Guess who's leading the league in mid-range jumpers?

I agree that the closer you are the better chance you have to making the shot. However I would also argue that the more open you are also gives you a better chance of making the basket. (assuming the shot is within your comfort zone)

I mean what is better for a guy like LMA (who can shoot), a wide open 15-18 footer, or a shot in the lane where not only his man is banging on him, but where a second player is also within reach trying to slap the ball away. A motion offense like we have all been begging for, helps create a lot of open mid range shots. Doug Moe would have loved LMA.

Now a contested mid range shot is a different story, but with LMA's length and the fact that other bigs often are slow to cover him out there, he gets a lot of open mid range shots. Seems like Garnett has lived on that type of shot. Why not LMA. He still gets post up baskets as well.

 

You lost me. I thought he was shooting 53% from mid range.

As far as the "worst shot in basketball" theory, I don't prescribe to that theory.

 

Am I missing something, I thought the worst shot was the long mid-range which is usually described as 18 feet to the three line, and everything closer is considered a different shot.

 

The mid range shot is the least efficient shot in the game because it produces the fewest points per attempt, LMA's hot shooting start of 53.1% on mid range 2s is ~10% above his normal average and still produces slightly fewer pts than the league average 3 pt shot (last season 35.9%, equivalent to 53.85% from 2).

It's a solid tool when used sparingly, a bigman keeping the defense from packing the paint or a guard like Lillard using the pullup to keep the defense guessing on penetration is a solid play, it still produces below the league average offense but it's still a decent enough shot as long as you shoot mid 40s or higher.

But taking as many as LMA does ends up hurting our offense in the end, last season he took 11.4% of the teams total FGA from between 10ft and the 3pt arc at an efficiency of 0.85pts per attempt. The rest of the teams FGA produced 1.02pts per attempt, so he's taking a ton of shots from a place that just doesn't produce good offense.

I could live with 5 or 6 a game from him, but he's averaging over 16 mid range shots a game on that chart.... He's hot right now but that shot selection needs to get better or we'll end up paying for it when he comes back down towards his career averages.

 

I don't care about his past stats. Nor do I put that much weight on all those numbers. There are too many other factors that come into play on a basketball court. (i.e his first couple years he was young, the last few years his teammates sucked.....whatever. Who knows what the circumstance were for each of those 488 games.

I know you like the advanced stats, and I find them interesting when you you guys mention them, but I take them with a grain of salt.

Bottom line is LA can shoot. If he is open I want him shooting that mid range jumper. Just like I want Damian, Wes, and Nic to shoot when they are wide open. Keep moving the ball to the open man and don't worry about the stats. Sure I prefer they attack the basket, but an open jumper would be my second choice.

 

Woah wait a minute Brian!!! We had this mid range argument last season. We pulled love, ibaka and a few others you mentioned and they do not shoot the 16-23 better than Aldridge. I want to see this proof to this claim of yours

 

You are assuming that his teammates or himself can always get a better shot. That is a big IF.
In the past our offense was so pathetic and predictable that getting a quality shot was few and far between.

We will see what happens this year. The last two games gives me hope because how well the ball movement has been. If it continues you can throw out the stats from previous years, and just focus on this year since they are the only stats that matter. I am guessing if teams have to focus more on Wes, Nic, and Damian, Mo and Wright.....LMA will get better shots.

But seriously you can't see with your own eyes that LMA is a good mid range shooter? When everyone else in the NBA thinks differently you are going to disagree because of moneyball? I respect your opinion a lot. Just not when it comes to LMA. Which is fine, I don't need to agree with everyone.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/ibakase01/shooting/2013/
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/aldrila01/shooting/2013/

Here's Ibaka and Aldridge from last year, 44.7% for Ibaka, 3% better than Aldridge.

Love on the other hand is not as good as Aldridge from 16-23, only shoots about 38.5%. But if you include 3's his efficiency dwarfs Aldridge's, at an eFG% of 54.2% and 49.6% the last 2 years he was healthy on everything beyond 16ft, he's producing way more pts on jumpers.

 

Last season was definitely an anomaly and you know it. He was injured the good first quarter of the season, stotts wanted a dirk and we had no bench. Would you mind showing me the year before when we actually had a bench? Maybe post career numbers?

 

Like I said, last year was the anomaly. There were more variables to discount. So far this year, he isn't taking them at the rate he was last season.

 

When I click the link it only says 2012-13

 

I used to watch Telfair do the same thing. It's amazing what they can do in practice, and yet never see it manifest on the floor. Personally, I attribute it to confidence. I remember watching Telfair brick threes, but he'd take one step inside the line and suddenly he could make the shot. Never understood that.