RE: Walker 3

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

The bottom line, too, is that Twon's three pointers have been a major
part of the celtics offense this season, and kept us in far more games than
they killed us in.  He didn't win too many games at the buzzer with them,
but I can't even begin to count the number of games he made big ones in.
When he has time, he's as good a shooter from there as there is in the
league,
other than a few specialists.  The offense calls for him to do that to open
things
up for Paul.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu [SMTP:Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu]
> Sent:	Wednesday, April 18, 2001 3:55 PM
> To:	celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Re: Walker 3
> 
> --- 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.