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Message: [QUOTE="pj, post: 3284721, member: 2524"] I wasn't referring to where it makes sense to shoot from, I was referring to shooting percentage as a function of distance. A lot of players have a rapid fall off in accuracy beyond a certain distance. If Akok can hit 70% from 8 feet and 25% from 3, you'd rather have him shoot from 8 feet. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's hook shot was undefendable and he hit with a 50% percentage, so that was as good as shooting 3's with a 33% percentage. Yes, experience has shown that it's generally better to take 3's with their high offensive rebounding percentage due to the long-range rebounds, as long as you can get the shooting percentage over 30%, than shorter-range shots where the rebounds usually go to the defense -- therefore on 2 pt baskets one needs a shooting percentage over 50% at a minimum, which is hard to guarantee if you shoot from more than 5 feet. So it's natural that coaches ask him to train for 3's and dunks. But you can go overboard on that prescription if you have a tall guy who can shoot over the defense, but his best percentage is within say 10 feet. Especially if he has good court vision and passing ability -- the quintuple threat to shoot from 10 feet, pass to the other big, or pass to any of 3 perimeter shooters is challenging to defend consistently, since it spaces the court well and everybody's a threat. The principle is similar to the idea of attacking the zone by passing to a tall guy at the free throw line -- the defense is focused on the high-value shots near the basket and at the 3 point line, so the free throw line is relatively weakly defended, yet players practice free throws so often that they can often hit a high percentage from that spot. If you have a tall guy who can shoot over people and can pass with good court vision, then it's hard to defend. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach