Who do you recognize as the 2nd greatest shooter of all time?

[MrBigShot]

Toss up between Klay & KD. KD is great at shooting in all situations and possibly the greatest mid range shooter ever. Klay is a more prolific 3pt shooter, and was absolutely lights out at his peak.

[Mean_Streets]

Steve nash.

Especially if you consider the different levels of shooting and not just 3's, mid range, free throws included.

But even if not, nash comes to mind for his pull up ability and efficiency from deep.

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This is the correct answer. If we are taking into account 3's, mid-range & free throws, Nash is #2. I think Durant is the only other player who you could make an argument for considering his volume was so high.

Klay Thompson is #2 if we are talking just 3 pointers.

Petrovic doesn't get talked about enough though, mostly because he died young.

[Braggins]

Its Reggie Miller. Career true shooting percentage is 61.4% and higher than everyone in the convo. He had a run with 10 straight seasons with a TS% of 60%+ with a career high season of 65%. He had 13 total season of 60%+ TS%. Hes also 6th all time in 3pt makes and 13th in career free throw percentage. After Curry he is the best all around shooter.

[Mean_Streets]

And a lot of those mid 90's players like Miller get their 3PT% inflated because the league had a shorter 3 point line for three seasons from '95-'97. Miller shot 41.8% from 3 in those seasons. Klay shot 41.9% from 3 on greater volume from 2012-2019 on a longer 3 point line.

[Braggins]

And a lot of those mid 90's players like Miller get their 3PT% inflated because the league had a shorter 3 point line for three seasons from '95-'97. Miller shot 41.8% from 3 in those seasons. Klay shot 41.9% from 3 on greater volume from 2012-2019 on a longer 3 point line.

Klay doesn't have a single season where his true shooting percentage was as high as Reggie Millers career worst season. Klay honestly isn't in the conversation. He was a great 3pt shooter but his all around shooting is not good enough to be considered for this.

[Mean_Streets]

And a lot of those mid 90's players like Miller get their 3PT% inflated because the league had a shorter 3 point line for three seasons from '95-'97. Miller shot 41.8% from 3 in those seasons. Klay shot 41.9% from 3 on greater volume from 2012-2019 on a longer 3 point line.

Klay doesn't have a single season where his true shooting percentage was as high as Reggie Millers career worst season. Klay honestly isn't in the conversation. He was a great 3pt shooter but his all around shooting is not good enough to be considered for this.

I mentioned Klay specifically as a 3 point shooter. He's better than Reggie in that department. People might say he has a better 3PT% because of Curry, but Klay still shot over 40% from 3 in games Curry missed while he was with the Warriors. He was making 3s at a higher volume than Reggie as well. He was the real deal.

Prime Reggie had a bunch of seasons where he shot under 40% from 3.

[Braggins]

And a lot of those mid 90's players like Miller get their 3PT% inflated because the league had a shorter 3 point line for three seasons from '95-'97. Miller shot 41.8% from 3 in those seasons. Klay shot 41.9% from 3 on greater volume from 2012-2019 on a longer 3 point line.

Klay doesn't have a single season where his true shooting percentage was as high as Reggie Millers career worst season. Klay honestly isn't in the conversation. He was a great 3pt shooter but his all around shooting is not good enough to be considered for this.

I mentioned Klay specifically as a 3 point shooter. He's better than Reggie in that department. People might say he has a better 3PT% because of Curry, but Klay still shot over 40% from 3 in games Curry missed while he was with the Warriors. He was making 3s at a higher volume than Reggie as well. He was the real deal.

Prime Reggie had a bunch of seasons where he shot under 40% from 3.

After Reggies rookie season he shot over 40% from 3pt in eight of the next twelve seasons and in one of the four seasons he missed he shot 39.9% (so pretty much 9/12). He shot 39.5% for his career and was worse in his last few seasons. Klay might be ahead of him as a 3pt shooter specifically, but Reggie didn't really shoot sub 40% from three in many of his prime seasons.

[Mean_Streets]

Klay doesn't have a single season where his true shooting percentage was as high as Reggie Millers career worst season. Klay honestly isn't in the conversation. He was a great 3pt shooter but his all around shooting is not good enough to be considered for this.

I mentioned Klay specifically as a 3 point shooter. He's better than Reggie in that department. People might say he has a better 3PT% because of Curry, but Klay still shot over 40% from 3 in games Curry missed while he was with the Warriors. He was making 3s at a higher volume than Reggie as well. He was the real deal.

Prime Reggie had a bunch of seasons where he shot under 40% from 3.

After Reggies rookie season he shot over 40% from 3pt in eight of the next twelve seasons and in one of the four seasons he missed he shot 39.9% (so pretty 9/12). He shot 39.5% for his career and was worse in his last few seasons. Klay might be ahead of him as a 3pt shooter specifically, but Reggie didn't really shoot sub 40% from three in many of his prime seasons.

Including the 3 years the NBA shortened the 3 point line.

[Yuri36]

Considering the insane praise D.Petrovic received as a shooter by no other than Reggie Miller himself, I can't believe his name isn't more mentioned in this thread

[Doctor MJ]

I mentioned Klay specifically as a 3 point shooter. He's better than Reggie in that department. People might say he has a better 3PT% because of Curry, but Klay still shot over 40% from 3 in games Curry missed while he was with the Warriors. He was making 3s at a higher volume than Reggie as well. He was the real deal.

Prime Reggie had a bunch of seasons where he shot under 40% from 3.

After Reggies rookie season he shot over 40% from 3pt in eight of the next twelve seasons and in one of the four seasons he missed he shot 39.9% (so pretty 9/12). He shot 39.5% for his career and was worse in his last few seasons. Klay might be ahead of him as a 3pt shooter specifically, but Reggie didn't really shoot sub 40% from three in many of his prime seasons.

Including the 3 years the NBA shortened the 3 point line.

I'm sorry, but if you're trying to say Reggie's 3-point impressiveness was about the 3 shortened seasons, I struggle to take you as sincere. If you are sincere, then you need to take a step back, read up on history, and re-think what you think you know.

There are absolutely players who only really thrived as 3-point shooting from the nearer line, and I'd absolutely stand with you rejecting any of them from serious consideration here, but a guy who broke 40% from 3 in 10 seasons is obviously not part of that group.

Let's also be clear:

The reason to be concerned about a player not being a true elite 3-point shooter due to him only excelling with a shorter line has to do with form and degree of shot difficulty. Some guys don't have the form to scale from deeper, and some guys can only really shoot the 3 if the defenses attention is elsewhere.

Reggie is just so clearly neither of those. If anything you can argue that his 3-point shooting accuracy was held back compared to everyone else because of the roving style he played where he had to run horizontally to get where his teammate could pass to him, and then immediately change his direction to vertical for the shot. That kind of shooting requires next level balance that very few guys have.

Of course Steph has it and then some, but he's not Klay, he's the one the defense was paying attention to which gave Klay the opportunity to take easier shots.

[Braggins]

After Reggies rookie season he shot over 40% from 3pt in eight of the next twelve seasons and in one of the four seasons he missed he shot 39.9% (so pretty 9/12). He shot 39.5% for his career and was worse in his last few seasons. Klay might be ahead of him as a 3pt shooter specifically, but Reggie didn't really shoot sub 40% from three in many of his prime seasons.

Including the 3 years the NBA shortened the 3 point line.

I'm sorry, but if you're trying to say Reggie's 3-point impressiveness was about the 3 shortened seasons, I struggle to take you as sincere. If you are sincere, then you need to take a step back, read up on history, and re-think what you think you know.

There are absolutely players who only really thrived as 3-point shooting from the nearer line, and I'd absolutely stand with you rejecting any of them from serious consideration here, but a guy who broke 40% from 3 in 10 seasons is obviously not part of that group.

Let's also be clear:

The reason to be concerned about a player not being a true elite 3-point shooter due to him only excelling with a shorter line has to do with form and degree of shot difficulty. Some guys don't have the form to scale from deeper, and some guys can only really shoot the 3 if the defenses attention is elsewhere.

Reggie is just so clearly neither of those. If anything you can argue that his 3-point shooting accuracy was held back compared to everyone else because of the roving style he played where he had to run horizontally to get where his teammate could pass to him, and then immediately change his direction to vertical for the shot. That kind of shooting requires next level balance that very few guys have.

Of course Steph has it and then some, but he's not Klay, he's the one the defense was paying attention to which gave Klay the opportunity to take easier shots.

Yeah, its a weird thing to harp on with Reggie. His highest single season 3pt% was in the 97/98 season (42.9%), which was the season they moved it back to the current distance and he shot 42.1% in the season before they shortened it.

He shot sub 40% from 3pt in two of his last three seasons when he was close to pushing 40 years old and he also shot sub 40% in his rookie season. Outside of those seasons he shot 40%+ in 9/14 seasons (with one season at 39.9%). The other seasons during this stretch where he was sub 40% he was still in the 37%-39% range and hes also 39.5% for his career while being 6th all time in 3pt makes.

[Yoshun]

Ray Allen is my guy if we're just talking about shooting. He was tasked with taking a lot more shots than guys like Reggie and kept consistent. He was just so smooth.

All of the guys being mentioned were great shooters though. I loved watching Reggie and Nash play in general and prime Klay is definitely in the conversation. Nash is underrated as a shooter . He was so good at running the offense that people don't talk about his shooting often.

[canada_dry]

Really weird to me how little Steve Nash is mentioned - the guy with the most 50/40/90 seasons.

The guy who is a career 43% 3 point shooter, who shot 43% in 2005, 44% in 2006, 46% in 2007, 47% in 2008, 44% in 2009, and 43% in 2010 from 3 point range...just mind boggling. The dude also had an elite mid-range game, step backs, fadeaways, could shot off the dribble, off the catch etc.

I always saw Steph Curry as Steve Nash on steroids...very similar to Nash shooting wise but a quicker release, more range and way more volume.

Yep. That's what drew me to steph in 2013 when nash (my fav player) career was winding down and steph was just atarting and i saw a lot of comparisons between the two, steph became my favorite player as a result. He played a lot more pick n roll back then under mark Jackson too it was the combination of shooting and playmaking at the time.

Always saw steph as an evolution of steve. It was nice to hear steph say nash was jos fav player and his biggest influence (with reggie). They even got to work together on the warriors. Both 2x mvps.

Cool connection.

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[Indomitable]

Step Curry is 2nd


Allen as the greatest.

[JasonStern]

Dame or Klay

Dame is more like volume shooter than great shooter

Lillard makes tough shots.

100% this, but...

Dame is a top 3 most clutch shooter in history. Game on the line - you have ONE SHOT. I'd put Jordan above him. But I'd have to put more thought than I want to into identifying the third guy. Putting zero thought into it, I'd go Jamal Crawford. Nobody would suspect with the game on the line that you're going to give the ball to Jamal Crawford, meaning he is playing with a sagged defense.

But as far as just shooting accuracy goes, it's Ray Allen then Reggie Miller. If you replaced Miller with Bird, I'd have no beef with that. Gun to my head - if he misses the shot, the actual shooter isn't, those would be the three I'd trust the most.

[QPR]

Durant. I think we are.naturally biased towards long range shooting when thinking of great shooters and someone like KD gets slightly undersold. TBecauee of his length and fundamentals, there almost isn't a situation with him where it's a bad shot.

He's basically been a 50/40/90 guy for 15 years despite a pretty contested shot diet.

[CobraCommander]

I put them in categories...where if there was a shot needed and I was wagering if person A or B should take the shot or most likely make the shot...which honestly means I would want Steph obviously to take the shot...but after Steph is Bird or Ray...tied...maybe a little nudge to bird....

Bird and Ray tied for 2nd-

followed by KD, Klay, Kyrie, Korver...tied at 3rd...

at 4th Nash, Gil, Dirk..

5th Dame tier....too many guys at this level.

[CodeBreaker]

It's Ray Allen for me

[parapooper]

Durant. I think we are.naturally biased towards long range shooting when thinking of great shooters and someone like KD gets slightly undersold. TBecauee of his length and fundamentals, there almost isn't a situation with him where it's a bad shot.

He's basically been a 50/40/90 guy for 15 years despite a pretty contested shot diet.

For 15 years when you disregard playoffs, which are a bit noisy but also a bit important. His best playoff stretch is 2012-21 barely above average 3pt% with 3P+/eFG+ 101/106 (110/111 with Warriors though)
Reggie has 12 year stretches in the PS (and RS) with 3P+/eFG+ 118/111
Nash 00s: 117/110
Ray 99-11: 116/111
Curry career: 113/109
Klay career: 114/103
Bird 81-88: 126/99 (weirdly trash eFG)
MJ: 86-96: 109/105 (97/103 career)


if we look at regular season efficiency x career volume Curry seems to have easily the highest FGadd among shooters
Curry 2360
Reggie 2073
Nash 1783
Durant 1755
Ray 1699
MJ 1010
Klay 875
Bird 826


(Westbrick: 84/87, -1884)


So I would go Curry > Reggie/Nash (who I assume was the least assisted among these guys)

[FarBeyondDriven]

Bird is the greatest shooter imho because he could hit a wider variety of shots and get his own against any type of defender in games unlike Curry while also being elite at the FT line (led league 4 times). People forget he broke a finger on his shooting hand playing softball before his rookie season which affected his shot for the first few seasons. That's why his % from FT and 3 pt jumped dramatically and make his overall numbers look less impressive. I doubt the bone spurs in both heels and the bad back helped either.

But if you were judging just based on shooting, not getting different types of shots off at different points on the floor during games, then I'd have Curry #1.

Remember, Larry Bird put "50/40/90" on the map becoming the first player to do it and he did it twice which is one more than Curry and the same as KD (albeit KD played in a joke era catered to offensive players)