When is a Player Considered a Volume Shooter?

[UcMiami]

If Diana Taurasi is not considered a volume shooter, then it would be patently unfair to consider Cappie Pondexter and DeWanna Bonner as volume shooters. Using Taurasi as a baseline, Cappie Pondexter, during her WNBA career has averaged a shade under 16 shots a game, 19.4 points per game and is a career 43% shooter. DeWanna Bonner, in her first three seasons in Phoenix prior to being pressed into a starting role last season, averaged 8.4 shots per game. 11.3 points per game, while shooting 45%. Last season she was called upon to do things to which she was not quite accustomed, including playing over 35 minutes per game. Diana Taurasi, who, by the way, never averaged 35 minutes a game, has averaged a little over 15 shots per game, 20.6 points per game, while shooting 44%. Similar stats all the way around.

I actually have never considered either Cappie or Bonner to be volume shooters though I haven't really followed their pro careers very closely. The few box scores I have checked recently for Phoenix though have shown Bonner taking a large number of shots and missing a high percentage of them so within a very limited time frame you could maybe use that term ... but I also think volume shooter is a name you earn over the course of years not games. Every player can go through a dry spell.
I think looking at assists doesn't hurt as well in assigning volume shooter status - players who actually pass to open teammates with some regularity tend not to make my list.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I'm not sure I'd consider Cappie to be a volume shooter. I'd call Paul Peirce a volume shooter.

 

[TheTruthBelow]

Asjha Jones has been a volume shooter throughout her career. Tina Charles has teetered on the line.

 

[meyers7]

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...

So you are saying Spock was a volume shooter?

 

[EricLA]

So you are saying Spock was a volume shooter?

You'd have to ask his girlfriend!

 

[EricLA]

Asjha Jones has been a volume shooter throughout her career. Tina Charles has teetered on the line.

LOL. 45+% career FG% for Jones? 47+% for Charles? To put it into terms you could relate to, Catchings is a 41.6% career FG shooter. I'm not sure what definition you use for "volume shooter", but neither of the names you mentioned come close.

 

[TheTruthBelow]

FG% is not a measure of scoring efficiency. It doesn't take into consideration that 3-pointers are worth more than twos, and it doesn't take into consideration what a player does at the free throw line. For her career, Jones is averaging 11.4 points on 10.6 field goal attempts plus 2.2 free throw attempts. That is the very definition of volume scoring. Charles, for her career, averages 17.2 points on 15 FGA and 4.1 FTA, so she is almost using a possession for every point she scores. And note that both have done worse than that in the playoffs.

Catchings averages 1.4 3PM per game, gets to the line 5.6 times and converts at 84 percent. That makes a difference. Is she efficient as Diana Taurasi as a scorer? No, but she's more than acceptable.

If you really want to see how efficient a player is as a scorer, try using True Shooting Percentage (TS%) or effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%).

 

[Scotter]

LOL. 45+% career FG% for Jones? 47+% for Charles? To put it into terms you could relate to, Catchings is a 41.6% career FG shooter. I'm not sure what definition you use for "volume shooter", but neither of the names you mentioned come close.

As another poster below indicated Catchings has been an efficient offensive player for a long time now because of her 3PA and FTA.

Asjha fits the definition of a volume scorer as well as any post player. Asjha even dating back to UConn has taken a high rate of shots with average at best efficiency. 45% is not good for a post player that pretty much only attempts 2-point shots and gets to the free throw line with a low frequency. Asjha has a variety of ways to create shots, but she has never made those shots with a high rate of consistency. I think we've all seen that with the Sun. Sometimes her shot creation abilities are very much needed. But sometimes if too much is running through her, Asjha's inefficiency holds the team back.