For starters, most people respond with “who cares if he can’t shoot the 3?” They could be correct, let’s look in more detail. Here are his career 3point percentages per season:
This should very much worry everybody. Not having a good shot could not be a major problem maybe. But getting worse every year needs further analysis. Combine this with the fact that he is shooting free throws worse than ever in his career and it is extremely worrying. Much like with that analysis, the only rational conclusion is that Giannis:
- Is training for strength in some stupid way which affects his shooting a lot. (Here about the mid range myth.)
- Hasn’t got the body IQ to figure out how to control his shooting motion.
- Hasn’t got the business IQ to ask for help from people that know. (He famously refuses to train with other NBA stars in the summer.)
If Giannis keeps shooting like this season he will slot in for second worse 3point shooter in NBA history after all these people you have probably never heard of.
This isn’t even a fair comparison since Denis Johnson hardly played in the 3point era we are living. Yep, that’s right, this is “the 3point era” and Giannis thinks any team would want to trade for him when he is shooting 18%? In fact let’s look at that all time terrible 3points shooters list again and you will see that almost all of them shoot the free throw better than Giannis! And – more importantly – they had the intelligence not to attempt that many shots from 3.
Maybe this year is a fluke, let’s look at the entire last season. Oh, no, he is still terrible, one of the worse in the league, here they are ranked by worse 3point percentage:
So in a league that lives by the 3, Giannis should not even think about wasting a shot like that. And – worse still – the way he plays in the paint which some people admire, often ends up in free throws which he then misses. Maybe thirty years ago he could get away with it. In the modern NBA Giannis already looks like a relic. No, worse, a relic that has no idea how to improve.
