim. Very few players take entertaining degree of difficulty 3pt shots.

The 7 foot stiffs we used to make fun of have become the equivalent of NFL kickers, waiting on the arc like Steve Novak for opportunistic scores.

[Franco]

Steph didn't have anything to do with the increase in 3 point shooting....

It was all analytics.

It was definitely not all analytics and Steph had a huge part.

Analytics didn’t just all of sudden find out 3pters were valuable in 2015. What changed was that Steph and the warriors actually won. Before that there was always a stigma about teams that focused too much on perimeter shot, despite what analytics said.

talking heads and some front offices didn’t think it was winning basketball in the playoffs, that it was just a gimmick that wouldn’t translate to the physical play of the postseason.

No, that isn't accurate.

The analytics movement, led by Morey, preceded the Warriors 2015 success.

From 2004-05 to 2013-14 (9 seasons), 3PAs went up by 5.5 (16.0 -> 21.5) which is around a 34% increase.

From 2014-15 to 2021-22 (8 seasons), 3PAs went up by... 12.8 (22.4 -> 35.2) which is a 57% increase.

Sure, it was Morey. The league just happened to suddenly realize the analytics say 3 > 2 at the same time Curry and the Warriors smashed every shooting record under the sun.

[UcanUwill]

Steph gets too much credit for this change, it was always gonna happen because of rise of analytics. I saw people claim Steph changed LeBrons game, cause he stopped taking mid range jumpers, but its more Morey effect, not Steph effect. 3 simply worth more than 2, and sooner or later players had to become good enough shooters to just take more of those shots, it was inevitable.

[NO-KG-AI]

Was it worse than the Jordan and post Jordan era having teams draft wings/guards and build ISO offenses where one guy dominated thr ball and took a ton of tough shots?

Seems like when people try to imitate someone great, they miss the real keys of what makes them great and only see the flashy part.

[Yungsta404]

The game was already transitioning to being more 3 point centric before 2015.

Fans aren't giving the Big 3 Miami Heat enough credit for changing the game.

They were the first team to win a championship with a small ball 5 out style of offense while being the worst rebounding team in the league and this was back in 2012.

This kick started the modern trend of team-construction with the focus on floor spacing and 3 point shooting at all positions which has been exploited to the max and has led to the modern game today.

[LarsV8]

From 2004-05 to 2013-14 (9 seasons), 3PAs went up by 5.5 (16.0 -> 21.5) which is around a 34% increase.

From 2014-15 to 2021-22 (8 seasons), 3PAs went up by... 12.8 (22.4 -> 35.2) which is a 57% increase.

Sure, it was Morey. The league just happened to suddenly realize the analytics say 3 > 2 at the same time Curry and the Warriors smashed every shooting record under the sun.

And from 2010-22 it was a 95% increase , what is your point?

Who was that gunner in 2010 we can falsely attribute the increase too!

[GameOver25]

If the league could just fix ref baiting calls and be consistent with it, that's a start. At some point even casuals will get tired of players playing for a whistle.