Steph Curry
What basketball player comes to mind when someone asks, “who is the best shooter that you have ever seen?” Do you think of the player who has the highest scoring average, the player who scored the most points in a career, a season, a game, the player who could score from “downtown”, or the player who scored under pressure? In my last post I listed my top 20 scorers of all time and picked my #1 scorer. I had a lot of responses that agreed with my pick of Kevin Durant. A few of you thought I was senile. I admit that the pick had some degree of subjectivity, but I do think I supported my pick with my criteria. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t really understand how anyone could say Chamberlain was the best scorer. (I know how many points he scored.) I think he is the most athletic player to ever play in the NBA. In my book “The G.O.A.T.: The Quest to Find the Best” he is in my all-time top 5. I watched him play and I never saw him shoot outside of 10 feet. He was a terrible free throw shooter, and he played in an era when “big men” were 6’6”. I gave some reasons why I did not pick Wilt, as well as reasons why I did not pick some of the other great scorers. This post is about another facet of basketball, shooting. Using analytics like percentage, efficiency, and shot selection picking the best shooter of all time should be “a little” less controversial.
In 7 decades of playing, coaching, and watching basketball I have been fortunate to have seen a lot of great shooters. Some of these players I have coached against or in the case of Richard Fuqua and Anthony Roberts, who both played at Oral Roberts University, I have coached. Here are some of the great shooters at the collegiate level that I have seen; Rick Mount, Steve Alford, Jimmy Rayl, Hersey Hawkins, Max Abmas, Doug Collins, Freeman Williams, Jimmer Fredette, Kyle Korver, Dennis Scott, Wesley Person, Tony Bennett, Steve Kerr, Tom Gola, Dwight (Bo) Lamar, Johnny Neuman, Frank Selvy, Bo Kimble, Antoine Davis, and Shawn Respert. (I am sure I have overlooked some others.) As great as these players were in college, there is a whole NEXT level to being in the elite group of great shooters that have played in the NBA. Because of the way the game has evolved with the influx of foreign players, the growing number of 3s being launched, and the emphasis on the art of shooting, I think some of the greatest shooters to ever play the game are in the NBA today. That is not to say that players like Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Dan Issel, Paul Pierce, Julius Erving, Dirk Nowitzki, Bill Sharman, Bob McAdoo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Oscar Robertson, and several other great players were not great shooters. I think of these players as being great “scorers”. There is a difference, and I defined the criteria I used in my last post.
What makes a great shooter? I think a great shooter, simply defined, is somebody who can make shots with high efficiency from anywhere on the court. They make a high percentage of shots that SHOULD be high percentage shots such as free throws and open shots. Percentages and efficiency validate how good a shooter they are. The total number of points in a game, season, and career define their degree of success. It is measurable and empirical. A great shooter does not need an exorbitant number of shots to make an ordinary number of points. There are two caveats that apply when defining a great shooter; 1) a player that has the reputation of performing in the “clutch” will have a higher degree of difficulty in maintaining a high percentage 2) the best shooter will draw more attention from the defense, thus allowing a teammate to get a more open shot. i.e. Klay Thompson is a great shooter, but he benefits from the defensive focus on Steph Curry.
So here are my top 10 shooters of all time, in descending order. #10 Calvin Murphy, #9 J.J. Redick, #8 Mark Price, #7 Peja Stojakovic, #6 Steve Nash, #5 Reggie Miller, #4 Ray Allen, #3 Kevin Durant, #2 Larry Bird, #1 Steph Curry. Obviously, some of these players are also considered great scorers. A few great shooters that did not make my top 10 were Chris Mullin, Glen Rice, Kyrie Irving, Allan Houston, Dirk Nowitzki, and Jeff Hornacek. NEXT: Best Defender
