Are 3 pointers ruining the league?

[Otsego Mar]

Spurs 2014 Finals basketball was peak awesome basketball for my tastes.

Tim Duncan always bored me, as good as he was. But as a whole the team was great.

 

[cavsfever]

Depends on what you mean by "ruin."

It's pretty and aesthetic basketball, in my opinion. Moreso than clogged lanes.

I just think the points are weighted wrong. For a shot to be worth 50% more from behind the line is totally nuts imo. especially as future generations and players of all sizes get better and better from 3. I don't think Steph Curry type skills will ever be the "norm" but it could get close to that in the next 50 years. At that point, it's hard to imagine what the game would look like.

yeah, in some ways I like the greater emphasis on jump shooting. But as you say the problem is that the three to two ratio is so huge it just visibly distorts the game. Incentives are just out of whack -- it's starting to drive me crazy to watch people pass out from near the basket to the three point line.

Unfortunately it's hard to see how to change the point ratio. You really don't want to make a shot worth two and a half points or whatever, fractional point values would be ridiculous. Also doesn't really work to change point values to three and four or whatever to alter the ratio, because it would instantly obviate every scoring record in the history of the game.

 

[prf100]

Tim Duncan always bored me, as good as he was. But as a whole the team was great.

Dude straight up fundamentaled his opponents to death

 

[cavsfever]

Spurs 2014 Finals basketball was peak awesome basketball for my tastes.

the 2013 Finals was pretty amazing too.

 

[Ethan]

2's increased to 3....and 3's increased to 4.....
At that point inflation has reached the NBA

 

[prf100]

the 2013 Finals was pretty amazing too.

Yeah, but really did not like the way it ended

 

[guitarguy]

I guess we could also do like 2.5 points instead of 3, but could you imagine the math going on in some people's heads? hahaha. Might be worth a trial run, just to see who exploded, haha.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

As @Rich alluded to, I think players getting longer/quicker over time and big men getting significantly better at closing out and contesting shots has made it more difficult to shoot 50%+ from 2 unless the vast majority of your shots are taken at the rim.

If you look at the guys shooting 50% or higher from 2, it's like 98% bigs and nearly all their shots are inside 10 feet. I don't know if guys just don't practice mid-range anymore, or if it's effectively getting eliminated due to the reasons mentioned above. I think the changes to illegal defense calls have affected this as well.

I'd be interested to see them experiment with getting rid of the corner three and see what happens. I don't know what else you can do, as moving the line back will just have more guys launching further back. I don't think it really changes the volume at all.

Players like DeRozen, Butler, Leonard and PG13 have proven the midrange shot is still active AND efficient. Problem is not a lot of players work on it.
I’m frankly getting tired of seeing games where teams are shooting 12-41 from three point land. And that’s not an exaggeration! In this year’s playoffs alone I saw a Heat team go 8-38 from three land. That is not watchable basketball for me.

 

[southernflyer]

One solution is to expand the distance to 25 feet, which would eliminate corner 3's. Now if that is popular or not is another question. That should create movement with less guys standing in the corners for 15 seconds waiting for an outlet pass.

 

[Rich]

Spurs 2014 Finals basketball was peak awesome basketball for my tastes.

Yea, and since then it's been an ever more increasing amount of 3 pointers to replicate what the Spurs did.

That, to me, was the peak of the game. It may have not been the most efficient as the game continues to evolve, but it was the most entertaining.

And that's also the point. Not just to win games. But to entertain.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

Players like DeRozen, Butler, Leonard and PG13 have proven the midrange shot is still active AND efficient. Problem is not a lot of players work on it.
I’m frankly getting tired of seeing games where teams are shooting 12-41 from three point land. And that’s not an exaggeration! In this year’s playoffs alone I saw a Heat team go 8-38 from three land. That is not watchable basketball for me.

This kind of demonstrates what I said, though. You named four guys that are all 6'7"+ SG/SF types and star/superstar level players. However, DeRozan has never been a good three point shooter which is ultimately why he shoots the mid-range at the volume he does. Same for Butler. Even then, none of those guys are anywhere close to shooting the mid-range at 50% like you suggested.

The point is, I don't think backing up the line (which seems to be about the only realistic solution) actually result in reducing the number of 3pt attempts. I think teams would launch them at the same/similar rate, which would just pull bigs even further from the basket and open up the lane more.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

This kind of demonstrates what I said, though. You named four guys that are all 6'7"+ SG/SF types and star/superstar level players. However, DeRozan has never been a good three point shooter which is ultimately why he shoots the mid-range at the volume he does. Same for Butler. Even then, none of those guys are anywhere close to shooting the mid-range at 50% like you suggested.

The point is, I don't think backing up the line (which seems to be about the only realistic solution) actually result in reducing the number of 3pt attempts. I think teams would launch them at the same/similar rate, which would just pull bigs even further from the basket and open up the lane more.

I never suggested they shot 50%….all I was suggesting is that the mid range game is still an efficient part of the game. Doesn’t matter that they aren’t good at shooting threes! You going to discount Curry because he doesn’t have a mid range game. And you are absolutely right….moving the line back would not stop the launching of three point shots. As I said earlier it’s a mindset in today’s game. Which is one of the reasons I don’t watch the NBA a lot unless it’s the Cavs. Hell I got mad at watching the Cavs jack up threes on fast breaks like a lot of teams do today. 3-4 on one breaks and more and more teams are stopping and firing up a three ball. UNWATCHABLE!

 

[foucault87]

Lol this thread. The 3pt shot is a key element of the game and one of the main reasons its so fun to watch now. Anyone that think the death of the post game or midrange is because of anything other than elimination of unnecessary inefficiency is wrong.

Its a beautiful game and unlike the era of dinosaurs and milk men, its not on tape delay.

 

[Rich]

Lol this thread. The 3pt shot is a key element of the game and one of the main reasons its so fun to watch now. Anyone that think the death of the post game or midrange is because of anything other than elimination of unnecessary inefficiency is wrong.

Its a beautiful game and unlike the era of dinosaurs and milk men, its not on tape delay.

It's also getting its shittiest ratings in a long, long time.

This years Finals ratings are the most alarming yet.

Two years ago, yo ucould chalk it up to the bubble, even though it involved the Lakers.

Last year, it rebounded slightly, but didn't approach the pre-bubble numbers and you could chalk it up to teams that aren'tterrible popular.

This year? Game 1 was low. Again, way, way down compared to historic numbers. And these are two prime time teams with big fanbases in big media markets.

So clearly people are finding something wrong with the product.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

Lol this thread. The 3pt shot is a key element of the game and one of the main reasons its so fun to watch now. Anyone that think the death of the post game or midrange is because of anything other than elimination of unnecessary inefficiency is wrong.

Its a beautiful game and unlike the era of dinosaurs and milk men, its not on tape delay.

I don’t think it’s the death of the post game (one….because there are very few big men in the game today with an actual low post game) or the mid range game. I believe it is a key element of the game today…WHEN it comes in the flow of the game. There is nothing beautiful about watching a team come down on a 3 on 1 fast break and instead of moving the ball for a quick layup fire up a three ball. What this whole conversation is about is “preference”. Some on here want to see ball movement and basketball moves towards the basket and others like the beauty of watching three balls rain down. Like I said the three ball hasn’t ruined the game…it’s the numbers game and the mindset behind the three ball.