Anyone else worried about the Celtics love for the three point shot this year?

[hpantazo]

no because it's totally opening up the floor for them and keeping the opposing team's defense honest, which is giving guys like Pierce, Rondo, and Daniels room to go to the hoop, and KG and Sheed some more room to post up. Remember last year's playoffs? They didn't have the outside shooting big men that KG and Sheed bring, and defenses totally collapsed to the middle and stifled out offense.

[Harris34]

Well, most of the 3's have been wide open shots off of kickouts or superb ball movement, and that's why we're shooting such a high percentage from 3 right now.

Until that changes, I don't see a problem.

[papa shuttlesworth]

He has been hitting them, so I can't complain, but I was surprised to see the other day that Wallace has attempted more threes than Ray. 

I love reading into 4 game samples.

[LB3533]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

[Fafnir]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

I'm fine with 70% of his shots being 3s, if and only if the other 30% are inside shots.

[Harris34]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

I'm fine with 70% of his shots being 3s, if and only if the other 30% are inside shots.

Yeah, I mean, we pretty much knew what we were getting into with Sheed. The large majority of his shots are going to be 3 balls. As long as they are open, and he can make them at his career percentages, we're getting exactly what we signed up for. (plus the defense of course)

[BudweiserCeltic]

I like those 3s, they're in the flow of the game. I do get worried when they take too many in a row, that's when I got a problem with it particularly when they're missing. That aside, I want to see more penetration.

Other than that, the 3s have been quite fine, we're playing a good inside outside game, and our 3 pointers have been good looks for the most part. Rarely has there been an ill advised one.

[dark_lord]

as long as they are "good 3's", meaning they are open shots normally off of a drive and kick, then i dont have a problem with it.  also, depending how much time is on the shot clock....if they are jacking up 3s with 18-20 seconds left on the shot clock, im not happy. 

[Drucci]

Happy with the 3's attempted so far. Disappointed that they didn't make more of them (just kidding because they are shooting it very well).

I do think that Sheed is shooting too many 3's though, and I feel that he does not always take good threes (he is rarely wide open). But I'm OK since he makes most of them. Doc said that he would go to his postup game more during the course of the season and I agree with him.

Getting the habit of shooting many 3's can hurt you down on the road but I'm not worried, the Celtics have a great roster of shooters and they get the job done in the paint, too. Their offense is very balanced. And you can't overlook the fact that 3's really carry the momentum in games, they are often at the core of our runs.

[EJPLAYA]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

39% from three point land is the equivalent of 58% from 2 pt land. As long as he doesn't take many wild ones I'm not too worried. That's Sheed's game and he spreads the floor so much with that shot that he will allow Eddie and Daniels to get better shots and increase their percentages as well. He's smart enough to back it off when he isn't on. Keep draining them Sheed!

[fan33]

Take the open shot and the averages don't lie, we are a very good outside shooting team. Scouting reports will have the opposing teams defenders stretched and that is where the easy inside game opens up. Keep shooting those threes, they're a back breaker 

Not a problem and by design !

[nickagneta]

An awful lot of optimism given the numbers that I have given. Right now the Celtics are shooting close to 44% from three as a team. That isn't going to happen all year. A percentage closer to 38% is probably a lot more reasonable.

Also, at the current rate these Celtics are on a pace to throw up 1788 3pt attempts this year. Does anyone know what NBA champion shot the most 3 pt attempts ever in one season? Anyone? It was the 2007-08 Boston Celtics with 1564. The Celtics are on pace to shatter their own record of 3 pt attempts in a season by an NBA champion if they win.

Does anyone want to guess which championship team in NBA history had the highest percentage of their shots be three point attempts? Once again, your 2007-08 Celtics at my aforementioned 24.88%. As a matter of fact, except for that C's team and the 2006-07 Spurs, who were also around 24% of their shots being threes, virtually ever other NBA champion during the three point era has been below 22% with the great majority of NBA champs below 20% of their shots being taken from beyond the arc.

This team is closing in on 30% of their shots being threes and I refuse to believe at this pace they can win an NBA championship. They won't hit 44% of those shots for the year and not all those threes have been good threes in the flow of the offense. Taking that type of offense into the playoffs would be a huge mistake in my estimation and I am really, really surprised that people haven't seen this team propensity for throwing up a three rather than working something else.

[LB3533]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

39% from three point land is the equivalent of 58% from 2 pt land. As long as he doesn't take many wild ones I'm not too worried. That's Sheed's game and he spreads the floor so much with that shot that he will allow Eddie and Daniels to get better shots and increase their percentages as well. He's smart enough to back it off when he isn't on. Keep draining them Sheed!

It's still early, but he's making 36% from 3 land. I'm not too concerned with those %, the concern I have is the amounts attempted.

When we had Posey back in 2007, his 3 point shots comprised 67% of his total attempts.

But Sheed has more game than Posey. Sheed can score down low.

I'd prefer if it was 50/50 for Sheed because whatever we run for KG down low, we can run the same for Sheed.

We have that option.

We don't need to have Sheed become a specialist. He's not quite that finished yet in his career to be a Bruce Bowen type player.

[LB3533]

I agree nick, Pierce won't continue to shoot close to 60% from the 3 point line.

Once Pierce's % comes down, the team's % will normalize.

But everyone else is pretty much on par.

In my mind, Pierce is the only one skewing the team's percentage one the high end of the curve.

[Neurotic Guy]

I agree, only Sheed is the one we have to worry about.

Through four games, Sheed leads the team with 25 three's attempted and hitting at 36%.

Those 25 threes from Sheed make up about 69% of his total shot attempts. (Something to be worried about as Sheed is only shooting 39% from the floor)

I think the value of 3's is difficult to measure.  When they fall, you love them; when they don't, you can lose games because of it.  
Sheed hitting 36% means that for every 100 shots he takes he hits 36, netting 108 points.  You'd have to hit at a 54% average to match this output if all his shots were 2's.  The C's 43% overall average nets them 129 ponts per 100 shot attempts. This extrapolates to a ridiculous 64% shooting percentage if the shots were 2's.  
Among the many flaws of looking at it this way is that it doesn't address what happens off of a missed 3 v. what happens off of a missed 2 (on average).  Teams seem to be off and running off of long 3 misses. I'd be interested to see opposing teams' stats off of missed 3's before deciding how much I like the 3.  Though, it seems there's never much of a downside when a team is hitting 43%.