We're 90% of the way through the season, so it's safe to say that's who they are at this point, but why? The Mavs currently rank 24th in the league in 3PT%. The only playoff team close to being this bad is Memphis at 20th. They did hit at 40% in February, but in March they're back to an awful 33%, and now tonight's stinker. Obviously Maxi's struggles play a big part in it, and Bullock has had a bad game, but I dunno, when it's a team-wide issue, I don't think you can blame just one guy. THJ and KP also greatly underperformed when they were playing. It seems like there is clearly something wrong with the coaching for them to shoot this badly, this consistently. It shouldn't be so hard to shoot well on a Luka-led team.
It seems wild. But I dunno. Carlisle emphasized shooting 3s, and we shot em well. Kidd emphasizes D, and we play it well. Should it really surprise us that the emphasis comes with a cost?
3pt shooting comes and goes. That's
true for all teams. Can't totally depend on them. You have to have other ways to score.
(03-26-2022, 07:52 PM)HoosierDaddyKid Wrote: [ -> ]3pt shooting comes and goes. That's
true for all teams. Can't totally depend on them. You have to have other ways to score.
Okay, so this is a take I see a lot, and while it's true that you need a diverse offense, modern NBA defenses are not stupid. You need shot creators, ball movement, off-ball movement, screens, cutters, etc., but if you don't have outside shooting none of that will matter. The modern NBA offense depends on being able to hit wide-open threes, that is true no matter what offense you run. You can't just say "well score inside if you can't hit threes!" because the other team will swarm the ball and force you to take those open threes. If you can't hit them, you'll lose.
We don't have a single 40% 3 point shooter is one reason. Of our current guys on the team Dinwiddie is the leader but judging by his career numbers expect a regression. A lot of it is just the roster. The way Bullock started the season is another reason as was Hardaway's injury and poor shooting before the injury. And Kidd's higher emphasis on defense may affect the legs they have going into their shots as well
The low March shooting percentages are mainly due to Kleber and Bullock. Kleber's been awful and Bullock was also bad...maybe it had to do with why he had to miss that week due to personal reasons. At least since his return, he's had two great games and two bad ones, which was better than the slump he was in before.
But as far as I can see - everyone else in the main lineup/rotation are shooting fine in March from three:
LD - 38.6%
JB - 38.5%
DFS - 40%
SD - 37.9%
I know Bertans has been bad but I'm not sure he plays enough to really impact those numbers. I remember him being vocal about Latvia and how close the Ukraine situation is for him so that could be affecting him.
I don’t know how much blame Kidd deserves for our shooting woes.
Remember how badly Richardson and Delon were against their career averages under Carlisle? It’s almost like guys who come here never shoot their career averages from three, no matter who the head coach is.