Re: Shot selection

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 06:36 PM 2/25/98 -0400, Cecil Wright wrote:
Alex Wang wrote:

>>Walker is currently shooting 42% on two-pointers and 28% on
>> three-pointers. If Walker could hit just one shot per game
>>that he currently misses, he will be shooting 45% which would
>>be pretty reasonable. So he's probably costing us about two
>>points a game from bad shot selection. The lack of good shot
>>selection is really a team issue, with the team shooting under
>>43% from the field.
>
>I would agree and say it is a team issue.  But when one player is forcing a
>large majority of the shots, I can't fault the others.  This may not be the
>proper time to bring this up but, here goes.
>
>During the last six Celtic losses, Toine has shot 37/126 from the field.
>That is .294%.  Included in those games have been one 3/15, one 5/22, one
>8/23 and one 8/29 effort.  I realize that he has it tough, but I think
>you'll agree that those are not impressive numbers.

A couple points. Problems with shot selection are not just over % made. They
also involve things like throwing up the first outside shot that shows,
interfering with the offensive flow and contributing to the Cs usually low
number of free throw attempts. One of the nice things about having Anderson
around is the way he consistantly leads Walker towards the hoop with passes,
forcing him to the better shot.

And while saying this is a team issue is true, that does not in any way
exonerate any of the individuals. Mercer, playing for the same team, rarely
takes a stupid or forced shot. They may not all go in, but rarely because of
the shot selection. The only way the team issue really applies is when
Walker gets the ball with too little time to set up a good shot. Which, in
fairness, happened much too often earlier in the season. However, this has
not been a big problem since Anderson's arrival.

And you can't ignore in this whole thing, the sort of star Walker believes
he is and expects to be treated (and paid) like. He has the skills to do
better than shoot 45%, which may be 'reasonable' for a Bruce Bowen but not
for one of your prime offensive weapons, who expects to get a higher number
of shots than most of the team and to be paid/treated as if he will convert
them most of the time. 
Part of his % problems are technique rather than selection -he rushes shots
and doesn't set up properly or even look at the hoop too much of the time,
making even bunnies aan adventure too much of the time. He also tends to go
for the showy play rather than the straightforward one, an understandable
fault in a young and very talented player, but one that can add unnecessary
degrees of difficulty to what he attempts.

<snip>

-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net