Re: Walker 3

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
Toine is clearly not a pure shooter so he should be in
the post trying to score or get offensive rebounds for
people who can shoot the 3.  There have only been a
few games this season where Walker's 3s have been a
major factor (the away game at Portland) so I don't
know what is going through his thick skull when he
continually jacks up those 3s.  I can't imagine what
Stith's or Carr's stats would be if they took that
many 3 pointers.  They'd probably put up similar
scoring averages to Walker if they did.
--- end of quote ---

While I agree that Walker's obsession with the 3 is a problem, I don't know who
those  
"people who can shoot the 3." better than Walker are on the Celtics. Aside from
Carr, who was not in the main rotation and only took 37 threes all season, no
one is significantly better than Walker shooting the 3 - Pierce and Stith are a
hair better at .382 and .376 vs. Toine's .369, but considering how many last
second threes Walker has had to take with the clock expiring, he's probably at
least their equal. The problem with his shooting so many threes is not his 3PT
shooting %, it's that no one else is playing PF. 

The argument that Carr and Stith would sustain their 3PT shooting %s if they
took as many threes as Toine is dubious, at best.  Out of the 22 players who
have taken 300 or more threes, only 3 shot above the .400 mark. Most of the
best % shooters are fairly low volume shooters. Does that mean that they wisely
pass up the bad shots? Maybe. Few, however, have to carry the scoring,
rebounding, ball-handling, and passing load that Toine has had to. It's one
thing to shoot the three when all the hard work of creating the shot has been
done for you, and quite another when YOU are the one who has to do most of the
work, and take desperation threes with the clock expiring to boot. 
I bet if Toine could comfortably set up behind the arc and wait for the
perfectly delivered pass from his point guard, while the defense is preoccupied
with his superstar teammates, a la Steve Kerr with the Spurs and the Bulls, he
too could break a least .400 on treys.