Sullinger Shooting 3's

[cons]

Anybody else have a bad feeling about this?

It's nice that he has confidence to shoot from the outside but look at him - he's made to play down low!
he may be the best rebounder we have, esp the best offensive rebounder. and he has good hands and can finish around the rim.
I'd much rather have him stuck down low then out bombing away.

antoine 2.0 ?

i saw the article on the front page where Stevens is encouraging 3's. I get that they're better than long 2's. but i would think Sully's biggest value to the team is to be where the true high % shots are - from right next to the hoop.

[manl_lui]

I saw that a lot in the game vs NY. I don't know why he's taking so many threes. Maybe he thinks it's preseason and he wants to test out his range. I hope he doesn't do that in the regular season =\

[Who]

I would like to see Sully get his midrange and long two point jump-shooting up to a high level before looking to add a three point shot to his game.

A three point shot is too much too soon.

[Chris]

I think most of the untapped potential in Sully lies in that 3 point shot.  It will open up his entire game, and give him one offensive weapon that he can rely on against just about any competition.

With his relative lack of length and athleticism, he has to have a strong face up game, if he ever wants to be more than a role player, and in todays NBA, stretch 4s are such a prized commodity.

So, I love this.  He is a hard worker, and already had good range on his shot (he shot 40% from the college 3 his sophomore year), so I feel like this is a good thing to focus on developing.

[kozlodoev]

but i would think Sully's biggest value to the team is to be where the true high % shots are - from right next to the hoop.

I'm not optimistic about his ability to be a reliable finisher around the basket. He's surely crafty, but he doesn't have any particular size, length, or lift to write home about.

For what it's worth, he shot .300 from 3-10 feet, and .667 from within 3 feet (both were drawn from nontrivial sample sizes). Which to me means that unless he's getting an open layup or a dunk, he's not very good in getting close shots off.

[cons]

I saw that a lot in the game vs NY. I don't know why he's taking so many threes. Maybe he thinks it's preseason and he wants to test out his range. I hope he doesn't do that in the regular season =\

yeah i thought maybe it was just like a weird thing but then I read Stevens' is yelling at them if they dont shoot the open three's. IDK - i think i'd be ok w that strategy for other players but not sully.

lots of 3's seems pitino-esque,college-esque its making me nervous!

and yeah I think individually if Sully becomes a consistent 3 point threat it'd be good for his career, but I'm not sure that would really help this team right now, given they have few other legit down low offensive presence type players.

[snively]

I remember Grant Long marveling that OB had the entire team shooting 3's. Here's hoping Sully can actually make them at 30+% - that's the threshold he'd need to hit to make it a better option than the mid-range J.

[bdm860]

He did shoot a pretty nice 40% (16 for 40) from 3 his last year at Ohio State. Better than Olynyk, who I think a lot of people would be okay with shooting the 3.

If I want to read wayyyyy too much into things I'll say, look at the difference between his Freshman and Sophomore years.  Roughly the same amount of shot attempts, the same ppg.  Difference was Freshman year he went 3-12 for 3, Sophomore year he went 16-40.  He wasn't making the shot, his range wasn't there yet, so he didn't take a lot of shots from deep, kept it smart. Worked on his shot, improved his range, the shots were falling, so then upped the amount of attempts from 3.   

Really though, don't know how Brad Stevens will fair in the NBA, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would let guys take shots (or at least a lot of shots) if they didn't make sense statistically.  Definitely not worried about Antoine 2.0 here.

[CelticG1]

Anything to improve his game.

But its about discipline and playing within yourself.

I'm not gonna mind if he's taking a few a la chris bosh and making them at an ok rate

[BballTim]

but i would think Sully's biggest value to the team is to be where the true high % shots are - from right next to the hoop.

I'm not optimistic about his ability to be a reliable finisher around the basket. He's surely crafty, but he doesn't have any particular size, length, or lift to write home about.

For what it's worth, he shot .300 from 3-10 feet, and .667 from within 3 feet (both were drawn from nontrivial sample sizes). Which to me means that unless he's getting an open layup or a dunk, he's not very good in getting close shots off.

  Different websites have slightly different numbers, but from hoopdata that .667 would be slightly above average for rotation-level power forwards. Also, you'll find that it's fairly common to see largish fluctuations in those 3-10 foot jumpers for many players. It's probably not a *tiny* sample size, but if he took 1 such shot a game then 1 more made shot a month would have pushed him close to 40% on those 3-10 footers.

[CFAN38]

I like the addition of a respectable 3pt shot to his game. The added range will allow him to create space for others and create matchup problems for other teams.

[kozlodoev]

but i would think Sully's biggest value to the team is to be where the true high % shots are - from right next to the hoop.

I'm not optimistic about his ability to be a reliable finisher around the basket. He's surely crafty, but he doesn't have any particular size, length, or lift to write home about.

For what it's worth, he shot .300 from 3-10 feet, and .667 from within 3 feet (both were drawn from nontrivial sample sizes). Which to me means that unless he's getting an open layup or a dunk, he's not very good in getting close shots off.

  Different websites have slightly different numbers, but from hoopdata that .667 would be slightly above average for rotation-level power forwards. Also, you'll find that it's fairly common to see largish fluctuations in those 3-10 foot jumpers for many players. It's probably not a *tiny* sample size, but if he took 1 such shot a game then 1 more made shot a month would have pushed him close to 40% on those 3-10 footers.

The sample size is 40+ 3-9 ft shots total, it's not a lot but enough to draw some inference.

But yes, fair enough, the data shows two things: (1) inside shots may be Sullinger's best weapon, relative to other shots (though I don't think there's enough data for conclusive evidence on long jumpers), and (2) when he comes to inside shots, he's pretty much average.

I'll stipulate that his % assisted for close shots is lower than the average, so he works for some of these. Yet, I can't see a player who was on par with the league average as a credible long-term threat.

[Snakehead]

If he can shoot threes, it makes him very Kevin Love like (more power than finesse, but similar).

It's only his second year and he didn't even get to finish his first.  I like how his shot has looked so far, so keep taking them (why not?) unless we figure out he's just not a shooter.  I like his shot though a lot, it's smooth, so I think there's hope.

[heyvik]

I saw that a lot in the game vs NY. I don't know why he's taking so many threes. Maybe he thinks it's preseason and he wants to test out his range. I hope he doesn't do that in the regular season =\

lots of 3's seems pitino-esque,college-esque its making me nervous!

THIS!!!

[sofutomygaha]

don't worry about it too much, bro. Everyone is jacking threes right now; it's basically just a tryout