Hoops

What is a decent 3-point shooting percentage?

You said: "Take better shots if you aren't hitting 40%. 4 of 10. If you're getting paid to play you should be good at what you do shouldn't you"

I pointed out that only 21 players in the whole NBA shooting a sufficient volume of shots to count reached your cut off. I apologise for offending you for calling you on your nonsense.

Nothing in your next post responds to my post. Changing topics does not amount to an argument.

Who said that 30% three point shooting was elite. Have you even read any part of this thread?

By the way, out of the 492 players in the NBA last year, only 21 players averaging at least one three a game shot 40% or better from beyond the arc. Does that mean every other player in the NBA should not be shooting from outside the three point line?

Anon #556619, you misunderstand what the 50/40/90 club is. That is a player who has to hit those percentages in all categories. It has only been achieved by six players in the NBA all of whom could play inside and outside.

50% is not the benchmark for elite 2 point shooting, and therefore is not a comparison to 40% three point shooting.

Comparable elite 2 point shooting would be 60% plus. For example, Shaq achieved this in a season 4 times.

Anon, I would say United and Hawks are 'the NBL's version' of GSW this year. Will be interesting to see how they go.

The evidence suggests a team of high percentage high volume shooters is the way to go these days (see Golden State Warriors)

The weighted comparison between taking a three point shot and a two point shot (ignoring And-1s and rebounds) is as follows:

3pt 2pt
28% 42%
30% 45%
32% 48%
33.3% 50% - 1 point per possession pass mark
35% 52.5%
38% 57%
40% 60%
45% 67.5%
50% 75%

If you expect at least 50% shooting from a bigman in the key, no reason to expect less than 33% from a 3pt shooter.

Forman is IMO the best 3 point shooter the league has ever seen..perhaps maybe tied with Penney (funny that both of them now play on the same team..+ Lisch!)

Here's Formans' last 6 3-point shooting seasons - remembering he takes a helluva lot.

52%
40%
46.5%
47.6%
52.1%
41.6%

Crazy stats really. Especially considering 1) he takes a lot of contested ones/really difficult ones 2) he is heavily scouted so rarely given free space and time

Last season United had the highest percentage at 37% and Hawks were last with 33%. Judging by that, anything above 35% is good.

Plus, 28% (over an appropriate sample size of course) is way too low for a credible three point shooter. Better off banging down low to a 42% shooting big man (

That was the one criticism of Anstey's game, in his later years his three point shooting was well below par (25% in 2009 from 160 attempts) when he should have been getting inside more where he was still shooting a great percentage. That said, before 2009 Anstey was shooting at well more than 28%!

My view:

Less than 32% is a poor three point shooter - should not be putting up too many shots, but may need to put them up occasionally to keep defences honest. That said, defences may be happy to gamble/sag off the player.

33% to 37% is an acceptable/average clip. Not a game breaker, but keeping the scoring going. Often volume shooters fall in this category.

38% to 42% is good shooting, a really dangerous outside threat, requires close guarding and you don't leave them open.

43% and above is elite shooting, especially across a career. You can bet those guys have also had defensive strategies put in place to make sure there is always a hand up for their shots.

Then you have to factor in the difficulty of the shot. A catch and shoot 3pt shooter has a far lower difficulty than Stephen Curry dribble step back fade away over a 7 footer. So you still need to compare apples with apples.

Hitting a 3pt shot at 33% is roughly equivalent to 50% from inside the arc, but creates twice as many rebound opportunities and less prospect of an And-1. Additional rebounds create more opportunities for fast break transitions as defensive teams don't have to fish the ball out of the bottom of the net. But that also needs to be weighed up against additional offensive rebounds and second chance points.

So if say that for a good inside target who plays in the paint you want them to be shooting 55%+ (preferably 60% plus), you really want a designated 3pt shooter to be putting up percentages of at least 38%+ (preferably 40%+)

Beal - he is a volume shooter, and takes his shots under constant defensive pressure. His percentages aren't amazing, but he hurts you with his game in so many other ways.

If you're left wide open then a good shooter should be able to shoot at least 50%. With a bit of D that might drop back to 35%