[Let's settle this for once and for all] Who is the greatest shooter ever [high mid-range/3 point]

KD and MJ are the best midrange shot makers

Steph is the best 3 point shooter…he can hit spot up, off the dribble, contested, and has the most range…doubt there will ever be another shooter like him that can shoot his type of threes at his percentages

 

Heard an interesting tracking stat on the BS podcast today.

I believe it said Durant leads the league in shot difficulty and his actual efficiency vs expected efficiency based off his shot difficulty leads the league by a HUGE margin.

Meaning no one takes more difficult, contested shots and still scores unbelievably efficiently like Durant.

Conversely Westbrook is the exact opposite. He has the least amount of contested shots and still shoots like he is blind.

 

All these cats are lucky the 3 point shot wasn't emphasized during birds career.

The hick from Frenchlick doesn't get mentioned enough in these types of conversations.

 

No Ray Allen in the poll?

 

cool story you clown!

 

At one point those two were best buddies.

 

larry tweety bird. he's whiter than all the others

 

The best mid range shooter of all time?

I think to be the best mid range shooter you have to make them at a high clip and take and make a lot of mid range shots.

Among recent players Durant stands out as an excellent one, and Chris Paul as well....... DeRozen is good at it, but not as accurate as Paul and Durant.

Steve Nash and Nowitzki and David West were all pretty good.

However, the BEST was someone else that was a great scorer but isn't mentioned much...... it is Adrien Dantley who for his career shot close to 55% on mid range shots, and that is basically all he shot. He also did it in an era with really poor spacing. If it isn't Dantley then it is Alex English who was automatic if open 10-15 feet from the basket.

I go with Dantley because he would hit some incredibly hard mid range shots over double teams. Everyone knew what AD would do, but no one ever learned to stop it. In his prime he was dropping 30+ a night on high efficiency and with the court not spaced and against double teams.

Who is the best long range shooter? Well, we are in an era of 3's so it is hard to know how guys like Bird or Miller would have done where 7-8 threes a night were the norm.

Bird, Allen, Hodges, Dell Curry all stand out as great shooters...... but I think the two best I have seen were Reggie Miller, who could take and make hard 3's and would do well on larger volume and with the spacing in todays game....... and Steph Curry who has to be the best ever.

 

Aldridges mid range is lethal too. Other posters called out no Allen, cp3 etc.

 

Tony Parker's midrange game was also very good...at least, while on the Spurs. Didn't really pay attention to him once he left for Charlotte.

But whenever he'd pull up from midrange, it seemed like it was always going to go in.

 

Hard to believe this duo was up 3-1 on the Warriors at one point.

 

I voted for Mark Price because his brother was a former Rocket great.

 

Totally random but one of the best shooting seasons I've seen in my lifetime as an NBA fan was 2009/2010 Chris Paul before he went down with an injury. This was before the Steph Curry, James Harden, Dame Lillard 3 point boom. Paul seemed so automatic that season that I remembered being really disappointed (and I'm not even a CP3 fan) that he got injured. Was definitely on pace to have one of the best shooting seasons ever.

Back to the task at hand, my votes/opinions:

1. An actual 3 point shooting contest amongst the greatest 3 point shooters and long mid range shooters.

This is hard but, even though I started watching basketball in the early 90s, I'll have to go with Bird here. In a multi-round contest I think he has a slight advantage with not having to use his legs much on his shot. Could also convince me on Ray Allen or Durant.

2. Who is the best in-game shooters from the mid-range behind the 3 point line to high mid range?

Mid-Range: I think separating it by three positions--guards, forwards, centers--helps to clear things up.

Guards: Overall I think Chris Paul is amazing at it. His jumper is still wet to this day. Steve Nash was super efficient here as well too (still remember those one legged jumpers). Tony Parker's tear drop was pretty much unstoppable for a few seasons but his mid range jumper wasn't as great as Nash's or Paul's. You have Jordan too who basically owned the mid range area--the elevation and/or the fadeaway...it was beauty.

Forwards: Duncan's bank shot was so reliable. Durant is a monster. Dirk's one legged jumper was often imitated (even by Durant).

Centers: Hakeem, full stop.

3. Who can hit the toughest shots from 16 and out? Awkward angles, contested shots, double teams, zone defenses, clock winding down, and etc.

I have to give this to Durant. Kobe might have the more memorable shots but he wasn't all that efficient with it. Durant can/will rise up above pretty much any defender and get the right shot off.

 

Shout out to Sam Jones. Dude could bank it in from anywhere, even from behind the backboard.

 

Steph is the best shooter ever. MJ and Durant have an ability get their shot off in any situation. If I need a 2 pointer with a few seconds left, I would take MJ and Durant. If I needed someone to score in bunches while creating tons of space for other players on the team, I would take Curry. Can you imagine Curry on the floor with Dream or Shaq. Defenses wouldn't know what to do.

 

I think it's Durant. I don't think it's close.

No one can contest his shot. His midrange barely even touches the net, it just swishes through.