The Rise of The 3 Pointer (Sam Butler)
1979 was an important year for the sport of basketball. It marked a new era — the 3 point era. Little did they know that the 3 point line would change the way the game is played completely. The point shot’s debut in the 1979–80 season was far from expected. Many coaches believed the shot was a “gimmick’’ and would not affect the way they intended to score the ball; inside the paint. Phoenix Suns coach John Mcleod quoted “But I am not going to set up plays for guys to bomb from 23 feet. I think that is very boring basketball.” It almost makes you laugh out loud when you read that a basketball mind once called the shot boring. Other coaches and GM’s around the league disliked the new addition of the 3-pointer and publicly slandered it. In the first game where the shot was made each team wound up with one 3 pointer a peice. In that season teams averaged less than three attempts per game. In 2018 the Rockets lead the league in 3-point attempts with 45 per game. Today the shot has transformed into a vital part of the teams success. For the Rockets this means that about every other time they are on offense they shoot a 3. So what has driven the NBA down this path? Well the simple truth is analytics. A shot that is worth 50 percent more pays off, even if it is a little harder to make. Last year the Houston rockets attempted more 3’s than 2’s over a full schedule and many believe that this is not even close to the tipping point. David Arseneault Jr., head coach of the men’s basketball team at Grinnell College and former coach of the then–Reno Bighorns, Sacramento’s G League team said “I think that we’re getting closer, of course, but I still just think that there’s going to be a team out there soon … that’s going to be taking well over half of their shots from the 3-point line — 60 percent, 65 percent of their field goal attempts just being 3-point shots.” This does not only affect the way coaches plan the game it also affects the players that teams look for. Traditional big men have no place in a league where teams want to push the ball and shoot threes.
Jacob Bogage explains how “with defenses happy to hack the likes of DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond — both traditional, on-the-block bigs — the nature of power forwards and centers is entirely different than even five years ago, when the plodding Roy Hibbert led the Indiana Pacers to a division crown, as did Jordan for the Los Angeles Clippers. Hibbert, an all-star as recently as 2014, is now out of the league.”
Players that don’t have a strong skill set all around are being forced out of the league. In 2016 the Warriors so called “death lineup” was with a 6’7 Draymond Green at Center and shoots the 3 relatively well. Obviously there are still players who can find a place in the league without shooting threes, but these players are very rare. Still, a guy like Antetokounmpo is so successful because he has 4 other teammates out there who can shoot the long ball. This allows the floor to be very spaced out. Also, statistically teams shoot more threes when in the biggest moments because it is simply worth more. Every year there seems to be a jump in three pointers come playoff time. Analytics tell us that this is the best way to win games which is why teams shoot so many in the playoffs.
This new playstyle has also resulted in a much faster pace. Colin Ward-Heninger illustrates how fast the NBA is advancing. He states”this season’s average pace, 101.8, would be the highest since the 1985–86 season. The rapid style that was popularized by the “seven seconds or less” Suns of the mid-2000s and was carried on by teams like the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors, has now fully infiltrated the league. As an illustration of how far and how quickly things have progressed, the fastest Mike D’Antoni Suns team played at a pace of 96.7 — that would place them dead last this season.” Many fans of the NBA are entertained by the fast pace and high scoring games that are simply more fun to watch. Still there are people who argue that the old grind it out games are more true to the sport and that the fast pace games are taking the importance of defense away. Justin Verrier explains why defense is fading by saying “view the NBA’s offensive boom from the other side of the ball and you’ll see an impossible task. The proliferation of 3-point shooting and the extra space it opens up means more options to account for and more ground to cover. Add in the advancements in player development, the rise of analytics, and the league office’s longstanding quest to legislate out excessive physical play, and virtually everyone in the NBA agrees that defense is harder to play than ever before.”
The question becomes, is all of this offense good for the sport? The answer is truly up to you. Whether you think this new era of fast paced, high scoring basketball is good or not, the sport will continue down this path. Even though there is all of this scoring there is still a very dynamic way that each team chooses to get there shots up. Moving from one team from the next there is something very entertaining in comparing each teams scheme. If you look at Houston you see a ton of on ball screens and pick and roll play. Golden State has more off ball screens and very fast ball movement. In the end it all seems to have the same result — shoot threes and shoot a lot of them.
