Players' three-point shooting: Improvements and struggles during this season
Who regressed and who progressed?
This NBA season is almost over again, with the final games over the next nine days deciding the seeding of the playoffs and play-ins that will entertain us from April onward.
Let's take a look at which players over the course of the season have particularly improved or worsened at shooting from three, with the help of this chart built on R based on data from Nba.
The size of the points in this graph corresponds to the amount of threes attempted in season, so the larger the point, the more three pointers a given player will have attempted.
The significantly improved
For Jusuf Nurkic (32/138, 23.1% before this season) it has been a Regular Season of major improvements, marked by reaching a career high in triples attempted and triples scored per game, coming in at 0.8/2.3 with 36.1%, thus becoming in the course of a single season a semi-respectable shooter.
It is often triple wide/semi-wide open, but it is certainly nice to see the Bosnian center's improvement and hard work.
With two years left on his contract in Portland, given yet another disappointing season in recent years at Oregon, it would not be surprising to see him involved in some trades next off-season.
After a troubled rookie season, the situation for Jalen Suggs still does not seem to be entirely smooth sailing, having played less than 100 games in two seasons peppered with obvious shooting difficulties, yet seeing improvements on the defensive end to make up for it.
Last season he registered 42/198 from three (21.2%...), while this year he has slowly started to climb back up the ladder to a (slightly) more respectful 54/174 (31%).
It is undoubtedly still early to evaluate the sophomore as a player, and we will see if he can find physical and shooting continuity in the coming season, perhaps working through an off-season that for the umpteenth time will not see his Magic star players, with a young core growing but still not prepared enough to clinch a top-10 seeding in the East.
One name that has certainly surprised in terms of shooting growth with significant volume is that of Thunder Isaiah Joe.
After two seasons spent on the fringes of the 76ers bench, the 49th pick from Arkansas has found a more or less solid place in Daigneault's rotations at Oklahoma, rewarding him with a 2.2/5.4 (41.8%) from three per game season after coming into October with 84/249 (33.7%) in his career.
With a team option of about 2 million for next year and only 23 years of age, it is hard not to envision him returning with the team, especially if he eventually has a good play-in tournament.
Arriving at the trade deadline to the Grizzlies to replace Danny Green, Luke Kennard was not caught unprepared in the second half of the season, touching 54% in a Grizzlies jersey with 5.4 attempts per game, with a hot night of 10/11 from three.
For him on the season between Memphis and Los Angeles, 115/235 from three (48.9%), a considerable increase even for him, a 42.5% shooter before this season, in past seasons between the Pistons and Clippers.
An excellent catch-and-shooter, but with little playoff experience in his six NBA seasons, he will surely have a chance to prove himself in the scorching offseason that awaits Morant and co. in the West.
The oldest on this short list is the veteran from Boston Al Horford, who at almost 37 years of age still seems to have plenty of gas in the tank, and is ready to face off against eastern rivals for yet another Finals spot.
In his career for him until October 2022 609/1692 (36%) from three, since 2015/16 he has managed working on his three-point shot reaching this year the career high with great volume: for him 45.1% from three with 5 attempts per game. Numbers that testify to the precious contribution that night after night a player like him is able to give to the Celtics, for whom he is an indispensable piece.
For him this year also came the career high of 6 triples made in a single contest in a win against Jokic's Nuggets.
Others among the names who managed to significantly impact their percentages in the positive are:
Yuta Watanabe (BKN), 68/193 (35.2%) before this season to 54/121 (44.6%) during 2022/23 campaign;
Josh Green (DAL), 32/103 (31%) to 65/161 (40.3%);
Cam Thomas (BKN), 47/174 (27%) to 45/124 (36.3%);
Damion Lee (PHX), 267/748 (35.7%) to 108/241 (44.9%);
Aleksej Pokusevski (OKC), 115/406 (28.3%) to 38/102 (37.2%).
The regressed ones
After looking at who has earned a positive grade on this year's shooting report cards, it is time to turn to who has regressed from his career averages.
For Dennis Smith Jr. it is the second consecutive season in which his three-point shooting percentage has dropped from an already unexceptional 32.8% in 2020/21 to 21.6% this season.
For him, the career percentage is 31.2%, but this year the percentage is ten percentage points lower, a significant drop with 111 attempts on the season.
His season in Charlotte was all things considered positive, especially with the two back-to-back games against his former team Dallas played excellently by him and ended with a dagger three for the win, but in his seventh year in the NBA almost over it seems that for DSJ the search for ideal shooting form cannot yet be said to be over.
Staying in the East, for yet another season it seems that John Collins has not found the right formula to contribute to the Hawks' success.
The 26-year-old has experienced the worst shooting season of his career, and after a career-high 277/742 (37.3%), this season has seen him regress to 60/215 (27.9%).
With Snyder's arrival on the Hawks bench, it seems that his role is slowly shrinking, and with still two years left on his contract at $26.5 million, it is hard to imagine his future, torn between yet another trade search and a return to a team where there seems to be less and less room for him.
Other names that saw significant declines in their percentages include:
Rudy Gay (UTA), 1153/3300 (35%) to 33/129 (25.6%);
Payton Pritchard (BOS), 203/493 (41.2%) to 43/130 (33%);
Khris Middleton (MIL), 1216/3102 (39.2%) to 48/153 (31.4%);
Duncan Robinson (MIA), 762/1878 (40.6%) to 58/172 (33.7%);
Wesley Matthews (MIL), 1782/4721 (37.8%) to 35/112 (31.2%).