well for the types of shots barry put up, 44-45% from 2s pretty good. but for these role players, you have to understand most of the shots they took were 3s.
Yeah, but that's why I can't classify many of them as great pure shooters. To me a pure shooter is a guy who can nail jumpers, even if they're only 2's, from all over the court. An example of a good 3 point shooter we had who couldn't or didn't hit a 2 (lol) was Matt Bullard. No way I'd call that guy a pure shooter anywhere but in practice maybe. The people I'm talking about are considered NBA greats of their time in shooting. I believe Barry is the career leader for the Rockets in 3P FG% - although he didn't even play a season-worth of games here.
Interesting choices ... I thought of World B right away, but Leavell and Purvis had 2 of the most bizarre shots I've ever seen! Leavell cocked the ball off to the side of his head with his shot, and purvis just seemed to throw it from the back of his head like he was inbounding a soccer ball! Their shots went in, but man were they weird. I'd try to imitate their shots in my driveway, and it always felt unnatural.
but jamerson was a great "pure shooter". Just not in games i saw him hit 23/25 in one of those 1 minute 3 point contests.. too bad it wasn't for anything! hahaha
The beloved "OH MOTHER!!" Shot. (called that because that was what Jim Foley screamed when the shot went in, while Gene Peterson howled "YYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!" for about a minute straight). I had about 12 people in my living room watching that game and four of them (including me) spilled their drinks when that ball swished. So clean. So pure. So beautiful. I was so happy didn't give a damn about the spills.
My vote for best clutch shooter in his prime for the Rockets would have to be Vernon Maxwell. That 3 pointer in the 4th quarter in the 1993 finals against NY was so clutch!
Matt had some bad years in there, but he was a better overall shooter than you're making it out. Taking out his 3 point attempts, he shot, by year, on 2's: 50%, 50%, 49%, 39%, 44%, 47%, 50%, 37%, 37%, 47%, 40% So, he really went down at the end of his career there...add in his height, yeah, he probably should have had a few more years at 50% or higher. But he never really played inside. And over half of his career FG attempts were 3. His 3 point FG% is, like his 2 point FG%, a little volatile, but he had some great years, including one at 45%, and was 38% for his career - pretty solid, and of course equates to better than 50% if they were all twos. All said, the guy scored 3,270 points in his career on 2,907 shots - 1.1 points per shot. Definitely not great, but not horrible....a little less than Calvin, for example. I know the team has had some great low post shooters, but it's hard for me to really equate Hakeem, or Yao with "pure" shooters. So thinking about "pure" shooters, I'd mention some of the names already thrown out - Calvin, Mad Max, Kenny Smith. I think Mario Elie should get some credit, too. The guy had one year with the team where he scored 1.6 points for every shot attempt taken, and finished his career at 1.4.
For one season, I'd have to go with Mario. In 1997, he was 50% overall, 42% from 3, 90% FT. I don't think you could find a better stat line for a shooter who got significant minutes for the Rockets, for one year. He was our 4th leading scorer, that season, and played starter's minutes.
