Playmaker has to know, the logic of shot selection

What is the logic of shot selection?

In terms of purpose, it must be to maximize efficiency. If a player can’t develop this habit, then it’s hard for him to play sensibly. For example, on a fast break rebound, a player who doesn’t have great mid-range accuracy chooses to take a long two-point shot, even though he is blocked by an extremely large defender, which is not a logical choice — he can either not shoot and wait for a follow-up teammate to get a chance, or move into position to reorganize the offense, because Such a mid-range shot is usually not difficult to get.

Fans now generally understand this — regardless of how popular three-point shots are, the basket is the most efficient area, while the bottom corner is closer to the rim and usually more efficient than the top of the arc three, and the mid-range is the efficiency pits. The mid-range is further divided into two types: the near-basket mid-range and the long two-point range. The techniques and tactical positioning used in these two areas are not quite the same, but the expected efficiency of both mid-range types cannot be compared to the basket and the three-point line.

The most basic logic on the basketball court is to get the ball to the most efficient basket, and the defense will do everything in its power to prevent this from happening. The next best thing is to get the ball to the corner or the top of the arc and let shooters get open threes. As a general rule, the following must be efficient ways to score.

One open shot under the basket. No explanation needed.

A basketball shot by a quality finisher against a bad rim protector. Davis forcing a small guard under the basket, not quite 100% hitting but close enough, maybe 2+1.

Top shooters for 3-point opportunities. They usually don’t distinguish between the bottom corner or the top of the arc, and their ability to punish small openings is extremely scary. Individual historic shooters can be deadly even when given fleeting openings, but of course, this level of presence is rare.

Big open threes from reliable shooters. Most reliable but non-top shooters will have a somewhat higher grasp of open spotting in the bottom corner. Last season, the league’s average shooting percentage from the bottom corner was 38.9%, and even an average shooter like Tucker can respond well if it’s wide open.

Making a turn end in these four ways as much as possible is the direction a team should take to optimize its offense, and it is what the leading offensive player on the floor, the commish, wants most. It is easy to understand, but the challenge is how to choose when these four opportunities are not available.

Let’s say, how do you tell which of the following offensive options makes more sense?

A driving layup by a quality rim attacker over the center’s guard.

A sharp-stop face-up mid-range shot by a quality jump shooter.

A small open three from the top of the arc by an average shooter.

You’d say, “Well, it depends on the player who’s making the shot.”

Yes, and it depends not only on who the shooter is, but also on who the defender is and what the opponent’s defensive strategy is. Different shooters, facing different defensive strategies, defensive players, the expected efficiency varies greatly, let’s say, a Gobert rim protection, Tucker’s basket force up, the expected efficiency may be infinitely close to 0%, this choice is not as good as let Willow throw a zombie jumper.

So, come to the specific game environment, to analyze and judge the situation on the field — this kind of thing is done in an instant, and can not even be called thinking at all, that is relying on years of experience accumulated in the game, with the natural basketball IQ, together with the formation of instantaneous conditioned reflexes.

This is what a playmaker has to do.

There are usually two types of Playmakers.

The first type, the traditional pure organizer. Individual offensive plays are less frequent, but can find teammates with superb passing skills. This type of player is extremely sensitive to the position of teammates and is often synonymous with unselfishness. However, because they are more dependent on their teammates’ positioning and overall tactical cooperation, once their teammates short-circuit or the overall offense is destroyed by the opponent’s defense, they may not be able to perform their organizational skills. So the “pure” organizer in the NBA now is difficult to survive, passing masters in personal scoring, more or less will be a skill.

The second type, by individual ability can create scoring opportunities for the team. They can greatly simplify the team’s overall offense, where the top players, or what we often call the “ball-handling core”, are themselves the team’s offensive system itself.

What is one of the most “core” skills of a Playmaker ball-handler?

Of course, you have to be able to pass the ball, otherwise you can’t be a playmaker, this is the basic ability.

For a playmaker, one skill that is necessary to change the defense is usually the break.

The break is the source of quality offensive opportunities, whether it’s individual finishing or creating opportunities for teammates, the break is the most likely way to create efficient scoring initiation. The problem is, not allowing Curry to find a shot without ball coverage is only one round of defending Curry. The beginning, but is basically the end of the defense of Dunlop. The inability to hold the ball and change formations vertically inside the three-point line is the fundamental reason why shooters are just shooters.

All four of the previously mentioned expected efficient ways to score can be achieved with the break.

Open shots under the basket, for example.

Breakout players drawing help from underneath the basket, allowing direct opportunities for open cutters.

threatening the basket on the block and delivering open shots for downhill teammates after holding the big defender in check.

Quality finishers taking shots at the basket against poor rim protectors, e.g.

the ball-handler in the block helping the cover man find a local mismatch, and the cover man putting the ball in under the basket with his personal ability against the mismatch.

Three-point opportunities for top shooters, e.g.

Breaking under the basket to force the opponent to contract outside, passing the ball to find an open teammate outside.

Big open three for reliable shooters, as above.

From here, it is easy to see that in addition to strong breakout ability, a playmaker who wants to create quality scoring opportunities usually needs to.

First, to pair him with more shooters.

Second, a quality finishing partner.

A Playmaker type scorer tends to be more exceptional in terms of offensive impact than a scorer who doesn’t pass the ball much (even if he is efficient). You can see why from the above — the great threat of the scorer himself attracts a lot of defense, so quality scoring opportunities are usually not exposed directly to the ball carrier himself, but rather appear on their teammates. The ability to take advantage of the opportunities that arise from teammates becomes the key to upgrading the scorer to the heart of the offense. Therefore, the NBA, the league, also has a simple offensive formula: the

Breakout to change the formation + transfer the ball + quality offensive finishing inside and outside

These three links are done, the offense on a word: strong!

Players like James, Harden and Doncic are some of the best cores under this simple formula.

So what is the significance of jump shooting for Playmaker?

The so-called “shooting and passing” triple threat combination, its significance is self-explanatory — no jump shot control, three links less the same, they can not form a closed-loop logic. Such a picture is all too familiar.

So the first layer of the role of the jump shot is to reduce the difficulty of the ball-handler to develop the offense.

Since a player’s physical ability is not unlimited, and the breakout is usually more exhausting than the jump shot, the combination of shooting and breaking is necessary from the perspective of continuity. More importantly, the jump shot is a compromise and a means of response when the break is not successful, or when the opponent’s defensive focus is on blocking the break route.

This is the second layer of the role of the jump shot for the ball-handler, without this back road, the consequences are likely to be head iron.

The third layer of a ball-handler’s jump shot is a bit rarer — changing formations.

As we mentioned earlier, the break is the most common and best means of changing formations, and it’s not often that a player is able to change formations with a jump shot. It’s not hard to understand that the league average for shots from 0–3 feet under the basket is 66%, and even without considering the potential free throw gains from shots under the basket, you need to shoot 44% from three to achieve the same effect, not to mention the mid-range.

To avoid a ball-handling shooter hammering the defense, send a lot of troops to the line to pinch, thus leaking the basket cleanly, something the average team will not do. Those aggressive teams whose defensive strategy favors delaying the ball at the line, they will also quickly go back to the basket after the delay, and will also collect troops from both wings to help defend under the basket, and never give up the basket defense in order to force the ball carrier to hand the ball in the high post.

Usually, the online clamping down on ball-handling shooting main attackers are temporary strategies that also require the offensive side to have some configuration flaws, or the ball-handler out of the ball technology is not good, so that the defensive side in the online clamping down on the ball-handler when the cost is minimal. Even Curry, by no means every team intends to clip directly on the line, the Raptors, Pacers a stare at the four-team combination of anti-Curry and anti-Warriors use Curry hold on the threat to the basket, indicating that the defense is afraid to hold the ball to shoot at the same time, but also unwilling to relax the protection of the basket.

In other words, clamping down on ball handlers on the line to force the ball out is already a choice of last resort for the defense, and those playmakers who always have the defense clamping down on them on the line are often at the top of their game in terms of attainment in ball-handling shooting. These days, there are only three players in the entire league who regularly enjoy this treatment:.

Curry.

Lillard.

Harden in some months.

So, in the vast majority of occasions, holding the ball for a jump shot should not be the first option that should come to the playmaker’s mind, and finding those efficient shots is definitely something that the top impact offensive players are good at doing.