Elite midrange shooting is a REQUIREMENT to contend for titles

[2ball]

I think the analytics revolution has been a great thing for basketball and the NBA. I'm always for the use of data to find new advantages as well as crush long held beliefs in sports. But I think this revolution has led people to ignore context and undervalue midrange scoring.

As the argument goes, why take a long two when you could take a couple steps back and get an extra point for only a marginal increase in difficulty? I think this is undoubtedly true in the long run over the course of a season. Teams that get inside and generate open 3s tend to be the better teams. No disagreement there.

But this ignores how these kinds of shots are often generated. If you only took inside shots, defenses would adjust and your efficiency would go down. Same if you took all threes. But if you only take 3s and inside shots, you are limited in certain situations.

Almost every close playoff series I've watched, will have moments that come down to tough shot making at the end of games. Or a game where a superstar goes off and makes a ton of tough contested midrange shots. You could possibly say that midrange shot making is almost a requirement to contend for titles.

[j3lademaster]

I can't disagree, especially in today's game where defenses are designed to give up mid-range shot. In the Milwaukee/Brooklyn series KD pretty much singlehanded kept the Nets in it by getting his midrange j when he wanted to. And this is against arguably the best defensive team. A few of the finals games were closed out by Middleton going off from mid-range. When both teams are in a 7 game series and has scouted each other to death already, the more important 'taking what the defense gives you' becomes.