Jokic's shooting from 3-10 feet - No comparison?

[sixerswillrule]

***Since 1996-97

Best single season, minimum 5 attempts per game
Yao Ming: 5.7 at 53%
Nikola Vucevic: 5.1 at 53%
Hakeem Olajuwon: 5.5 at 52%
Al Jefferson: 5.7 at 51%
Tim Duncan: 5.3 at 51%
Brook Lopez: 7.0 at 50%
Rik Smits: 5.4 at 50%
Antawn Jamison: 5.4 at 48%
Shaquille O'Neal - 10.5 at 45%

Nikola Jokic, past two seasons combined: 6.6 at 59%
6.8 at 61% last season.

His touch on hook shots and floaters is pretty incredible and appears to be in a league of his own at least for the past 25 years at his combination of volume and efficiency.

[Texas Chuck]

I think as a general rule with Jokic, no comparison is a good default.

[70sFan]

Among top tier 3-10 shooters, in my tracking sample 1971-79 Kareem shot 60% of his shots from that range and he converted them above 50 FG%. That's ridiculous combination of efficiency and volume.

Jokic is great of course though.

[Bidofo]

I'd be comfortable saying Jokic has the GOAT touch

[Ron Swanson]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

[CharityStripe34]

Old-man game FTW.

[Peregrine01]

I saw a stat that showed that Jokic in his last two seasons had a better 2 point FG% than Shaq did in any of his prime seasons. Which is flabbergasting to think about since Shaq dunked everything and Jokic shoots foaters, hooks and fadeaways.

I really think this guy has the GOAT hands.

[CharityStripe34]

I saw a stat that showed that Jokic in his last two seasons had a better 2 point FG% than Shaq did in any of his prime seasons. Which is flabbergasting to think about since Shaq dunked everything and Jokic shoots foaters, hooks and fadeaways.

I really think this guy has the GOAT hands.

[165bows]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

Fair to say that they had a much tougher environment for those shots as well. Much more spread game today, much less emphasis on post defense. Doesn't mean he's not great, but tough to call it far and away better as well.

[sixerswillrule]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

For what it's worth, Jokic is at 56% from this range over his entire career at 4.4 attempts per game. I don't think anyone from this period (last 25 years) with 3+ attempts per game has a 7 year stretch that even cracks 50%. Unbelievable.

But yeah, I'm sure a couple of those old school players do stack up better compared to Jokic.

[JimmyFromNz]

Certainly another means of confirming just how versatile and polished his repertoire is. Though as mentioned by others, the nature of those shots in today's game should be taken to account, given how stretched the floor is, what that means for the paint space, and in fact the types of defenders and contests he would see on those shots compared to say - the heavy machinery in the paint during the 90s etc.

[capfan33]

I'm sure Kareem and Wilt were comparable, especially relative to era, but no doubt Jokic is historically elite and doesn't take a backseat to anyone.

[Peregrine01]

Certainly another means of confirming just how versatile and polished his repertoire is. Though as mentioned by others, the nature of those shots in today's game should be taken to account, given how stretched the floor is, what that means for the paint space, and in fact the types of defenders and contests he would see on those shots compared to say - the heavy machinery in the paint during the 90s etc.

We can compare across eras by comparing to the avg. 3-10 FG% of that year...and no matter how you slice it, Jokic's finishing ability is an outlier.

Relative to league average 3-10 FG% for the best scoring bigs of various eras (and their best 3-10 FG% year):

2022 Jokic: +17%
2009 Yao: +12%
1999 Shaq: +9%
1998 Duncan: +13%
1997 Hakeem: +8%

Also: of the above players, only Shaq surpasses Jokic in volume. And the other best scoring bigs of the current era, Embiid and Giannis, aren't even close at -3% and -2% respectively last year.

[cupcakesnake]

Among top tier 3-10 shooters, in my tracking sample 1971-79 Kareem shot 60% of his shots from that range and he converted them above 50 FG%. That's ridiculous combination of efficiency and volume.

Jokic is great of course though.

When the only potential comparison is Kareem's skyhook... you're doing alright for yourself, Joker!

Do you have those separated into seasons? Just wondering what Cap's career-high is looking like. OP gave a few example of bigs who scraped above 50% from that range. Jokic's past 3 seasons: 59.9%, 57.2%, and 60.6%! He's not taking the same volume of shots from there, obviously, since Jokic shoots 3. Kareem could probably force offense more from that range, with Jokic being slightly more opportunistic with when he can get those shots off. Both are pretty resilient shots though.

[eminence]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

For what it's worth, Jokic is at 56% from this range over his entire career at 4.4 attempts per game. I don't think anyone from this period (last 25 years) with 3+ attempts per game has a 7 year stretch that even cracks 50%. Unbelievable.

But yeah, I'm sure a couple of those old school players do stack up better compared to Jokic.

Deandre Ayton is on pace to meet that bar through his first 4 seasons I believe.

[cupcakesnake]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

For what it's worth, Jokic is at 56% from this range over his entire career at 4.4 attempts per game. I don't think anyone from this period (last 25 years) with 3+ attempts per game has a 7 year stretch that even cracks 50%. Unbelievable.

But yeah, I'm sure a couple of those old school players do stack up better compared to Jokic.

Deandre Ayton is on pace to meet that bar through his first 4 seasons I believe.

Ayton is a floater king and deserves this mention!

[kcktiny]

I saw a stat that showed that Jokic in his last two seasons had a better 2 point FG% than Shaq did in any of his prime seasons. Which is flabbergasting to think about since Shaq dunked everything and Jokic shoots floaters, hooks and fadeaways.

You do realize - do you not - that while the past 2 seasons Jokic shot 63% on 2s, just the league average C outside of Jokic shot 59% on 2s.

Gobert shot 70% on 2s, Ayton 64%, Robert Williams 73%, Daniel Gafford 69%, Jarrett Allen 66%, Mitchell Robinson 72%, Richaun Holmes 65%, Mason Plumlee and Myles Turner 63%, etc.

At no time between 1992-93 and 2010-22 when Shaq played did the league average C (Cs other than Shaq) ever shoot as high as even 53% on 2s, and shot as low as 47%.

[70sFan]

Among top tier 3-10 shooters, in my tracking sample 1971-79 Kareem shot 60% of his shots from that range and he converted them above 50 FG%. That's ridiculous combination of efficiency and volume.

Jokic is great of course though.

When the only potential comparison is Kareem's skyhook... you're doing alright for yourself, Joker!

Do you have those separated into seasons? Just wondering what Cap's career-high is looking like. OP gave a few example of bigs who scraped above 50% from that range. Jokic's past 3 seasons: 59.9%, 57.2%, and 60.6%! He's not taking the same volume of shots from there, obviously, since Jokic shoots 3. Kareem could probably force offense more from that range, with Jokic being slightly more opportunistic with when he can get those shots off. Both are pretty resilient shots though.

I don't have separated data, because my sample of size isn't big enough (only 33 games and not all of them are complete). With that being said, Kareem was both more reliant and more efficient as a Laker in my sampled size (maybe because of a lot of Bucks sample being against Wilt, who was laughably dominant at contesting shots inside).

[Peregrine01]

I saw a stat that showed that Jokic in his last two seasons had a better 2 point FG% than Shaq did in any of his prime seasons. Which is flabbergasting to think about since Shaq dunked everything and Jokic shoots floaters, hooks and fadeaways.

You do realize - do you not - that while the past 2 seasons Jokic shot 63% on 2s, just the league average C outside of Jokic shot 59% on 2s.

And Gobert shot 70% on 2s, Ayton 64%, Robert Williams 73%, Daniel Gafford 69%, Jarrett Allen 66%, Mitchell Robinson 72%, Richaun Holmes 65%, Mason Plumlee and Myles Turner 63%, etc.

At no time between 1992-93 and 2010-22 when Shaq played did the league average C (Cs other than Shaq) ever shoot as high as even 53% on 2s, and shot as low as 47%.

I am aware. But the Cs of today are known for rim-running, put backs and alley-oops - i.e. high percentage shots that were created by another player. The Cs of Shaq's era were often a primary scoring option on the block.

This is why the 3-10 ft FG% is so eye-opening. The "at-the-basket" Cs of today have pretty poor 3-10 ft conversion rates.

[Peregrine01]

Yeah, we'd really need some bigger sample shot-tracking data for guys like Kareem, Moses, and Wilt to get a good sense on how he stacks up historically. But as is with most offense comparisons, 2020-22 Jokic is right up there with the best. I'm fascinated to see how his career arc progresses going forward. Easy to say given his age and skill level that maybe this is who he is now, but I also don't think that this level of outlier mid-range efficiency the past 146-games is sustainable over a player's prime (I guess, unless you're Jordan).

For what it's worth, Jokic is at 56% from this range over his entire career at 4.4 attempts per game. I don't think anyone from this period (last 25 years) with 3+ attempts per game has a 7 year stretch that even cracks 50%. Unbelievable.

But yeah, I'm sure a couple of those old school players do stack up better compared to Jokic.

Deandre Ayton is on pace to meet that bar through his first 4 seasons I believe.

Good mention. Though worth adding that Ayton even in his best season (which was last) attempted 4.8 attempts per game on 59% from 3-10 feet. Plus, he has CP3 feeding him.