I knew that Dahntay Jones was having a career best year on 3-point FG percentage. I also knew from watching the games that he's best when he's in the corner. In fact, I mainly expect him to hit that shot when he takes.
What I didn't know was that 81.6% of all his 3-pointers have come from that spot on the floor!
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012...three-pointer/
What I didn't know was that 81.6% of all his 3-pointers have come from that spot on the floor!
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012...three-pointer/
Originally posted by Zach_Lowe_from_SI
Lords of the corner three-pointer
Avery Bradley took six three-pointers against the Knicks on Tuesday night. All six came from one of the corner areas, and Bradley is now 18-of-28 (64.2 percent) on corner threes this season — and 1-of-15 on threes attempted from anywhere else. Bradley is thus quickly emerging as one of the league’s most specialized three-point shooters.
The corner three is a straight-on shot, and the three-point line from there is 18 inches closer to the hoop than anywhere else along the arc. Players shot about 39 percent on corner threes last season and 34 percent on all other threes, and limiting corner threes has a strong correlation to allowing fewer points per possession on defense.
The corner three is really its own shot, one so-so shooters can use to turn themselves into effective floor-spacers. Bradley’s early proficiency from the short corner inspired some curiosity on Twitter on Tuesday night about which other players rely heavily on the corner three in their individual perimeter attack.
Via NBA.com’s stats database, here’s a list of all players who have taken at least half their three-point attempts from the corners this season, with some slight fudging to include a couple of Rockets who miss the 50 percent barrier by a hair. (Note: We’re only looking at guys who have taken at least 50 threes this season.)
Grant Hill: 44 corner threes, 52 total three-point attempts (84.6 percent).
Dahntay Jones: 58/71 (81.6 percent)
Shawn Marion: 52/66 (78.8 percent)
Bobby Simmons: 40/53 (75.5 percent)
Quincy Pondexter: 47/65 (72.3 percent)
Corey Brewer: 83/116 (71.6 percent)
Ronnie Brewer: 49/69 (71 percent)
TayShaun Prince: 59/94 (62.8 percent)
Rashard Lewis: 40/67 (59.7 percent)
Shane Battier: 95/165 (57.6 percent)
Francisco Garcia: 66/119 (55.5 percent)
Marvin Williams: 72/133 (54.1 percent)
Rasual Butler: 41/77 (53.2 percent)
James Anderson: 31/59 (52.5 percent)
Shawne Williams: 44/84 (52.3 percent)
Arron Afflalo: 106/208 (50.9 percent)
Matt Barnes: 64/126 (50.7 percent)
Chase Budinger: 91/184 (49.4 percent)
Courtney Lee: 91/185 (49.2 percent)
These are your corner gurus. This group as a whole is shooting 36.6 percent (430-of-1173) from the corner and 30.2 percent (248-of-820) on all other threes. These guys clearly understand their strengths and weaknesses as shooters, though some might want to dial things back even more — especially on non-corner attempts. Battier, for instance, is just 19-of-70 (27 percent) when he steps away from the corner after shooting 42-of-126 (33 percent) on non-corner threes last season. Garcia is 14-of-53 (26 percent) on non-corner threes after hitting just 31 percent in 2010-11.
Corey Brewer and Marion might think about scrapping the three entirely. Brewer is a putrid 24-of-83 (28 percent) on corner tries. There is a school of thought that these misses are healthy, in that they force defenses to respect Brewer, creating more space for his teammates to work. But I’m not sure that theory plays out in reality. Teams know Brewer’s numbers, and they are still happy to let him fire away from the perimeter. He can hurt wandering defenses with cuts, and perhaps Denver’s offense would be better off if he ditched the threes and focused on cuts and quick dribble attacks against defenders trying to close out on him.
Marion is 14-of-52 (27 percent) from the corner, and while most of those looks have been wide open, it might be time for Marion to bag these triples unless the shot clock is running down.
Among the other names, Ronnie Brewer, Pondexter and Marvin Williams stand out as guys who have made the corner three a mini weapon while exercising good judgment elsewhere. Brewer is 16-of-49 (33 percent) on corner threes this season, just good enough to make them workable attempts when open. He took just 24 threes (not including heaves beyond mid-court) all last season, and has jacked only 20 non-corner threes this season. Williams has been downright proficient from the corner for four years running, and he’s up to a career-best 42 percent (30-of-72) from the corner this season. His 34.4 percent mark (21-of-61) from non-corner areas is around the league average.
Pondexter has had a nice season for Memphis, playing solid defense on the wing, filling in at power forward in some small lineups before Zach Randolph’s return and exercising good shot selection; he’s 17-of-47 on (36 percent) on corner threes and has attempted just 18 threes from anywhere else.
Afflalo, Budinger and Lee are among the few fairly high-volume three-point shooters who approach or cross the 50 percent mark in terms of percentage of attempts from the corner. They have two major things in common: All three are smart players with a good understanding of space, and none are point guards. A lot of Kevin McHale’s favorite sets in Houston involve heavy use of the corner and sideline area, and the Rockets, as one of the league’s savviest numbers-based franchises, understand the value of the corner three.
About point guards: I thought about making a list of anti-corner guys — players who take a higher-than average percentage of their threes from non-corner areas — but the results there came out exactly as you’d expect. The list is full of point guards and stretch power forwards, the exact sort of players who attempt threes out of pick-and-rolls or pick-and-pop plays that usually start in the middle of the floor. There are a couple exceptions, including two of the biggest stars in the game, players who fit neither the point guard/stretch four description: Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant. Bryant has taken 250 of his 280 threes (89.3 percent) away from the corners, while Durant has one-upped him by attempting a whopping 94 percent of his threes (296 of 314 attempts) from non-corner areas. That is a Jose Calderon-level non-corner percentage.
And it’s not entirely surprising, or even bad. Guys who have the ball a lot are rarely in the corners, because it’s just not that smart to bring the ball at the start of a possession to the place where the sideline and baseline converge into one massive extra defender. Players who handle the ball a lot do so in the middle of the floor, and players who run off of screens for catch-and-shoot opportunities — something Durant especially does a ton — tend to pop out toward the top of the arc for an easier passing angle. Durant also works as the screener in a lot of pick-and-roll plays with Russell Westbrook, and while it’s possible Durant might be able to flare into the corner on those actions every now and then, cutting that far would slow the play down.
Avery Bradley took six three-pointers against the Knicks on Tuesday night. All six came from one of the corner areas, and Bradley is now 18-of-28 (64.2 percent) on corner threes this season — and 1-of-15 on threes attempted from anywhere else. Bradley is thus quickly emerging as one of the league’s most specialized three-point shooters.
The corner three is a straight-on shot, and the three-point line from there is 18 inches closer to the hoop than anywhere else along the arc. Players shot about 39 percent on corner threes last season and 34 percent on all other threes, and limiting corner threes has a strong correlation to allowing fewer points per possession on defense.
The corner three is really its own shot, one so-so shooters can use to turn themselves into effective floor-spacers. Bradley’s early proficiency from the short corner inspired some curiosity on Twitter on Tuesday night about which other players rely heavily on the corner three in their individual perimeter attack.
Via NBA.com’s stats database, here’s a list of all players who have taken at least half their three-point attempts from the corners this season, with some slight fudging to include a couple of Rockets who miss the 50 percent barrier by a hair. (Note: We’re only looking at guys who have taken at least 50 threes this season.)
Grant Hill: 44 corner threes, 52 total three-point attempts (84.6 percent).
Dahntay Jones: 58/71 (81.6 percent)
Shawn Marion: 52/66 (78.8 percent)
Bobby Simmons: 40/53 (75.5 percent)
Quincy Pondexter: 47/65 (72.3 percent)
Corey Brewer: 83/116 (71.6 percent)
Ronnie Brewer: 49/69 (71 percent)
TayShaun Prince: 59/94 (62.8 percent)
Rashard Lewis: 40/67 (59.7 percent)
Shane Battier: 95/165 (57.6 percent)
Francisco Garcia: 66/119 (55.5 percent)
Marvin Williams: 72/133 (54.1 percent)
Rasual Butler: 41/77 (53.2 percent)
James Anderson: 31/59 (52.5 percent)
Shawne Williams: 44/84 (52.3 percent)
Arron Afflalo: 106/208 (50.9 percent)
Matt Barnes: 64/126 (50.7 percent)
Chase Budinger: 91/184 (49.4 percent)
Courtney Lee: 91/185 (49.2 percent)
These are your corner gurus. This group as a whole is shooting 36.6 percent (430-of-1173) from the corner and 30.2 percent (248-of-820) on all other threes. These guys clearly understand their strengths and weaknesses as shooters, though some might want to dial things back even more — especially on non-corner attempts. Battier, for instance, is just 19-of-70 (27 percent) when he steps away from the corner after shooting 42-of-126 (33 percent) on non-corner threes last season. Garcia is 14-of-53 (26 percent) on non-corner threes after hitting just 31 percent in 2010-11.
Corey Brewer and Marion might think about scrapping the three entirely. Brewer is a putrid 24-of-83 (28 percent) on corner tries. There is a school of thought that these misses are healthy, in that they force defenses to respect Brewer, creating more space for his teammates to work. But I’m not sure that theory plays out in reality. Teams know Brewer’s numbers, and they are still happy to let him fire away from the perimeter. He can hurt wandering defenses with cuts, and perhaps Denver’s offense would be better off if he ditched the threes and focused on cuts and quick dribble attacks against defenders trying to close out on him.
Marion is 14-of-52 (27 percent) from the corner, and while most of those looks have been wide open, it might be time for Marion to bag these triples unless the shot clock is running down.
Among the other names, Ronnie Brewer, Pondexter and Marvin Williams stand out as guys who have made the corner three a mini weapon while exercising good judgment elsewhere. Brewer is 16-of-49 (33 percent) on corner threes this season, just good enough to make them workable attempts when open. He took just 24 threes (not including heaves beyond mid-court) all last season, and has jacked only 20 non-corner threes this season. Williams has been downright proficient from the corner for four years running, and he’s up to a career-best 42 percent (30-of-72) from the corner this season. His 34.4 percent mark (21-of-61) from non-corner areas is around the league average.
Pondexter has had a nice season for Memphis, playing solid defense on the wing, filling in at power forward in some small lineups before Zach Randolph’s return and exercising good shot selection; he’s 17-of-47 on (36 percent) on corner threes and has attempted just 18 threes from anywhere else.
Afflalo, Budinger and Lee are among the few fairly high-volume three-point shooters who approach or cross the 50 percent mark in terms of percentage of attempts from the corner. They have two major things in common: All three are smart players with a good understanding of space, and none are point guards. A lot of Kevin McHale’s favorite sets in Houston involve heavy use of the corner and sideline area, and the Rockets, as one of the league’s savviest numbers-based franchises, understand the value of the corner three.
About point guards: I thought about making a list of anti-corner guys — players who take a higher-than average percentage of their threes from non-corner areas — but the results there came out exactly as you’d expect. The list is full of point guards and stretch power forwards, the exact sort of players who attempt threes out of pick-and-rolls or pick-and-pop plays that usually start in the middle of the floor. There are a couple exceptions, including two of the biggest stars in the game, players who fit neither the point guard/stretch four description: Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant. Bryant has taken 250 of his 280 threes (89.3 percent) away from the corners, while Durant has one-upped him by attempting a whopping 94 percent of his threes (296 of 314 attempts) from non-corner areas. That is a Jose Calderon-level non-corner percentage.
And it’s not entirely surprising, or even bad. Guys who have the ball a lot are rarely in the corners, because it’s just not that smart to bring the ball at the start of a possession to the place where the sideline and baseline converge into one massive extra defender. Players who handle the ball a lot do so in the middle of the floor, and players who run off of screens for catch-and-shoot opportunities — something Durant especially does a ton — tend to pop out toward the top of the arc for an easier passing angle. Durant also works as the screener in a lot of pick-and-roll plays with Russell Westbrook, and while it’s possible Durant might be able to flare into the corner on those actions every now and then, cutting that far would slow the play down.
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