Ah, the venerable old cliche, "If the defense gives you that shot, you have to take it."
Oft repeated, and accepted as part of basketball coaching canon. But is it true?
Well, let's start with the obvious fact that not every player is adept at every shot. For example, Kevin Garnett is an amazing player who can shoot from all over the floor. Except from 3 point range. Yet his lack of 3 point range should not take away from his HOF-bound career; in fact, it's largely irrelevant. Why? Because he very rarely shoots from 3. Instead, Garnett focuses on his strengths like banging in the post and stepping in for long 2 pointers. KG hides his weaknesses and plays to his strengths, and that's part of why he's so great.
Bottom line: great players don't take shots they can't make. Doing otherwise hurts the team.
So it begs the question: why does Rondo take so many shots that he can't make? Moreover, why do so many people WANT him to take shots that he has a proven inability to make? Off in the distance I hear the rumblings, "You have to take that shot."
Let's take the first half of tonight as a microcosm. Rondo is something like 7/7 at the rim, and 0/4 when he takes those uncontested jumpshots everyone thinks he has to take. But why does he have to take those shots when he's PROVEN he can get to the rim or the foul line at will? Further, I've noted that there was at least 5 seconds of shotclock time when each of those shots was taken, and often much more. One of those shots was taken at the very beginning of the shotclock.
The bottom line is, like Garnett, Rondo does not have to take that shot to be at his best. In fact, taking that shot makes him worse. Will he someday have to master that shot when the Big 3 retires? Yes, probably. But today is not that day, and Rondo has yet to master it. So he shouldn't take it. He CAN and he MUST continue to find better shots for himself or his teammates unless it's a desperation shot with 1 second left on the shotclock.
And, as I like to do, I'll address the argument most likely to come up: that the more Rondo takes that shot, the more confident he'll become and the better at it he'll be. Yes, that sounds nice, but unfortunately evidence doesn't bear that out. Rondo has been taking that shot all season now and he's obviously as "comfortable" taking it as he'll ever be. His shooting from that range, if anything, has gotten worse as the season goes on.
Which is no surprise... improvements to shooting is accomplished by putting up tens of thousands of shots in practice and the off-season. It's a matter of repetition, and the extra 5 jumpshots that Rondo might take a game are NOT going to help him improve. It's literally a drop in the improvement bucket, and people who are hoping that he'll improve by taking that shot in games are deluding themselves.
So please, stop saying that Rondo "has to take that shot."
Topic: "You have to take that shot" (Read 12312 times)