Dear Board:
I've sounded off vociferously and ad nauseam on this board about both our men's and women's teams. If you're bored with me, go sit over there with my wife.
But just one more thing to get off my chest before I shut up for good: The three-point shot.
It was introduced into the NBA in 1979, and by the NCAA in 1986.
From its introduction it was considered by many "old school" college coaches to be a gimmick. I would put Mike Montgomery into that category of coaches. He once said if any kid looked down to see where the three-point line was, he'd be on the bench.
Even in the pro's the three-point shot was seen as something of a gimmick. Not to a Reggie Miller or Ray Allen or Kyle Korver but even these guys were seen as "specialists." So maybe you had a "three-point specialist" on your team and maybe you didn't. But it wasn't crucial.
All of which changed when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson came along. When you had two guys on the same team raining down three's on your head with 40%-plus accuracy, it was just impossible to cope with. You had to adjust.
And the NBA has. So too have most college coaches. You watch teams now routinely shooting three's with great accuracy.
The Warriors got a dose of their own medicine a couple weeks ago at Utah. The Jazz shot almost nothing but three's, and they didn't miss. Another guy who got religion was Damian Lillard. He's now an incredible three-point shooter. In fact, he and Curry had been texting back and forth about which one would be the first to hit from a logo--which Curry did the other night in Dallas.
Nowhere anymore will you hear the term "three-point specialist" cause just about everybody has become a specialist.
Which is why I am so baffled by our inability to take three's--especially when crisp ball movement leaves a Vazquez or a Whitney or a Beasely wide open as we've seen so many times this year. And these kids can shoot! They're all close to or above 40%. If they're open and set--that's a great shot! Take it!
Unhappily, I'm afraid Travis is from the Mike Montgomery school of coaching. In the deepest part of his soul, I think he still thinks of the three-point shot as a gimmick, that if you keep working the ball around and around, you're going to get a higher percentage shot.
But in today's game, you're not. That is the end all, be all of today's game. Travis has recruited the talent. Now I hope he gets religion--and soon.
I've sounded off vociferously and ad nauseam on this board about both our men's and women's teams. If you're bored with me, go sit over there with my wife.
But just one more thing to get off my chest before I shut up for good: The three-point shot.
It was introduced into the NBA in 1979, and by the NCAA in 1986.
From its introduction it was considered by many "old school" college coaches to be a gimmick. I would put Mike Montgomery into that category of coaches. He once said if any kid looked down to see where the three-point line was, he'd be on the bench.
Even in the pro's the three-point shot was seen as something of a gimmick. Not to a Reggie Miller or Ray Allen or Kyle Korver but even these guys were seen as "specialists." So maybe you had a "three-point specialist" on your team and maybe you didn't. But it wasn't crucial.
All of which changed when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson came along. When you had two guys on the same team raining down three's on your head with 40%-plus accuracy, it was just impossible to cope with. You had to adjust.
And the NBA has. So too have most college coaches. You watch teams now routinely shooting three's with great accuracy.
The Warriors got a dose of their own medicine a couple weeks ago at Utah. The Jazz shot almost nothing but three's, and they didn't miss. Another guy who got religion was Damian Lillard. He's now an incredible three-point shooter. In fact, he and Curry had been texting back and forth about which one would be the first to hit from a logo--which Curry did the other night in Dallas.
Nowhere anymore will you hear the term "three-point specialist" cause just about everybody has become a specialist.
Which is why I am so baffled by our inability to take three's--especially when crisp ball movement leaves a Vazquez or a Whitney or a Beasely wide open as we've seen so many times this year. And these kids can shoot! They're all close to or above 40%. If they're open and set--that's a great shot! Take it!
Unhappily, I'm afraid Travis is from the Mike Montgomery school of coaching. In the deepest part of his soul, I think he still thinks of the three-point shot as a gimmick, that if you keep working the ball around and around, you're going to get a higher percentage shot.
But in today's game, you're not. That is the end all, be all of today's game. Travis has recruited the talent. Now I hope he gets religion--and soon.
