Ray Allen's Shooting Slump: Quick Take

[Greenbean]

Everyone has seen shooting slumps from amazing shooters at times in their careers, some even lasting entire seasons. These slumps can come from a variety of sources. Some very complicated while others quite simple.

In the case of Ray Allen, one statistic sticks out to me. He is taking 4.9 3's a game this year. That is 1.3 less than his first two seasons in Boston when he shot 40% both years. One could look at that and say,he is shooting less because he has less confidence in the shot, or you can say he is not getting as many good looks.

I think it is the latter option and the more I watch this offense it is becoming obvious why he is not getting as many open looks. Teams are keying in on chasing Ray and having a big run him off the line when he comes off screens. It is something we saw teams do in some rounds of the playoffs in the last two years and it completely throws Ray off his shooting game. I think it is time for Doc to run some new sets for Ray with different wrinkles. He needs to start getting the ball in different spots. If and when he does this, i would let Ray just go crazy and shoot himself out of this slump.

One could argue that he is not getting open looks because he is physically declining and can't get around the screens as quickly as he used to. If you make that argument then you are seeing something that i just dont see at all. I still see a physically fit Ray Allen that can still get to the bucket and run the floor as well as anyone on this team.

If we still have Ray at 3:01 tomorrow afternoon I think it is paramount that we do whatever it takes to get him on track. If he is shooting the ball well I think everyone here will be surprised how much better we will improve all around as an offensive ball club.

[fanofgreen]

I agree, I have always thought, ever since he got to Boston, that they never get him the ball enough, and didn't get enough touches.

When the only time you get a look is off of curls and screens, thats not enough to find a rhythm.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, he's usually isn't a good wide-open shooter. You have to get him in rhythm, whether he's guarded or not is pretty much irrelevant as far as I'm concerned with him. He's simply struggling behind the arc... can't pin point the problem myself, but I don't think it has much to do with getting open shots.

Even so, even with him struggling behind the arc, his FG% is at his career mark, so his devolution is a bit exaggerated.

[Greenbean]

Well, he's usually isn't a good wide-open shooter. You have to get him in rhythm, whether he's guarded or not is pretty much irrelevant as far as I'm concerned with him. He's simply struggling behind the arc... can't pin point the problem myself, but I don't think it has much to do with getting open shots.

Even so, even with him struggling behind the arc, his FG% is at his career mark, so his devolution is a bit exaggerated.

Exactly I think we agree. He needs to get in rythym and if the Celts are running the sets they are currently running for him, for whatever reason he cannot find it. They need to switch it up a bit.

He is definitely a great shooter with a hand in his face, but if he sees a big running at him at the 3 pt line, he will not even take the shot. We need to get him in more situations where the only guy he has to shoot over is a 2 or a 3. That's Doc's job to figure out though since I am no coach (yet )

[vinnie]

Ray's overall FG percentage is at his career average, at 44.7 percent, but his 3-point shooting this year is 33.3 percent versus 39.5% for his career. Another key reason that it seems like a precipitous dropoff for Ray is that last year he shot 48 percent from the field and almost 41 percent from the 3. Looking at those figures, his shooting this year has declined tremendously from last.