Is 3 point spamming a problem for the game? Are there any solutions?

[Bulls2021]

One of the most common complaints about the NBA today is that it is a three-point shooting chuck-fest. Players are too good at shooting 3's now. Does this need to be changed, and is there a solution?

I think making the 3 point line a universal distance from the hoop, i.e. ending the line before it gets to the corner (essentially eliminating the corner 3) is a solution to it. I'm not sure what else can be fairly done to combat it. What do you think about the state of 3 point shooting in the NBA?

[Sgt Major]

Now this screams a fresh discussion we've never had before

[KembaWalker]

put a cap on the amount of 3pm a team gets per game. let them be used as a strategical tool to build a lead or save for a comeback/ clutch time. easy peazy

[Bum Adebayo]

It is a problem if you want a balanced game and you do not want to have an strategy much more overpowered than other strategies. There is a reason you hear "we lack 3pt shooting" but you never hear "we lack good midrange shooters". That is because the game is unbalanced, and no, it is not a good thing, it forces all teams to employ a 3pt spamming with a bit of variation here and there, but all centered around abusing the 3pt spamming strategy, it is the only way to win because 3pt shot is OP.

[xdrta+]

put a cap on the amount of 3pm a team gets per game. let them be used as a strategical tool to build a lead or save for a comeback/ clutch time. easy peazy

Let's put a cap on dunks, too. Dunks are boring. Heck, mid-range also. In fact, let's put caps on every range so that it can be a balanced basketball game with equal points from every area of the court.

[Bum Adebayo]

People like anything modern, ok then let's make revolutionary changes:
-remove 3pt line.
-Implement an AI solution that tracks the distance of the player to the rim in real time, assign points based on that. So 0-6ft 1 point, 7-13ft 2 points, 14-20ft 3 points, etc. You get the idea, tweak distance and points as necessary to balance it.

[KembaWalker]

put a cap on the amount of 3pm a team gets per game. let them be used as a strategical tool to build a lead or save for a comeback/ clutch time. easy peazy

Let's put a cap on dunks, too. Dunks are boring. Heck, mid-range also. In fact, let's put caps on every range so that it can be a balanced basketball game with equal points from every area of the court.

i'm not sure exactly what point you thought you made with this. major whiff

[Marrrcuss]

Now this screams a fresh discussion we've never had before

We've had this discussion in different forms. We agreed Steph Curry changed the game. That is akin to this subject, lol.
Sounds like if true, he kinda helped mess the game up

[og15]

Outside of layups and dunks, open three point shots are the most efficient shot in basketball. What can get some teams, not all, but a lot, is that their offenses are designed to generate open three's, every offense to some extent now is designed like that. So when they are generating good looks but missing, it can be hard for some teams to pivot to do other things, because, they are taking good, open shots.

And sometimes even when they say, okay, let's post up or attack, they do that, the defense closes that option, they generate an open three, and it's like, well do I not take this open shot generated by the offense?

[Ballerhogger]

if you really think is a problem then you would love bring back hand checking.

[Bum Adebayo]

Now this screams a fresh discussion we've never had before

We've had this discussion in different forms. We agreed Steph Curry changed the game. That is akin to this subject, lol.
Sounds like if true, he kinda helped mess the game up

Nope, not his fault, he just is the best shooter ever, it makes sense he employed a shooting strategy. Teams would've caught up to the 3pt spamming strategy sooner or later, a guy like Morey would've used it even without Curry around.

[Clocian]

Read on Twitter

[Lalouie]

drop the line back 2.5' - 3' problem solved...there's nothing hard about a solution

what we need is the line to drop back until it is percentage wise equivalent to the 2.

the problem of course is wrestling with what to do with the corners. i think widening the court to make the 3 equidistant all around the arc widens the midrange and we will see MORE MIDRANGE game. players will develop better 1on1 offense skills and concomitantly on defense as well. i just think we'll see more dedication to D. because no one defends the 3, it matriculates down to bad d against the 2 as well.

the other option is keeping the floor the same and just eliminating the corners period. that kills spacing but so what. this is all about stupid 3pt shooting

[og15]

Now this screams a fresh discussion we've never had before

We've had this discussion in different forms. We agreed Steph Curry changed the game. That is akin to this subject, lol.
Sounds like if true, he kinda helped mess the game up

Curry was prominent as a 3PT shooter, and those Warriors teams were successful, but they were also an elite defense, soo...

But the game was and would have changed to this regardless of Curry and the Warriors having success. Maybe you don't have as quick a pivot, but the Suns already injected the movement back in 04-05, the offensively successful Seattle team with Ray, Rashard, Barry and VladRad also showed how three's can do damage. The Magic were the ones to really start the 4 out one in offense and got to the finals on the back of a roll man / post big and shooting three's. NBA teams and coaches weren't just ignorant to this.

Then the Mavs won with shooting and defense around a dominant individual scorer. The Heat used small ball and outside shooting to get their championships of course with a top ATG too. The Spurs maximized ball movement and outside shooting to sink the Heat. They didn't take a ton, but they showed the power of efficient 3PT shooting and creating good looks. They were middle of the pack in attempts, but 1st in percentage.

The 14-15 Warriors took about 6 more 3PA/G than the 13-4 Spurs did, it wasn't anything wild, they weren't even #1 in the league in attempts, the Rockets Cavs and Blazers were already shooting more three's than the Warriors the season the Warriors became relevant. Now, yes, in 15-16 they took it higher, they led the league that season, but the Rockets and Cavs were right on their tail.

The Cavs and Rockets were doing the screen setter / roll man and shooters around a primary playmaker that a lot of teams tried and try to emulate. The Warriors off ball movement style was/is actually not really copied as much by other teams. So it always seems odd to me when people act like the Warriors came out as some outlier and changed the path or charted a new path when the league was already trending in that direction. Their winning just maybe pushed the league about a season or so faster than they would have anyways. If the Warriors didn't win, the Cavs with their 3PT centric spread offense were the team that would have won, the Rockets might have represented the West in the finals in 14-15 with their 3PT centric offense.

[Bulls2021]

Now this screams a fresh discussion we've never had before

Meaningful discussion on the GB? Blast. Guess I should have made another LeBron thread.

[NRSV]

Creating a shot that is 50% more valuable than other shots on the court had unintended consequences.

If the 3P line was the 2.5 line, it would not be a problem. Which it should be

[og15]

drop the line back 2.5' - 3' problem solved...there's nothing hard about a solution

what we need is the line to drop back until it is percentage wise equivalent to the 2.

the problem of course is wrestling with what to do with the corners. i think widening the court to make the 3 equidistant all around the arc widens the midrange and we will see MORE MIDRANGE game. players will develop better 1on1 offense skills and concomitantly on defense as well. i just think we'll see more dedication to D. because no one defends the 3, it matriculates down to bad d against the 2 as well.

the other option is keeping the floor the same and just eliminating the corners period. that kills spacing but so what. this is all about stupid 3pt shooting

Equal to the 2PT jumpshot? That's tough.

I'll just do every 5 years from 99-00

Year / 3-10 / 10-16 / 16-<3PT
99-00: 37.9 / 36.5 / 42.8
04-05: 39.1 / 38.3 / 40.0
09-10: 42.1 / 40.0 / 40.2
14-15: 38.4 / 40.3 / 39.4
19-20: 39.6 / 41.6 / 40.4
20-21: 42.4 / 42.1 / 40.8

Two point jumpshots, basically anywhere we drop into fall at around 40% which is the equivalent 3PT% of 27% 3PT. This season it is actually higher than it usuaohad been. That's of course why you actually can have an advantage now as a team if you can get all those same rim attempts and three's that everyone else gets but also have players who hit 45%+ from 2PT not at the rim.

The problem teams face and why the 3PT is so prominent is that the mid-range is just about as streaky and volatile for the average team as three's (something many people don't always acknowledge), and then you get 1 less point. It probably will be tough to balance without changing the scoring system. Right now three's are worth 50% more but only like 4-5% lower FG, the difference in volatility between shooting 39-40% from 3 feet to inside the arc vs everything outside the arc is barely different. If many teams took 90 FGA, one set all away from the rim but inside the arc, and another set all three's. All mid-range would give the average team 54 misses and all three's would give the average team 58.5 misses. That's almost nothing to a team to the get 1 more point for every make. The pts would be 72 for mid-range vs 94.5 for all three's, yea, 4.5 misses on average for 22.5 more points is an easy decision.

Teams used to go COLD just like now back when three was utilized less, it would just be more turn around post fade way, long and middle mid-range shots and hook shot bricks instead of more 3PT bricks. So I don't know, could be tough, maybe doable, but who knows, kinda hard. The easier, somewhat easier solution is changing the scoring system.

It could be as wild as 3's and 4's, so they are worth 33% more instead of 50%. It could be 2.5 which makes them worth 25% more. You could get creative with 2.5 and instead make it that every other three point shot is worth 3 points, so you don't have to do decimals, but that might be odd to track, though not really, every odd number made three is worth 3 pts, every even number made three is worth 2 pts.

[DaPessimist]

Remove the corner 3pnt shot, or widen the court and move the corner 3pnt shot back. I think that would significantly reduce the 3pnt spamming, because role players camping in the corner is the primary culprit in my opinion.

[og15]

Remove the corner 3pnt shot, or widen the court and move the corner 3pnt shot back. I think that would significantly reduce the 3pnt spamming, because role players camping in the corner is the primary culprit in my opinion.

77% of three's are taken above the break, the above the break three is still hit at a percentage that is much more efficient than shooting 40% on non rim 2PT shots and is not more volatile in terms of streakiness in any significant way.

[kowboy]

Remove the corner 3pnt shot, or widen the court and move the corner 3pnt shot back. I think that would significantly reduce the 3pnt spamming, because role players camping in the corner is the primary culprit in my opinion.

I've been a big proponent of removing the corner 3pt shot. I think this would also help balance bigs again since inside the arc shots would become more valuable. Widening the court would be great too, but unfortunately that would require certain courtside seats to be removed or moved, which would affect ticket sales. And we all know the owners wouldn't let that happen.