He likely put no effort into it for most of his career, it was a VERY different era and 3 point shooting wasn't anywhere near as important then because basically no teams really knew how much of a weapon it could be.
Lonzo Ball is a recent example. Jalen Suggs is another one. Paolo Banchero seems to have some sign of having drastically improved his 3pt shooting but in low volume.
Paolo was never a lost cause, he was an inefficient shooter and not a 14% shooter. Kidd Gilchrist could be compared, if only he turned it around. Giannis actually shot 29-30% in 1 or 2 seasons......our Coach Sullivan worked for them Bucks.
I don't believe Amen is a lost cause either though, he doesn't appear to be a guy whose shooting touch is so broken it's impossible for him to learn. His FT% for example is below average but not atrocious. His jump shot doesn't look nearly as bad when he's close to the basket. I think there's a real chance that it's just broken mechanics for him, and if he can learn to shoot cleanly and consistently with good form, he might be able to show dramatic improvement. There's no guarantee he'll be able to get there, but I don't see a Dwight, Shaq level lack of talent in that area, he seems more in the range of an early-career Blake Griffin in terms of the potential to improve.
There was a time that the NBA did not have the 3 point shot. And guys like Amen could thrive off the basket. Though Amen did quite well last year doing just that, Nevertheless, in today’s NBA not having a legit 3 point shot is detrimental in player value. Heck even Sengun with all his craftiness and super high basketball IQ are seen as deficient because he does not have a 3 point shot. You’d like to think that a player could learn to shoot the 3 point shot with repetitions, much like Hakeem learned to do his dream shake in the summer, practicing the shot 1,000 times a day for the whole offseason. Then again Shaq never learned to shoot the free throws, to a point it wasn’t a hindrance. Though I’ve seen the interview, where he refused to do the granny style FT (based on his hand size, this was going to be his best bet), and instead embraced being a horrible FT shooter. Which says for Shaq his brand was more important than his FT’s. Going back to Amen, I think this season will tell us if he has any substantial improvements to his 3 point shot. Because if he doesn’t, he’s still elite enough to be on the court; but it will expose a lot of how the Rockets disguise offensive sets and it will give the opponents defenses an advantage.
Magic is my comp for Amen. Magic never developed a jump shot. Later in his career he developed a good set shot. That’s really all he needed in that era of basketball and with all the great role players on the Lakers. Nixon, Wilkes, Jabbar, Worthy, Cooper, man they were loaded, but Magic in my opinion was the best PG of all-time and probably 3rd on my list of all-time players. In this era, in order to become a superstar he will probably have to develop at least a passable jump shot from 3 levels.
I see Amen as of now more of the mold of Andre Iguodala. Not a primary ball handler but more of a great secondary playmaker athletic close out attacker, transition beast. A lot of wing skills but not a primary ball handling floor general. Magic was very unique for his time given that his face up dribble package would be considered very weak in today's league. Most of his ball security from his dribble was using his butt to stave off smaller defenders. So in a modern comparison I guess Ben Simmons with mental toughness would be what the idea of the ideal Amen ought to be but Ben Simmons entered the league with far better dribble package.
Paolo was never as bad as Amen. But shooting has always been his biggest weakness since college. Giannis's shooting fluctuates and has never really improved. I've always felt that if Amen doesn't develop a close to average 3pt shot, he still can be somewhat like Giannis. Giannis uses his strength and size to get to close range. Amen uses his speed and body control. One thing Amen has over Giannis is his court vision. He will be a better playmaker. MKG was a weird case. I never understood why he was hyped so much coming out of college. He's pretty much an undersized PF who couldn't shoot.
MKG was hyped because he was a key member and leader of a very great team in college. The best squad Cal ever had.
Giannis has little reason to develop a 3 ball. He's not a playmaker and is no threat beyond bully ball where he's most efficient. Same reason why I hate the lazy "Sengun needs a 3 pointer narrative". If Jokic, Embiid, Giannis or Sengun are shooting 3s, congrats, you've won the possession. It's another reason I'm lower on Victor than most. Dudes that big don't need to be shooting 3s. They have a much higher chance of scoring within 10 feet. Amen is different. He needs the 3 ball to open up his driving lanes and not having people playing deep drop on him all the time. I doubt Giannis worked too hard on his 3. We will see this year the progress Amen has made. I don't care if he misses his 3 point attempts. I want to see him take them with *consistent* form. I dont care how ugly people think it looks. I just want to see it consistent and at least hitting straight/back iron. This is one area where Cam needs work as well. When he misses, he misses it really bad. Amen as a 25-30% 3 point shooter and a consistent floater is immediately our best player.
You mean Kentucky? That was a very good team. But MKG didn't look like anything special. Our legend Terrence Jones could arguably be a better prospect on that team.
A big who can shoot from outside opens up a lot of space for the team and himself. If Giannis could shoot 3s like Jokic and Embiid, he'd be in GOAT conversation. If Sengun could shoot 3s like Jokic and Embiid, he'd be in MVP conversation. They don't have to be great 3pt shooters. They just have to be good enough to make the defense honest. Wemby's problem is that he can't bang inside, because he's too weak or too soft or both. If he develops a dominant inside game together with a decent outside shot, he'll fulfill his "generational" billing.
Lonzo Ball is the best example and also not an example at all. His reputation as a non-shooter was entirely due to his ugly form, not actual results. His 3pt shooting at UCLA was nearly identical to Jabari Smith Jr.'s at Auburn in both volume and percentage. I understand that they played different positions and play styles but Jabari was considered the best shooting prospect in the country while Lonzo was considered a liability from deep. That's a big swing in reputation when the numbers are the same. Many people considered Lonzo's shooting at UCLA a fluke because he came into the league and immediately struggled from deep, but so did Jabari.
I can't find Lonzo's high school 3pt stats so can't confirm whether his college shooting was a fluke. His college FT% was below average. Jabari was a very good shooter in high school. And he shot 80% FT. So his college performance would be more indicative to his shooting ability than his NBA rookie season on a chaotic team.
Ball just had nasty form in college. So people were skeptical he could maintain it without changing his form, and that turned out to be correct. I can't think of any examples of NBA players with janky form who are above-average 3pt shooters (~38% and up). If your goal is to just to get up to 33+%, a lot of players who started out bad or unwilling to shoot from range have been able to get there. They typically do it by avoiding shooting any 3pters except wide-open kickouts. Some examples: DeMarcus Cousins, Marreese Speights, Shawn Marion, Trevor Ariza, Patrick Patterson, Al Horford
I'd be interested to see what Jabari's shooting percentage on nba 3 point distance shots was in college, it's possible he shot a lot of shorter 3's in college and needed to adjust to NBA range
On top of my head, I can think of two good shooters with bad forms: Tyrese Haliburton and Rockets legend Kevin Martin.
Imo janky form really does not matter as long as it goes in, everyone's anatomy is different case in points Hali and KMart who arguably have worse form than Amen even. Some people just not born to be shooters maybe naturally
During the playoffs, the TWolves literally laughed at Jokic shooting 3s. If that's what he's doing, you've won. Which the Wolves ultimately did. And he's a decent 3 point shooter. It doesn't open up anything for him because he's not a top of they key driver. He can kinda do it (like Sengun) but that's not where he will rip you to shreds. If Jokic wants to jack up a 3, that's fine by me. Ditto Embiid, Sengun or Sabonis. If he gets the ball in the post, that's inherently more problematic. Amen is a different story. He does need the ability to pull defenders towards him.
A player with an elite shooting season under his belt has a better chance of shooting well again than someone who's never shot well at all IMO. So even if Lonzo's UCLA shooting was a fluke, he always had more potential from range than people gave him credit for. It's not like he took only wide open jumpers just beyond the line either. He took step back and pull up jumpers from the logo and he'd been doing that since high school. No one should be surprised that a guy like that could develop into a good shooter. So yes, Lonzo is a great example of someone rebuilding their shot and improving. But he was a gunner at one point in his life already, whereas Amen is truly starting from the ground level.
