Where has the mid-range jumper gone in basketball?
It's awesome that athletic guys amp up the testosterone and impress at the rim. And the floater in the lane or off the backboard is pretty. And with the amount of time spent practicing behind the arc, it makes sense to take the open three. But there's a 10-12' No Man's Land that produced a lot of points in the past that isn't (at least at SDSU) used effectively. Part of this is we haven't developed an offensive-minded post player in some time (Malcolm's game was developed before he got here ... was the last Aerick Sanders?). Part of it is our athletes don't shoot particularly well. But most of it (in my opinion) is coaches don't see the benefit of shooting in that range because you only get two points and the percentages aren't as high as shots in the lane - unless Skylar's taking them - so that shot is overlooked in offensive game planning. For example, at SDSU, our bigs set their screens above the foul line, and I think that's generally too high to create an easy jump shot. The result of this trend is basketball has become a game of layups, dunks and three point shots. Nothing particularly wrong with that, except it seems like those tendencies are easier to defend without the threat of a mid-range game.
In any event, I would be willing to wager that our shooting percentage beyond the arc (where good balance is drilled into the shooter) is higher than shots between 10-20'.
Anybody else have an opinion on this?
It's awesome that athletic guys amp up the testosterone and impress at the rim. And the floater in the lane or off the backboard is pretty. And with the amount of time spent practicing behind the arc, it makes sense to take the open three. But there's a 10-12' No Man's Land that produced a lot of points in the past that isn't (at least at SDSU) used effectively. Part of this is we haven't developed an offensive-minded post player in some time (Malcolm's game was developed before he got here ... was the last Aerick Sanders?). Part of it is our athletes don't shoot particularly well. But most of it (in my opinion) is coaches don't see the benefit of shooting in that range because you only get two points and the percentages aren't as high as shots in the lane - unless Skylar's taking them - so that shot is overlooked in offensive game planning. For example, at SDSU, our bigs set their screens above the foul line, and I think that's generally too high to create an easy jump shot. The result of this trend is basketball has become a game of layups, dunks and three point shots. Nothing particularly wrong with that, except it seems like those tendencies are easier to defend without the threat of a mid-range game.
In any event, I would be willing to wager that our shooting percentage beyond the arc (where good balance is drilled into the shooter) is higher than shots between 10-20'.
Anybody else have an opinion on this?
