Kirk Goldsberry's Piece on 3-Point Shooting

[Big333223]

It's an excerpt from his new book and it's about 3 point shooting in the modern NBA and how to "fix" it.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26633540/the-nba-obsessed-3s-let-fix-thing

I don't have a problem with the modern NBA. I think the league is in a great place. But if I had my druthers, I would do one thing: widen the court and make the 3-point line consistent all the way around.

Moving the line back in the corners would do 2 things. 1, it would make corner 3's a little bit more difficult which would probably mean it would get taken a little less. 2, it would move the player stationed in the corner a little farther from the hoop which means their defender would also be a little farther from the hoop which means the driving lanes would be that much wider and entice more players to drive on.

[liam]

It's an excerpt from his new book and it's about 3 point shooting in the modern NBA and how to "fix" it.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26633540/the-nba-obsessed-3s-let-fix-thing

I don't have a problem with the modern NBA. I think the league is in a great place. But if I had my druthers, I would do one thing: widen the court and make the 3-point line consistent all the way around.

Moving the line back in the corners would do 2 things. 1, it would make corner 3's a little bit more difficult which would probably mean it would get taken a little less. 2, it would move the player stationed in the corner a little farther from the hoop which means their defender would also be a little farther from the hoop which means the driving lanes would be that much wider and entice more players to drive on.

Widening the court would also help with players stepping out of bounds on the corners serval times a game.

[angryguy77]

I'm all for anything that will incentivize teams to take less 3's a game. It's made the game into a sloppy product. I've not enjoyed watching it as much as years past, and that's including games where they make a ton of them. 

[Fan from VT]

I think for summer league and/or preseason, they should experiment with 2 different court arrangements.

First, widen the court to 53'6" instead of 50, and have the 3 pt be 23'9" everywhere.

Second would be, keep the court 50', but keep the 3 pt line 23'9" everywhere, giving guys in the corners less and less room to set their feet comfortably. Right now, there is 3 ft between the 3pt line and the corner sideline; Keep the 50' width and the 23'9" line and you end up with just 1'3" space at the furthest part of the corner.

[gift]

I particularly found the idea about allowing goaltending on 3 point shots intriguing.

[Androslav]

I particularly found the idea about allowing goaltending on 3 point shots intriguing.

Then it wouldn't be a 3 pt game, it would revert to the "Giants game".
That seems like going away from your core fan base, right?

[gift]

I particularly found the idea about allowing goaltending on 3 point shots intriguing.

Then it wouldn't be a 3 pt game, it would revert to the "Giants game".
That seems like going away from your core fan base, right?

To some degree. Blocks are exciting though. We'd have more highlight-able plays that aren't jumpshots. I also don't think blocking 3 point shots will always be as easy as it sounds. But it will force shooters to consider the risk before launching.

[MichiganAdam]

I miss the art of the big man.  I think you need to lengthen the 3 point line and get the percentages down to closer to the 2 point shots in points per attempt.  Maybe get the avg 3 point shot down to 33 percent...what is it now...36%?  get it down some and let the big guys play too. 

[alt]

I particularly found the idea about allowing goaltending on 3 point shots intriguing.

Then it wouldn't be a 3 pt game, it would revert to the "Giants game".
That seems like going away from your core fan base, right?

To some degree. Blocks are exciting though. We'd have more highlight-able plays that aren't jumpshots. I also don't think blocking 3 point shots will always be as easy as it sounds. But it will force shooters to consider the risk before launching.

I think it'd be relatively easy. 3 point shots tend to have long flying arches. And I believe it'd end up making players without a jumpshot even more unplayable because the price of allowing a big roaming near his defensive basket would be very steep. Maybe you're right and it'd be rare, would need to see it experimented.

I agree something needs to be done. I wish they'd start experimenting right away in Summer League/G-League.

[Celtics17]

I say make the shot a 2.5 point shot, then move the line where it's the same distance as the corner all the way around. This would make the shot easier to make but count for less. This would allow for more balance between what was the three point shot, the normal two point shot and would encourage more drives to the hoop.

If your team is down by .5 with a few seconds to go you can win the game with any basket made. Basically the league has become such a collection of three point shots that frankly it gets boring.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I think for summer league and/or preseason, they should experiment with 2 different court arrangements.

First, widen the court to 53'6" instead of 50, and have the 3 pt be 23'9" everywhere.

Second would be, keep the court 50', but keep the 3 pt line 23'9" everywhere, giving guys in the corners less and less room to set their feet comfortably. Right now, there is 3 ft between the 3pt line and the corner sideline; Keep the 50' width and the 23'9" line and you end up with just 1'3" space at the furthest part of the corner.

Don't some of the larger players have feet longer than this?

[Green-18]

I've been wanting to see the corner three go away for a couple of years now.  It would be interesting to see it experimented with in the G-League and NBA pre-season.

[nickagneta]

Changing the court size won't happen. It is standardized around the country in most high competitive basketball arenas. Changing the size, even a few feet could cost a lot of money for a large number of places.

Now I would have no problem with moving back the three point line and eliminating three pointers in the corners. You could simply make the three point shot go from foul line extended to foul line extended in an arc that measures a consistent 23 or 24 feet from the basket.

[GreenEnvy]

Not sure I understand the dilemma. Are the amount of attempts killing the game? If so, remove the line. It wasn’t there for many years, so take it away.

If you think the game NEEDS three’s because they can be as exciting as dunks, then live with the growing reliance on that shot.

Are strikeouts killing baseball? Maybe we should move all outfield walls back 40 feet and ban shifts so players try to hit singles and doubles.

[mctyson]

I have no problem with how it is, but if there is one thing I would change it is the corner 3.  There remains no reason that shooting from the corners at a shorter distance should be equivalent to shooting from the wings or top of the key.  So I would leave the semi-circle at the top.