Modern basketball is very different from the basketball of the 2000s, 90s, 80s, etc. With the death of the traditional big man, advent of spacing, positionless small ball, fast pace, it seems like certain types of players are being driven out of the NBA. Ben Wallace could not survive this league.
So is it still possible for someone to maintain a long career in the league without developing a reliable 3 point shot? And what would they have to specialize in to justify their value?
Tell me you only watching highlights and 2k without telling me…
That Giannis guy seems pretty good
Embiid is only okay from three (he’s below league average), and Giannis is terrible from three. Those are often recognized as two of the top three players in the league. You don’t exactly have to dig deep to find players without good three point shooting who have carved out long / solid / valuable careers.
Who is out here ranking embiid 3rd? I almost always see Steph and Luka above him
I’m not sure Steph is still there though he was at one point… Luka is a controversial one because his box score stats don’t seem to translate to point differential most of the time (though last year was easily his best year on that front). Embiid won the MVP last year, I don’t think ranking him top three is that controversial. At least if we’re talking regular season.
Embiid shot 40% from 3, I think it was a season ago
He never has. He had two seasons barely above average (37+%) but he’s a career 33% three point shooter. That’s about the league median, but not the league average (partly because average is always above median, partly because good three point shooters shoot the majority of threes).
Ben Wallace couldn’t survive in this league? Have you seen how much Gobert makes?
Gobert might as well be Steph Curry offensively compared to Ben Wallace
Uhh no, did you see that clip from the other night he couldn’t even score on a mismatch right by the basket… stood around and waited for a triple team to swarm instead of trying to score from about 6 feet away
Yeah, Ben Wallace would have just dropped the pass instead.
Not that it means Ben wouldn’t survive, but I don’t think you realize the extent to which Ben was bad offensively.
Part of it could mitigated because of the spread pnr offense, but he was much worse then Rudy offensively
Have you heard of this Greek guy?
You have to be super good and an insane athlete, Giannis, Prime Westbrook etc. because as soon as you declined a bit, you basically become what John Wall was last year or what Bledsoe has been post Milwaukee
Rudy Gobert, Kevon Looney are two guys who don’t shoot 3s and have been in the league for a while. There are plenty of others as well
There are like a hundred Capelas and Mitch Robinsons in the league
People are commenting about Giannis here. Which is fair, but a better answer would be Jimmy.
That man’s 3 is so shaky that I’d rather him take a step inside the arc than than even fake attempt them. Though it helps that for some reason, his 3 ball becomes 50/50 when it comes to clutching up for some reason (this is hyperbole, but damn it sure feels like it).
There are tons of other things players can do very well that will keep them in the league
Saying Ben Wallace couldn’t survive in the league is asinine
Yes lol. That man was offensively worse than Gobert and his free throw shooting was bad. He would not be playable come the post season.
It’s true, because the rules have changed so much. Nobody cares about post defense. Defensive rebounding is a low priority. Shooting 3s and drawing fouls are all that matters.
Plenty have, and plenty will continue to have. The majority of playoff/play-in teams last season were starting a non-shooting big, for example.
The majority of starting centers don’t have a three point shot.
Jarrett Allen, Mitchell Robinson, Nic Claxton, Bam Adebayo, Clint Capela, Jakob Poeltl, Daniel Gafford, Mason Plumlee, Isaiah Stewart, Steven Adams, Deandre Ayton, Ivica Zubac, Kevon Looney, Rudy Gobert, Dwight Powell and Walker Kessler were all starters for their respective teams last year and have a basically non-existent three point shot. That means that 17/30 starting centers don’t have a three point shot at all.
You also have guys like AD, Domantas Sabonis, Jusuf Nurkic, Jonas Valanciunas and Alperen Sengun who can’t hit the three ocassionaly but shoot a really low volume so they’re also not solid shooters.
So basically 22/30 starting centers don’t have a “solid three point shot”.
Ben Simmons has hung around without even taking them
Draymond hasn’t hit more than 30% of his 3s since 2016 (which was also the only year he shot than 33% from deep)
So yeah, it is possible.
I think you have to be a center or a pf to even have a chance and even then you need a very elite skill. Like Rudy’s defence, Ben’s playmaking/defence and Giannis is just dominant.