The Deep Ball Deception

Anyone that has been watching or paying any kind of attention to basketball has seen the proliferation of the 3 ball. Steph Curry is credited with starting the trend of so many shots beyond the arc. While I agree with that, you can't leave out Klay Thompson being just as important to this change in offensive strategy. This was the first time that two prominent shooters were showcased on the same team, in the same backcourt. They together made it seem so easy to do. The Splash Brothers took a once dismissed shot and helped make it the current mainstay in the world of basketball. It has filtered down to the youngest of players as readily seen in the AAU tournaments.

One thing that I believe is had they not had the backing of Mark Jackson and had not been teammates there wouldn't have been this type of explosion of the deep ball. We have seen teams with one incredible shooter. Examples would be Mark Price, Dale Ellis, Larry Bird, Craig Hodges and more recently Kyle Korver and JJ Reddick. As great as they are as shooters, they didn't move the needle anywhere near the level as the GSW shooting backcourt. So I must say them playing together is the main reason the world has fallen in love with the long ball.

This is the first part of the deception. Having multiple excellent shooters on the same team makes others believe they can replicate the process. Not at all missed is the fact that for a couple of years Kevin Durant was playing along side them. The Warriors basically had three 50/40/90 shooters on their team at the same time. The three of them also are very different scorers which also makes it seem as though you can just put together a group of shooters together and follow suit. As we have seen, it hasn't been repeated as of yet. I am not sure if it will ever be done again, mainly because we are in the beginning stages of seeing the game change again.

Next we have to look at the distance of the shots. More and more people are shooting from further distances. In this sense, I use the word shooting loosely. Majority of the time these are not shots. A players natural shot is typically what you see when a player takes a free throw. If you watch, when the form changes, the player is outside of their range. My rule of thumb is the distance a player can shoot a shot without jumping plus 3-5 feet is a shooters range. There are some exceptions but that is what's typical. Steph Curry and Damian Lillard are two that don't change their shooting form when they increase their distance. Here is the part that is often overlooked, it is easier to repeat shooting a shot with 95-100% of your strength than it is to repeat 40-60% of your strength. This is why the mid-range shot is more difficult than the 3 point shot. Once a player learns their strength distance, then it is easier to shoot at that distance. There is less of an adjustment that has to be made at the longer distance. This makes players feel as though they are better shooters from distance than they actually are.

The final point that I am going to point out is the venue at which you are shooting in. Ask any shooter and they will tell you, the smaller the gym the better you shoot. It has a lot to do with the players depth perception. When you hear players like Shaquille O'neal and Dwight Howard say they shoot well in practice but it doesn't translate to the game, this is the reason for it. I'm sure some nerves are involved as well but overwhelmingly it is the difference in venue. The gyms that players practice in are much smaller than the openness of the arena. This changes your reference point when shooting. Its not something anyone thinks about. They just shoot and try to make the adjustment. While a player spends many hours per week in the same smaller gym to practice, they may only spend five hours max in the arena that they are playing in on game night. Then its off to another arena with a different perception to adjust to. So while you may seem to have your shot together in the practice facility, it doesn't always translate when its game time.

There are a few other situations that can trick a player into thinking they can shoot the deep ball consistently. The key is learning if you can really shoot from distance or if the deep ball is deceiving you.