2.2% of all their points were scored off mid-range jumpers

@LosPollosHermanos this guy ****ing gets it.

 

Hey partner is trying to tell his own story here and when others point out flaws it’s because they have a narrative..it’s a fact we shoot 40-60% threes in games, it’s a fact we don’t really use the mid-range so it’s not that crazy to believe those numbers will carry over. The key is how we get our 3PT shots vs. Warriors like others have pointed out. I’ll also take the word of coach Kerr and people who watch games over HP’s seemingly stats driven opinion.

 

I think there's a deeper issue going on here.

Let's say you're at a stage in your life where having more 'x' (this variable can stand for anything: certain kinds of food, exercise, relationship, work, etc.) is supposed be good for you, so you start increasing its amount more and more, and just keep going even long past the point at which 'x' has ceased to provide any positive outcome, and in fact is actively damaging your well-being. The fatal error in this case is that he or she didn't realize nothing in this world is 'good' ad infinitum; in other words, there's almost always an optimal point beyond which additional benefit (i.e. marginal utility) begins to diminish.

The end goal is not doubling-down on just one aspect of the game to the nth degree - which is profoundly stupid and almost never works out well - but figuring out just the right combination of multiple variables which taken together produces the optimum result.

Let me put it more simply for people like @heypartner who seems to have difficult time grasping simple concepts: in the past, most teams in the NBA benefited from increasing their 3PT attempts because just about every team in the league was woefully short of hitting that optimum point. The balance was way out of whack in favor of mid-range vs 3PT shots. This does not mean, however, that if you just keep increasing 3PT attempts without any regard to how they're actually derived, its opportunity cost, and how the defense is adjusting to your painfully predictable game plan, it will nevertheless continue to provide additional benefit.

That's not how it works. Actually, that's not how the world works.

 

You think okc, memphis, san antonio and ny translate to an average opponent list?

 

Rockets led the league in open and wide open 3 point attempts last year.

An open shot is an open shot is an open shot.

 

The Rockets just need a little more variety in their offense, and CP3 and Harden are going to need to be the main ones to provide it by utilizing their midrange games. Harden has reduced himself to taking only threes and layups, but his 3 point shot continues to regress. I would rather see him taking a midrange jumper than a highly contested three off the dribble that he hits at a low percentage. You can't have over half of your shots be 3 pointers while the majority of those 3 pointers are unassisted and contested. Harden needs to take a serious look at his terrible shot selection. CP3 has never played in a system like this before, so I expect him to start utilizing his midrange game as he gets more comfortable. Right now it's about getting the spacing down and knowing where to be in the offense.

I'm fine with everyone else other than Harden, CP3, and Gordon taking nothing but threes and layups. These 3 have more to their games than that. Why restrict them?

 

NY, OKC & SAS not at full strength and without their best player in pre-season defense mode? Yes. Only Memphis was good and we struggled mightily.

 

Sure, the Spurs were without kawhi, and we were without chris, okc were missing basically the worst defender in the nba last year, so that side of the ball wasn't hurt.

 

Did you ever consider that the Warriors might have gone to this model because their PG is really a shooting guard? Curry had a higher career turnover rate than Harden going into last season.

The Warriors didn't succeed until they took the ball out of Curry's hands and gave it to Draymond to initiate the offense.

Code:

                                      
Season    Age  Tm  Lg Pos   G TOV% USG%
2009-10    21 GSW NBA  PG  80 16.5 21.8
2010-11    22 GSW NBA  PG  74 16.4 24.4
2011-12    23 GSW NBA  PG  26 17.0 24.0
2012-13    24 GSW NBA  PG  78 13.7 26.4
2013-14    25 GSW NBA  PG  78 16.1 28.3
2014-15    26 GSW NBA  PG  80 14.3 28.9
2015-16    27 GSW NBA  PG  79 12.9 32.6
2016-17    28 GSW NBA  PG  79 13.0 30.1
Career                NBA 574 14.6 27.3

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/16/2017.

Why would we take the ball out of CP3's hand to let Capela do the passing?
Please explain to me why this would be a good idea.