What do the wolves need? Shooters. There has been a lot of discussion lately about how the wolves can best acquire some shooters. We don’t need more shooters in the front court. We already have the excellent Kevin Love shooting threes at a super high clip (that is when his hand isn’t injured). We need guys that play the 1-3 (that’s PG, SG, and SF for those following at home) who can make some threes and open up the offense for Pek to operate inside and Ricky to drive and dish (to the shooters).
However, what exactly is a "shooter" and how can you tell if you have one on your team? That’s a great question Hivemind! I decided that what are the two things we want from our shooters?
1. 1. Make threes (at least 1 per game)
2. 2. Make them at an acceptable percentage (35%)
So I went to BB reference and checked what players this season made over 82 threes and shot 35% or above. Now you might be saying wait a second Mr. Scissors that’s not fair. What if a player was injured? Well tough Flynn! We need players that can play in games AND light it up! So the cutoff was 82.
Instead of just calling these players "shooters" or something else mundane, I’ve chosen to call them "Deadeyes." Now not only is Deadeye an important skill to give riflemen in a large turn based made up board game I play (another story), but it is also a character played by the Great Red Skelton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qo2jkwggqXc
There were 61 1-3s this year in the "Deadeye Club." I have not included the 4-5s because we already have a great one who has been a deadeye in the past. Below they are listed according to 3pt%. Remember each of these players made at least 82 threes at at least a 35% rate. Are there any wolves on the list? I’ll spare you the trouble, No there are not. JJ was the closest (and the only one close) with 97 threes at a 34.6% rate (no I don’t round up it’s for sissies).
I also included how many years that player has been in "Our League," how many times they have been a deadeye, and if they were a deadeye when they were a rookie. There was only 1 deadeye rookie this year (Damian Lillard) and 4 Sophomores that repeated as deadeyes from their rookie year (Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, and Isaiah Thomas). I didn’t see the second two coming either.
Here's the promised table. You should be able to control click on a players name and it will go to his BB reference page.
Name |
Years in League |
Years as "Deadeye" |
Deadeye Rookie? |
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8 |
2 |
No |
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2. Kyle Korver |
10 |
8 |
No (but close) |
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4 |
3 |
Yes |
|||||||||
12 |
8 |
Yes |
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5. Danny Green |
4 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
11 |
6 |
No |
|||||||||
7. Kevin Martin |
9 |
5 |
No |
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8. Steve Novak |
7 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
8 |
3 |
No |
|||||||||
10.Ray Allen |
17 |
16 |
Yes |
||||||||
7 |
1 |
No |
|||||||||
12.Kevin Durant |
6 |
4 |
No |
||||||||
3 |
1 |
No |
|||||||||
14.C.J. Watson |
6 |
1 |
No |
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15.Randy Foye |
7 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
5 |
4 |
Yes |
|||||||||
17.O.J. Mayo |
5 |
5 |
Yes |
||||||||
18.Vince Carter |
15 |
13 |
No |
||||||||
|
10 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
8 |
3 |
No |
|||||||||
21.Jarrett Jack |
8 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
2 |
2 |
Yes |
|||||||||
23.Wes Matthews |
4 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
24.Jared Dudley |
6 |
4 |
No |
||||||||
|
2 |
2 |
Yes |
||||||||
26.Caron Butler |
11 |
2 |
No |
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27.Ben Gordon |
9 |
8 |
Yes |
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28.C. Parsons |
2 |
1 |
No |
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|
8 |
1 |
No |
||||||||
30.Paul Pierce |
15 |
12 |
Yes |
||||||||
31.C. Anthony |
10 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
8 |
4 |
Yes |
|||||||||
13 |
8 |
No |
|||||||||
8 |
5 |
No |
|||||||||
35.B. Jennings |
4 |
2 |
Yes |
||||||||
36.Joe Johnson |
12 |
8 |
No |
||||||||
|
9 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
5 |
3 |
No |
|||||||||
5 |
3 |
No |
|||||||||
40.Jason Terry |
14 |
12 |
No |
||||||||
4 |
4 |
Yes |
|||||||||
42.John Salmons |
11 |
4 |
No |
||||||||
2 |
1 |
No |
|||||||||
44.James Harden |
4 |
3 |
Yes |
||||||||
45.George Hill |
5 |
1 |
No |
||||||||
46.Jrue Holiday |
4 |
1 but very close twice |
No |
||||||||
1 |
1 |
Yes |
|||||||||
2 |
2 |
Yes |
|||||||||
|
4 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
50.J.J. Redick |
7 |
4 |
No |
||||||||
51.Mike Conley |
6 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
52.Paul George |
3 |
2 |
No |
||||||||
53.Kyle Lowry |
7 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
8 |
3 |
Yes |
|||||||||
55.Jeff Teague |
4 |
1 |
No |
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|
2 |
2 |
Yes |
||||||||
57.Jodie Meeks |
4 |
3 |
No |
||||||||
58.J.R. Smith |
9 |
5 |
No |
||||||||
59.Gary Neal |
3 |
3 |
Yes |
||||||||
11 |
7 |
No |
|||||||||
|
19 |
7 |
No |
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Avg - |
7.16 years of exp |
3.97 times |
29.5% As Rookie |
The average deadeye has been in "Our League" about 7 years and has been a deadeye close to 4 times. However, less than a third of deadeyes were rookies. JJ Redick and Kyle Korver weren’t even deadeyes as rookies! Certainly you can get a great shooter in the draft, but don’t expect them to be a great shooter right off the bat. Although there are outliers (Isaiah Thomas!), the draft is a crapshoot and is not the best way to find deadeyes. You can draft a player, but he probably won’t be a deadeye right away for you.
Look at the guys on the list. Many of them have changed teams many times. These guys can be had by trades. This means that if we are going to get a shooter for our team next year it better be through the Free Agency. Vets are simply better shooters. They have been in the league longer, and are used to the distance of the NBA 3. It also seems to be a skill that can be added to an NBA repertoire. Guys like George Hill, C.J. Miles, and Dorell Wright are great examples of this.
This hasn’t changed my mind about going after Dipo/Porter in a trade up or standing pat with KCP. If we are just trying to get a shooter in the draft let’s get this Russian Fellow. He’ll probably pan out eventually (hopefully).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1wX8pNcC1eU
Alright so what did you gather from this years 1-3 deadeyes?
How should the Timberwolf organization go about getting some?