Of course we need a mid-range game. Not exactly the best analogy, but passing the ball historically gets you more yards per play. That does not mean you throw the ball every down.
For football analogies, the mid range jumper is like punting. When it is 4th and 15, go ahead and punt. 4th and 2 at midfield, pass or run...just don't give the other team the ball. MR and punting are still needed, but are overused.
Statistically, mid-range shots are in the similar percentage range of 3pt. No one is suggesting abandoning mid-range at all, but OP seems to have a beef that we don't take enough mid-ranger shots. But in fact, Harden, Lin, Parsons, Brooks all take them at times. So what is really the problem? That we should look for mid-ranger shots? When you have Lin, Harden, Parsons that are very good at taking to the basket, and sucking defense, you don't tell them to look for mid-range shots more. People like Garcia, Brooks are shooting about the same behind the arch than mid-range, and sometimes do take a step closer. Mid-range shots are what opponent want you to take. Our offense IMHO is really fine as it is, saving for we don't have as many easy/fastbreak shots as last year, which is partly a result of defensive reaction by the opponents.
LOL what's the diff between defending a 3 pt and a mid range shot? They both take the same shot, only diff is the 3 pt is a step or two further back and is worth 30% more. Do the simple math, if you take make 2 threes you'll need 3 made mid-range shots to make up for it. So mid-range shots need to be more accurate than 3's to make up for that loss in points, but they're only marginally if at all more accurate than 3's, a lot of role players can hit the 3's but only the very best stars can hit the mid-range consistently. 3 pters aren't just worth more, they also encourage good shot selection. If a guy isn't open on 3 then he probably won't make it, so either he passes or moves to a better, open spot. On the other hand, you can take a mid-range even when you're guarded, so some random scrub who probably isn't good enough cross overs and takes a step-back mid-range J, which is one of the hardest shots in bball. Finally 3pters provide spacing, if all 4 guys on the team stand out on the perimeter because they can accurately hit a 3, then that means Dwight can go one-on-one on his dude on offense. If all our guys take mid-range shots then the paint will have 10 guys in it, how much harder will it be to score? Every time a guy takes into the paint you want him aggressive and going to the basket, if he's just standing in the mid-range area he's making it harder for everyone else to score because his defender is also in the paint standing there with him. Just look at how much Rudy Gay and Melo are failing, these two are pretty much two of the most accurate mid-range guys in the NBA.
Actually we need some better shooters. Garcia, Casspi, Harden have been terrible this season shooting the 3. Jlin and Parsons have been ok jones hasn't shot well at all he did at the beginning but now he can't get a bucket.
I really think our shooting woes is to do with our tough schedule....it will improve towards the rest of the season
We need deadeye shooters. Our guys are too streaky in general. Schedule hardship only makes it worse - but the problem is always there.
One thing all of our losses have in common is our team has difficulty beating teams with good bigs. If you take out the fluke Lakers (lucky shot) win, and Philly win (w/o Harden, costly mistakes by D12 late in the game, and lucky Anderson), and the Utah win (w/o Parsons and Lin), a 100% of our losses are to these teams. If the bigs on that team have an off night and our threes are falling, then we might be able to beat them, but if not, we're pretty much guaranteed to lose. Against teams like these our guard penetration is horrible and we end up tending to rely too much on our 3pt shooting, which hasn't exactly been falling consistently. The way our team is currently constructed we will not get far in the playoffs against teams like these. A trade for an experienced lockdown defender at the 4 is critical for this team's success. In the meantime, I agree with the OP...against teams like these we need to mix it up a bit with more midrange shots.
Did it ever occur to you it takes more strength to shoot a 3 than a 2? With the volume of 3s this team takes obviously it's going to affect their shot when they get to the 3rd in 4th or 8th in 12th.
The good teams have thoroughly scouted the Rockets offense. They know we won't take mid-range jumpers. So they have their C and PF stay in the paint, because T.Jones is not a threat from outside. This leaves PG, SG, and SF to stay out on the 3-point shooters. As seen at OKC, refs are no longer giving us FT's when we draw contact on layups. They think Rockets are making a living on the FT line. League doesn't want to see that. So they swallow the whistle and Harden, Parsons, and Lin will get hammered with no call each and every time. 3-pointers are contested, layups are blocked .... what else is there to do than take mid-range shots and floaters ?
I think there are a couple of points to be considered. 1.) With our philosophy we can beat any team. Of course our 3 ball has to be working. But, when we shoot at our average percentage or higher we can produce a lot of points. You look at the GS team that beat Dallas and they got hot. Sure, they lost in the second round, but I will talk about that in a second. 2.) We do not have an elite team yet. Morey is setting us up to be one (see anything related to 2015/rockets/third star), but in the meantime we are top 8 or so. That's with midrange jumpers or threes. The difference is when we are hot from three, we propel to a level of top 3 (can beat any team in the league) and that's with average defense. With our current squad we DO have three point shooters. Almost every person on this team is capable of shooting well from the three. We just haven't been. That is more like the Orlando team than the Golden State team. Anyone saying that we have a weak bench or that we need to improve our team bc when our shooters are off we suck needs to consider a few things: lin, Beverley, asik all are very nice bench players. They all have missed significant time. Also, Morey JUST got Dwight and Harden. I would say after getting them in one year we have a badass bench and cap flexibility AND picks that allows for options in the future. Usually when a team gets a star they give up a LOT and have to rebuild. We gave up very little for TWO AND could compete enough to do damage in the playoffs... bc when our bench guys get hot (again, they're very capable of getting hot for more than just one game) we can beat any team. So, temporarily we have a team that is good enough to beat any team in the league when hot. I think there are teams that are (or at least were as good as we are) that would never beat the best team in a 7 game series. That makes for interesting, frustrating, suspenseful, and dangerous (both ways) basketball. With that being said, I don't think we should JUST shoot threes or layups, bc the more weapons you have the better. Obviously, if Morey were to get a guy like LMA, he would be Ok with our shooting midrange jumpers.
EXACTLY! Rockets only have one guy shooting 40% from 3pt line and yet its the main shot they take. Get me a real shooter like jj reddick or jamal crawford , give me a deadeye shooter like clay thompson whe can shoot set shots and off the dribble. Rockets dont have any real consistent shooters. Hell if Lin can start hitting the mids like he used to the defense will change against houston.
good post. OKC sagged off daring rockets players to shoot mids. Even announcers noticed when parsons/harden pumpfaked and took a dribble, their defender automatically fell back into the paint. Thats why harden kept getting blocked and if he had a open FT LINE jumper , he instead tried to draw a foul. This is the sign of no confidence or poor offensive strategy.
It takes more strength? LOL what are you talking about, the 3 pt is only like 1-2 steps away from the mid-range area, you think that creates such a huge disparity in energy? And even if that is true, you think the "greater effort" taking a shot a step or two further away takes away all points I listed? It takes 3 made mid-range Js to score the same as two made 3 pointers. Which do you think takes more effort, 4 threes to score 12 points or 6 twos to score 12 points? P.S. The best defenses in history focus on getting guys to hit mid-range shots, they purposely crowd the paint and home in on 3 pointers so the opponent will always shoot the mid-range. Now, you guys want to do the D's work for us and shoot mid-range shots ourselves? The mid-range shot is a difficult shot to make, if you look at the NBA nowadays which non-star guard hits the mid-range accurately? You won't find such a guy, because only the very best scorers can hit them on a consistent basis. Aside from Harden and maybe Parsons I don't trust any other guard/SF to hit the mid-range consistently, trust me you don't want Bev, Casspi, Brooks etc. crossing over their opponent and doing a step back J.
If the opponent fell back into the paint why can't Parsons/Harden back away and shoot the now open 3? I don't understand, if the opponent dares you to do something obviously it's something which will be in their favor. If the opponent tries to hack-a-dwight do you serve DH in a silver platter and say let him shoot as many fts as possible? If the opponent is trying to get a mismatch and have Aaron Brooks guarding their SF in the paint do you tell Brook to strap his big boy pants on and battle it out? Obviously you do something which will counter their strategy, if the opponent's saying "shoot a midrange" and you shoot a mid range what does that make you?
