Shooting Blanks: By the num...

Please note I'm not saying these statistics necessarily prove which players can/can't shoot. They don't necessarily show who's better than who at midrange shots, whose form is better, etcetera. As all stats, they have to be interpreted, and are more often supportive evidence than proof.

I'm going to remove Theo Ratliff, Kareem Rush and Donyell Marshall, since they haven't been a part of the regular rotation.

3 point shooting

Obviously, 3 pt shooting is the oft-cited failing of this team, and deservedly so. The team doesn't have a reliable 3 pt shooter in the rotation.

The first number is 3 pt%, the second is 3ptm. Stats from nba.com.
Andre Miller: 30.8% (12)
Willie Green: 31.7% (38)
Andre Iguodala: 30.2% (52)
Thaddeus Young: 34.3% (46)
Samuel Dalembert: 0% (0)
Elton Brand: 0% (0)
Louis Williams: 27.5% (46)
Marreese Speights: 40% (2)
Royal Ivey: 35.7% (30)
Reggie Evans: 0% (0)

Young's been the most inconsistent, but if there's one guy to look at in the future who has a chance of improving, it's probably him. He started off the year shooting 37% in November, a dreadful 25% in December, then went on to shoot a respectable 36.7% in January and 36% in February. Overall he has a solid percentage, but he remains inconsistent.

Ivey's done the most with his minutes. Despite only playing 586 minutes (about a quarter of the minutes Iguodala, Miller and Young have recveived), he's within hailing distance of the team lead in makes, and at the best percentage of anyone in our regular rotation.

Miller's never been a prolific 3 pt shooter, and has actually had one of his better years this year.

Iguodala and Williams are probably the most disconcerting. After making 35% of his attempts his second year in the league, Iguodala has steadily dropped since. While he's obviously taking more contested shots as he's become more of a focal point offensively, one would have hoped to see continued improvement in this regard. Williams shot 36% last year, and despite his substantial drop in efficiency (down to 27.5% this year) he's sean a sizable increase in his 3 pt attempts per minute.

Overall jump shots

eFG% on Jumpshots. Stats courtesy of 82games.com. % of their total shot attempts in parenthesis:
Andre Miller: 39.2% (56%)
Willie Green: 44.1% (73%)
Andre Iguodala: 38.1% (65%)
Thaddeus Young: 39.9% (55%)
Samuel Dalembert: 41.3% (40%)
Elton Brand: 41.5% (71%)
Louis Williams: 40% (68%)
Marreese Speights: 39% (45%)
Royal Ivey: 43.9% (79%)
Reggie Evans: 50% (8%)

Go Reggie! Obviously, that's an indication of small sample size. It's worth noting that eFG% is going to be slightly slanted towards guards, as the majority of Brand, Dalembert, and Speights jumpshots are going to be midrange shots, and not get the added value of the 3 pointer. When just judging their accuracy, it's also interesting to take a look at their midrange proficiency.

Midrange shots

Below is their FG% on shots between 17' and the 3 pt line. The second value is what percentage of their jumpers are midrange shots, and the third value is what percentile they fall in with regards to all players in the NBA:
Andre Miller: 44.8% - 44.7% - 77%
Willie Green: 40% - 42.7% - 40%
Andre Iguodala: 34.26% - 46.5% - 20%
Thaddeus Young: 34.9% - 34.4% - 18%
Samuel Dalembert: 37.1% - 46% - 25%
Elton Brand: 42.2% - 27.8% - 56%
Louis Williams: 35% - 37.4% - 26%
Marreese Speights: 41.6% - 62.6% - 65%
Royal Ivey: 18.18% - 10.2% - 8%
Reggie Evans: 0% - 0% - NA

Hm....

This is where you really begin to see how poor of shooters our perimeter players are. Ivey's percentage you can almost throw out, as it's so small of a sample size that it's almost irrelevant from a percentage standpoint. What is relevant is that it's so small of a sample size. Ivey doesn't have the ability to curl off a screen, or the ability to hit a pull up jumper. On offense he's almost entirely relegated to standing at the 3 pt line and, if lucky, making a defense pay after they double off of him.

Andre Miller is head and shoulders above the rest of his perimeter teammates in this regard. For as much flak as Miller gets for his lack of 3 pt range, he's money between 17' and 20'.

The same can't be said for the other Andre. Following up a poor 3 pt % with a very poor midrange proficiency. He was a little more respectable last year at 39% on midrange shots, but that seems to have been the exception to the norm. He's been in the mid-30's every other year he's been in the league. His disappointment is followed right up there with Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young. Having 3 perimeter guys in your regular rotation in the bottom 25% of the NBA in terms of midrange efficiency makes it really difficult to succeed in the half court. No wonder there are no open lanes to drive, or post-up opportunities to be had. Williams was at a frustratingly low 34% last year as well. Young is perhaps the most perplexing. He shot a respectable 39% on midrange shots last year, and started off this season in gangbuster fashion (42% through the first month), then nosedived quickly. Again, if there was one place I would look at on this team for internal improvement, it would be young. It would be hard to rely on Iguodala or Williams to improve dramatically. That's not saying they can't, as Williams is only 22 years old and Iguodala could stand to improve if he takes a backseat to a true #1 option, but that would be a bonus at this stage. Green's having a career year shooting the ball, albiet still merely average in the NBA.

From our big men, the production's decent. Obviously, Reggie clogs the lane offensively when in the game, and Dalembert's sample size is relatively low that it's hard to determine if it's statistically relevant (midrange jumpshots are a high percentage of his jumpshot attempts, but a low percentage of his overall field goal attempts, and a low total number). Speights and Brand are both above average jumpshooters for their position, and when healthy and logging a majority of the big man minutes, should open up the lanes for Iguodala, Young and Williams sufficiently.

Catch and shoot vs Dribble Jumpers

Another area I like to look at are how players get their jumpshots, whether it's by catch and shoot or off the dribble. Stats are as follows:
% on catch and shoot (# of catch and shoot fga's), % on off the dribble jumpers (# of attempts)
Andre Miller: 38.1% (84), 41.9% (227)
Willie Green: 39.2% (194), 36% (114)
Andre Iguodala: 37% (162), 29% (231)
Thaddeus Young: 35% (201), 36% (100)
Samuel Dalembert: 47.3% (57), 27% (11)
Elton Brand: 47.3% (74), 41.5% (65)
Louis Williams: 28.8% (125), 37.5% (216)
Marreese Speights: 42.4% (92), 42.9% (21)
Royal Ivey: 33.7% (86), 16.7% (18)
Reggie Evans: n/a

Igudoala is significantly better on catch and shoot than on jumpers on drives. Louis Williams the mirror the otherway. Thaddeus is consistently mediocre on both, Miller solid on both, and Willie Green more of a catch and shoot player. Brand and Speights are fairly diverse in their skillsets for bigs, although Speights favors the catch and shoot at this point in his career, but shows potential shooting off drives as well.

Spot-ups

Just looking at spot-up situations (which is slightly more inclusive than catch-and-shoot in that it includes drives to the basket, but slightly less inclusive in its jumpers in that it focuses on whether their feet were set before receiving the pass):
% - attempts - % of fga's from spot-up situations
Andre Miller: 42.5% - 127 - 14.4%
Willie Green: 35.7% - 140 - 26.4%
Andre Iguodala: 37.9% - 164 - 18.1%
Thaddeus Young: 41.8% - 246 - 32.9%
Samuel Dalembert: 48.8% - 47 - 14.1%
Elton Brand: 40.9% - 71 - 16.8%
Louis Williams: 32.2% - 124 - 17.2%
Marreese Speights: 40.5% - 79 - 20.9%
Royal Ivey: 36.7% - 79 - 49.4%
Reggie Evans: 100% - 1 - 1%

Young is better in spot-up situations, both more efficient when he takes jumpers, and it increases his ability to get to the rim and finish. It's his ability to pump fake and get to the rim that could be special in years to come if his jumper becomes more reliable and more defenders bite on pump fakes.

Miller's very good in this regard as well, particularly from midrange. Brand and Speights excel as well, especially respective to their positions. The major disappointment is, again, Louis Williams. Willie Green is the surprisingly inefficient player in these situations, which shows how dependent he is to come off screens to get separation.

Shots off Screens

Next I'm going to look at shots coming off screens. I'm mainly going to be looking at guards, as it's rare to find bigs who run off screens to setup a jumpshot (it's much more often they're going to the basket). I'm going to be providing three values here:
Field goal % off screens - field goal attempts - % of his attempts generated from shots off screens
Andre Miller: 50% - 10 - 1.01%
Willie Green: 50% - 76 - 14.3%
Andre Iguodala: 45% - 64 - 6.7%
Thaddeus Young: 30% - 20 - 2.6%
Louis Williams: 46.2% - 26 - 4.09%
Royal Ivey: 0% - 6 - 3.49%

I think what's most striking about this is how little we utilize screens. We seem to be an isolation heavy offense, and outside of setting up Willie Green (who's very efficient coming off screens), don't attempt to setup jump shots through screening. This probably has as much to do with not having the correct personnel as it does any philosophical approach to the game DiLeo has. Still, I'd like to see Andre Iguodala come off screens with a little more regularity.

In terms of moving without the ball, this team is much more likely to cut to the basket than curl off a screen, most likely due to the skillsets the team has (or, more precisely, lacks).

Isolations

Finally, I'm going to look at our guards effectiveness coming off isolations.
% - Attempts - % of attempts from isolations
Andre Miller: 41.1% - 124 - 15.3%
Willie Green: 59% - 39 - 7.5%
Andre Iguodala: 28.5% - 151 - 17.3%
Thaddeus Young: 37% - 68 - 10.3%
Louis Williams: 35.3% - 99 - 15.5%
Royal Ivey: 9% - 11 - 7.5%

Obviously, the number that jumps out is Iguodala. For as much of his offense is based on isolations (a guard-high 17.3%), his effectiveness is tough to look at. This is offset slightly by the fact that he does get to the line, but that's a number that has to be improved upon. Problem being, I don't see body control and touch as all that much of an improvable trait in a basketball player. That being said, Iguodala's greatest asset when going 1-1 is probably his ability to generate shots for his teammates. He's one of the better interior passing wing men in the game.

I'd like to see more attempts from Green on isolations. Earlier in his career he seemed to go to the rim more, and seemed like a good finisher. As time goes on, he's focused more on catch and shoot and coming off screens.

Miller's surprisingly effective, and Thad shows potential in this regard at times. Right now his right hand is probably what's holding him back from being a true threat.

Ivey, obviously, isn't much of a threat to go 1-1.