Ariza's 3-point shooting since regular season last year (including playoffs, this year's preseason, and 3 regular season games). It's a "last 10 games" moving average. I put a red line at the start of the playoffs last season. Since the start of last year's postseason, over a span of 34 games, Ariza has averaged 1.8 out of 3.9 made threes per game, shooting at a 47% clip. And its not like we're talking about one, contiguous hot streak. This is end of last year, beginning of this year. It would be unrealistic to expect Ariza to shoot 47% for the rest of the season, of course. But I think the trend indicates pretty strongly that he's a good 3-point shooter. If he can shoot somewhere in the 37-39% range, that'll be very good for us.
Ariza is on the right team at the right time to thrive. The team doesn't have any other real contender to be the first option at the offensive end of the floor, with TMac out.
How good of a shooting coach is Craig Hodges? He worked with Ariza on his mechanics and Ariza has turned into a perimeter threat from beyond the arc. What's impressive is how fast Ariza developed a consistent shot and I have to wonder why other professional basketball players aren't able to have the same success in a limited amount of time. It must have to do with mental focus and confidence for Ariza to continue the hot shooting?
Shape said "perimeter threat", not "premier threat". It took me a while to figure out what you're talking about.
