February 27, 2008

This Might Be a Problem

Some stats for your consideration:

2004-2005 season
NBA 3 pt. % average: .356
Suns rank: 1
Players at or above league average: 7
2005-2006 season
NBA 3 pt. % average: .358
Suns rank: 1
Players at or above league average: 6
2006-2007 season
NBA 3 pt. % average: .358
Suns rank: 1
Players at or above league average: 6
2007-2008 season
NBA 3 pt. % average: .359
Suns rank: 4
Players at or above league average: 3

I had some analysis that Blogger ate, but basically it boiled down to the fact that Raja Bell isn't the ideal third shooter. This team is doomed, and that bums me out.

4 comments:

anne said...

I wasn't ready to give up on them until after last night's game. I thought one of the reasons they wanted Shaq was for defense. Uh, what defense? The Hornets are good but there is no excuse for the way the Suns played last night. I'm bummed out too.

Unknown said...

This is a good point, and I'm guess part of the motivation behind the Shaq trade. Steve Kerr was, after all, not much more than a 3pt specialist. So he knows the difference between 30% and 40% is getting a bit more open. Maybe he thinks dumping the ball into Shaq (and Amare) will keep the perimeter a bit more open for the three point shooters?

Or maybe the Suns just need a few more specialists.

Trey said...

It looks like teams still respect Shaq enough that the Suns have been getting WIDE OPEN looks since the trade. That'll help.

ardy said...

They're losing games that they are supposed to win, easily.

And I don't think they have the depths to last deep in the playoffs.