Rockets open to a new range of shooting: the ‘middies’

I preached this on here for years .. specially with Harden in playoffs… but some posters on here tried to argue me to death against it.

 

Lets talk bro, if you are elite at the midrange you take it, otherwise, you should prolly wait till clutch time. Jalen should probably be free to do what he wants though, as long as he maintains his efficiency.

 

Just make buckets, momentum and defense picks up regardless if it a 2 or 3 pointer.

 

Me and you had this whole back and forth and I stated that and you argued me down …I even posted the teams and players and you still argued me down …

but I’m glad you’ve come around

 

Well, if he can't really hit 3's and gets no fouls called on drives, there's not much left. lol.

 

I think people misunderstand somethings about the midrange.

And that's this - it's not that you can't shoot the midrange, it's just that if you do, you have to be elite at it. The Rockets had no problem letting Chris Paul shoot the midrange because he was elite at it. Now what you are seeing from Green is that - he's really really good at it. Like crazy good. When you are that good at it and being left wide open, you take it. And defenses will adjust by trying to take that away as well.

But what it will do is balance out the 3 pointers and the layups because if you clog the paint to take away layups and you play the 3 point line tight to take that away the midrange is going to be open.

 

The Suns are #1 because of a special player that we traded. That is hard to believe indeed.

 

The only player who did it was CP3. No wonder we would have won it all if not for a hamstring

 

For 99% of players, they have no business ever taking a midrange shot.

Jalen Green the past month has been in that 1%, if he stays there, great.....but if he can't maintain his shooting percentage in the midrange, he'll need to abandon it.

There's no one else on the team that even needs to think about taking them.

 

The Harden era was too predictable. The Spurs showed the league the blue print in the playoffs. As talented as Harden was, it was crazy how you just needed to guard the 3 point line and pack the point.

 

JVG was talking about this on 97.5 a couple months ago. He said he feels like you can't limit yourself by just taking 3's and paint shots. He said it makes the game much harder for the defense if you make them cover the entire court. If you look at the history of the game some of the greatest scorers ever were hyper good at the mid range game and you can usually get shots from that area in any era.

 

If you are a shooter and you are open from the mid range, shoot it.

In the past Harden era and even Jalen earlier this year would be open in the mid range and instead of taking the shot they’d pass to a less open teammate, step back for a contested three or drive for a contested layup into bigs that were playing drop coverage. None of those are better choices than a capable shooter taking an open mid range shot.

KPJ and Jalen lately have been taking those open twos and I love it.

Keep the score board moving and make smart basketball plays.

Of course you want to gear your offense to threes, free throws and layups but when teams scheme against that by giving you open twos, eat them alive.

I agree that in the playoffs the Rockets too often would keep ramming their heads into the wall and shooting the exact shots the defenses were specifically geared up to stop.

If you start taking those open twos, those defenders will start trying to take them away and when they do, that will open up the threes and layups again.

But you gotta be willing to shoot from all areas of the court to keep the defense honest.

 

Shot selection should always be a series of if-thens. If Jalen is efficient, take it all you want. Anyone that shoots the midrange shot above 52% consistently should as well, anytime it's open. I would add that you take it more often the later the game goes and legs are no longer fresh. You take it if it's open and your team can't seem to buy a basket. You take it more often in the playoffs when defenses get tight. You take it anytime the opponent locks into the three and rim protection. When used to disrupt the defensive sets, the middies just work. Also, take it if you only need to move the scoreboard late in games. Take it if 2 points wins the game and 3 points isn't helping. If you try to make the midrange shot your bread and butter, you better have Kevin Durant like percentages.

Take that midrange when it contributes to winning. Whoever said it doesn't help you win is playing overall percentages instead of circumstantial percentages.

 

I havent argued against Harden taking mid range man. I'm just saying for some of the situations we were in, him taking more mid rangers really would not have changed the outcome. Or that taking more mid range was the very reason we lost in the playoffs, I dont believe that.

 

imho not gonna cut it because if you take it only in the clutch youll lack the essential ingame practice and reps and youll lose that clutch weapon because it will be rusty when you need it the most...

 

it would have been different because it would have kept defenses on their heels and would be harder to contain him... midrange would literally made his layups and 3s more efficient.....it would also make his aiming mechanism in the brain more precise/updated because of all the feedback info from different ranges and spots of the floor...

3pt efficiency movement in houston was mostly just a pennypinching mania...
yes you can save a lot by cutting out coupons in newspapers and eating only bread for dinner

 

brilliant!! except not even kevin durant was kevin durant from his first day...perhaps the Beards(or any other players for that matter) % from middy werent ideal but if he kept shooting and polishing that shot he could have reached cp3 or kds efficiency and proficiency from that spot

 

Just win those winnable games next season.

 

is jrue holiday in that 99%?
yanis?

i guess yes because their % are 'not good' BUT

they won the ring by the power of the midrange
they werent good midrange shooters but they took the shots defenses gave them and/or they felt in that moment they gonna hit...and it saved them in some of the toughest moments in the finals/playoffs....

yeah they maybe got lucky but harden would not even allow himself to get lucky....(and sucess is always about exposing yourself to luck) hed insist on shooting 3s when cold/tired or driving when whistles are silent and would have went 2-13 instead of shooting the inneficent shot...lololol
this is not efficiency this is pennypinching