4. Shoot More Threes
This is partially mathematical. I delved into it a bit in a post yesterday — in short, in the P.J. Carlesimo era, the Knicks have shot worse both from the field and from three-point range than the Nets, but have a higher effective field goal percentage, because of the volume of threes they shoot. On the season, the Nets have shot 35.9% from three-point range — 37% since P.J. Carlesimo took over, equivalent to a 55.5% two-point percentage. While it’s true that very few fouls are called on three-point attempts, the Nets shouldn’t limit their close shots — just the inefficient, boring ones from midrange.
While the Nets would benefit shooting three-pointers from everywhere, there’s a strong correlation between the frequency of threes taken from the corner per game and a team’s offensive efficiency — even moreso than pure three-point percentage. For the Nets, the numbers bear that out. Keith Bogans has posted some ridiculous efficiency numbers this season, because he does little but shoot from the corner — 142 of Bogans’ 245 field goal attempts this season have come from either corner three spot, leading the team and ranking him seventh in the NBA overall in attempts. Joe Johnson isn’t far behind — with 125 attempts, he ranks 12th. It’s no surprise that most of the Nets’ most effective lineups include Bogans and Johnson, or that the team shoots nearly 41% from deep with the two of them on the floor.
One more note: every Nets player who’s taken more than 10 corner three attempts is shooting at least 35% from the area. Even Gerald Wallace, whose complete offensive dearth has been a running theme this season, is 35.7% from the corners.
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