Food for thought: The shortened three-point line in the mid-90s

[72-10]

just some facts for ya'll to chew on

this might disspell the myth that the shortened three-point line discredits the shooters of that era

1979-80 through 1994-95: 23'9" on the arc, 21' in the corners
1995-96 and 1996-97: 22' on the arc, still 21' in the corners
the league reverted its three-point line dimensions prior to the 1997-98 season

as you can see, nothing was changed with re. to the corners

21 inches means quite a bit, but I don't think it explains the palpability of the league's approach to the game and its bolstered three-point efficiency in those two years and since. The fact of the matter is that it was a league full of shooters who would prosper just as well under today's schematics. Some 30 of the 50 best shooters must have played in the '80s and '90s NBA, and this is despite the fact that the three-point line was a newly introduced concept to most of the players who did not grow up fostering it as part of their offensive repertoire, though it would be remiss to not point out that probably lots had been to ABA games where they used the line, not sure at what distance though. There were players in that league that lit up from three since 1966-67 like Rick Barry, and there's no doubting that guys like Jerry West, the best shooter of his era this side of Bill Sharman, lit it up from distance all the times. As soon as 1979-80 rolled around, Pete Maravich lit it up from three. 90s featured a wide array of the best mid-range shooters

do we have a thread that details the NBA court dimensions? If not, I'd be glad to make one.

[sdot_thadon]

I don't think I've ever seen it used to discredit the real shooters of the era. Just guys like Mj and Pippen who had amazing shooting seasons with the short line they'd never see again with the normal line.

[1987_Lakers]

1994-95 also had a short 3 point line, we went through this OP.

[Hey Yo]

Scoring was in the shitter and the major impact of moving the 3pt line in had on players. Yet total points per game continued to go down.


"Every season from 1988-89 through 1993-94 saw a decrease in scoring, with the average team dropping from 109.2 points per game all the way down to 101.5. Pace experienced a similar dip, as the average NBA game went from 100.5 to 95.1 possessions in that span. With Michael Jordan retired and more and more teams emulating Pat Riley's borderline violent New York Knicks, the NBA desperately wanted to change the style of basketball being played.

"Scoring in this league has gone down for something like 10 straight years," Rod Thorn, the NBA's vice president for operations, said in 1994. "Teams are not taking as many shots. They're holding the ball more.

"If you have a sport, you like to have some action. You don't want it to become a grappling match."

So the league adopted a novel solution. In an effort to neutralize the physicality teams like those Knicks played with, the NBA incentivized 3-point shooting by moving the line ahead of the '94-95 season. The arc typically stretches to 23 feet, nine inches, but is not uniform. In the corners, the distance between it and the basket is only 22 feet. The NBA decided to redraw the arcs so that they sat 22 feet away from the basket across the board.

In some ways, the results exceeded the NBA's wildest expectations. The average NBA team attempted 9.9 3-pointers per game during the 1993-94 season and made 33.3 percent of them. A year later, those numbers jumped to 15.3 and 35.9, respectively, but as incredible as that leap seems, the improvements were even more pronounced in players.

Consider Michael Jordan. Never known for his long-range marksmanship, His Airness made only 30.1 percent of the 955 3-point attempts he took before his first retirement. From his second return until the line was eventually moved back, he shot 40.4 percent on 589 attempts. Such growth was a standard feature of mid-'90s stardom. Gary Payton attempted only 124 3-pointers in his first four seasons and made only 21 percent of them. In his next three, he took 915 and made 31.5 percent. The real winner of the shortened, arc, though? That was Kerr.

Already one of the NBA's best shooters before the change, the new line made Kerr one of the greatest shooters in history. In the first season after its inception, he shot 52.4 percent from behind the line. That was the NBA record until Kyle Korver shot over 53 percent during the 2009-10 campaign. Kerr would have to settle for second place ... and fifth, because he hit 51.5 percent of his attempts a year later. He had to settle for a mere 46.4 percent mark on 3-pointers during the 1996-97 season, giving him a total percentage of 49.8 during the three-year window. He fell to a more realistic 43.8 percent mark in his final season in Chicago, and dipped below 40 percent for the rest of his career. It hardly mattered, as Kerr used that rule change to set records, cash in and win championships.

Players like him across the league reaped similar benefits. Tim Legler and Detlef Schrempf both topped 50 percent during that stretch. The Rockets won a championship attempting the most long-range shots in the NBA. Even Curry's father, Dell, got in on the fun by more than doubling his prior 3-point output, taking only 2.1 per game in the first eight years of his career compared to 4.9 with the shortened line.

But even as individual numbers soared, the change failed to produce the intended result. Total points per game continued to decline in each of the three seasons with the shortened 3-point line, and Kerr offered a compelling theory as to why.

"Utah and us were two of the highest-shooting percentage teams, but we also were two teams with among the fewest 3-point attempts," Kerr told the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith in 1997. "To me that showed we were running our offenses and working for good shots, where a lot of teams come down and fire up 3s."

more to the article in link.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/what-the-shortened-nba-3-point-line-of-the-mid-1990s-says-about-the-future-of-long-range-shooting/

[3ball]

I don't think I've ever seen it used to discredit the real shooters of the era. Just guys like Mj and Pippen who had amazing shooting seasons with the short line they'd never see again with the normal line.

Jordan shot 38% in 1990 and won the 93' title by shooting 39% in the playoffs and Finals

But you're always lying to year down the goat.. ur the goat goat hater..

Here you cleverly lied and acted like jordan never shot well from the regular line... in regular season or playoffs.. lies to tear down the goat because you're a massive Jordan hater

[MadDog]

Scoring was in the shitter and the major impact of moving the 3pt line in had on players. Yet total points per game continued to go down.


"Every season from 1988-89 through 1993-94 saw a decrease in scoring, with the average team dropping from 109.2 points per game all the way down to 101.5. Pace experienced a similar dip, as the average NBA game went from 100.5 to 95.1 possessions in that span. With Michael Jordan retired and more and more teams emulating Pat Riley's borderline violent New York Knicks, the NBA desperately wanted to change the style of basketball being played.

"Scoring in this league has gone down for something like 10 straight years," Rod Thorn, the NBA's vice president for operations, said in 1994. "Teams are not taking as many shots. They're holding the ball more.

"If you have a sport, you like to have some action. You don't want it to become a grappling match."

So the league adopted a novel solution. In an effort to neutralize the physicality teams like those Knicks played with, the NBA incentivized 3-point shooting by moving the line ahead of the '94-95 season. The arc typically stretches to 23 feet, nine inches, but is not uniform. In the corners, the distance between it and the basket is only 22 feet. The NBA decided to redraw the arcs so that they sat 22 feet away from the basket across the board.

In some ways, the results exceeded the NBA's wildest expectations. The average NBA team attempted 9.9 3-pointers per game during the 1993-94 season and made 33.3 percent of them. A year later, those numbers jumped to 15.3 and 35.9, respectively, but as incredible as that leap seems, the improvements were even more pronounced in players.

Consider Michael Jordan. Never known for his long-range marksmanship, His Airness made only 30.1 percent of the 955 3-point attempts he took before his first retirement. From his second return until the line was eventually moved back, he shot 40.4 percent on 589 attempts. Such growth was a standard feature of mid-'90s stardom. Gary Payton attempted only 124 3-pointers in his first four seasons and made only 21 percent of them. In his next three, he took 915 and made 31.5 percent. The real winner of the shortened, arc, though? That was Kerr.

Already one of the NBA's best shooters before the change, the new line made Kerr one of the greatest shooters in history. In the first season after its inception, he shot 52.4 percent from behind the line. That was the NBA record until Kyle Korver shot over 53 percent during the 2009-10 campaign. Kerr would have to settle for second place ... and fifth, because he hit 51.5 percent of his attempts a year later. He had to settle for a mere 46.4 percent mark on 3-pointers during the 1996-97 season, giving him a total percentage of 49.8 during the three-year window. He fell to a more realistic 43.8 percent mark in his final season in Chicago, and dipped below 40 percent for the rest of his career. It hardly mattered, as Kerr used that rule change to set records, cash in and win championships.

Players like him across the league reaped similar benefits. Tim Legler and Detlef Schrempf both topped 50 percent during that stretch. The Rockets won a championship attempting the most long-range shots in the NBA. Even Curry's father, Dell, got in on the fun by more than doubling his prior 3-point output, taking only 2.1 per game in the first eight years of his career compared to 4.9 with the shortened line.

But even as individual numbers soared, the change failed to produce the intended result. Total points per game continued to decline in each of the three seasons with the shortened 3-point line, and Kerr offered a compelling theory as to why.

"Utah and us were two of the highest-shooting percentage teams, but we also were two teams with among the fewest 3-point attempts," Kerr told the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith in 1997. "To me that showed we were running our offenses and working for good shots, where a lot of teams come down and fire up 3s."

more to the article in link.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/what-the-shortened-nba-3-point-line-of-the-mid-1990s-says-about-the-future-of-long-range-shooting/

So basically LeBron would be a poor shooter regardless of era. Shortened 3PT line or not. :confusedshrug: