further, is CBS telling sully to shoot 3s when open? did diaw's coach do this? indeed, a counter argument might be that diaw's improvement was delayed due to a lack of shooting. (i am not convinced by this, i just making a possible counter argument here.)
yes, sully's 3 point percentage this is season is poor, improved, but still poor. but if he is going to "chuck" 3s as part of his shooting development, THESE SEASONS WHEN THE CELTICS ARE TANKING are the time to do so.
this team stinks with or without sully's 3 pointers, so, for the sake of improving quickly, let him chuck away.
You're right that Sully is slightly better than Diaw was in the early years, but I don't think it's a big difference.
I don't think Diaw's shooting development was delayed by not shooting enough in-game. I think it just takes years to go from where Sully is to being a good 3 pt shooter. It's not like there was a year where Diaw shot a lot of 3's for a low percentage and got him in game practice. He just became a good 3pt shooter by shooting them outside of games and working with coaches.
I do think this is coming from the coach. The is the same formula they're trying with many other guys.
We were successful with this strategy with Bradley, but he's a guard and he always had form and release that I think were better than Sully's, even if he didn't have the reps. Can you name a big man on any team who chucked his way into shooting ability?
i am not sure how we are defining "chucking his way into shooting ability" but will go with "increased shooting corresponded with increased percentage made." not perfect, but arguably one valid way to look at this topic.
a quick search showed these centers who only took relatively few 3 pointer early in their careers, but when they started shooting a higher volume their percentages went up. please note that NONE of them match sullinger exactly - no one does that i found - but they do show that with time and shooting, some big men do indeed increase their 3 point shooting percentages.
charlie villaneua - he started a good shooter, but improved.
those below fit a general and squishy category of "started off with low volume, low percentage. then shot at a higher volume and and their percentage went up."
- bill laimbeeer
- mehmet okur
- troy murphy
- channing frye
not many and not exact matches (it was a quick search), but some big men have indeed been able to get better at 3 pointers as their volume increased.
again, this is a simple point. for some players, increased shooting = increased percentage through repetition, both in practice and in games. it does not guarantee sullinger will continue to increase his shooting percentage each year, but he has increased it so far. so its not impossible either.
for me, since sullinger's three point shooting does not matter in terms of w/l this year, i agree with CBS's choice to gamble and see if sully can increase his 3 point percentage. if sully can, he becomes a far more valuable player. but if after 2 or so more years sully still stinks at 3 pointers AND the celtics are returning to playoff relevance (i.e. the games really count),THEN, yes, shut him down.
i see your points and they are good ones. but i also see the logic to what i assume to be CBS' approach as well.