Free throw shooting (still) never better
And that's just one of the standout elements of a season marked by extreme offense
If you like offense, this was your kind of season.
The NBA’s 2022-23 campaign, in terms of the regular season, is down to its final three days and the last 29 games they contain.
If form holds based on what we’ve seen through the first 170 days and 1,201 games, this one will be remembered for the unending siege that NBA defenses faced.
Because …
🏀 Teams entered Friday’s play averaging 114.7 points per game … even though they’re actually attempting one fewer 3-pointer per game (34.2) than they did last season (35.2). That’s the highest scoring figure leaguewide since the first full season of my life in 1969-70 (116.7). There were 14 teams in the league back then.
🏀 What we wrote about in December still holds: This is the greatest season in the history of NBA free-throw shooting. The league average at the line has held over the past three-plus months and still sits at a robust 78.2%. That figure has never been higher than 77.8% in 2020-21, which was one of only six previous seasons in the 77s.
🏀 There are 45 qualified scorers averaging at least 20 points per game this season, with Orlando’s Rookie of the Year favorite Paolo Banchero right at 20.0 PPG. The league’s previous single-season high was 31.
🏀 Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Dallas’ Luka Dončić, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum are all averaging at least 30 points per game. That sextet has matched the single-season high for players in the 30s.
🏀 There have been 26 games this season in which an NBA player has scored at least 50 points, topped by the 71-point games posted by Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (in overtime) and Portland’s Damian Lillard. The previous record for 50-point games in a season that did not feature Wilt Chamberlain was 23 (2019-20).
🏀 Players have scored at least 40 points an even 200 times this season. The single-season record was a mere 137 in 2018-19.
🏀 A good one from Mavericks television play-by-play voice Mark Followill: Teams leaguewide are shooting 47.5% from the field — tops since 1989-90 (47.6%) when there were more big men operating near the basket.
🏀 Remember when Mike Brown and Tom Thibodeau were known as defensive coaches? Brown’s Kings (119.0 points per 100 possessions) and Thibodeau’s Knicks (116.8) sport the top-ranked and fifth-ranked offenses in the league, respectively.
How to explain all this?
Teams are playing smaller than ever and practicing less than ever before. That means fewer rim protectors and less defensive cohesion at a time that teams field more players classified as shooters than ever before and make sure their best players touch the ball a lot.
Thirteen players in the league have a usage rate in the 30s, which reflects the percentage of a team’s plays any given player was involved with that result in a shot, free-throw attempt or turnover.
Which leads to this pressing question:
A warning no matter how you answered that: History says that the numbers won’t stay this gaudy once the postseason begins. ESPN Stats & Information reported this week that scoring rates from the regular season to the playoffs have not risen since 1984-85 … with teams’ playoff scoring averages dropping by six points last season.
Count me as one of those who did not enjoy watching the season, and it’s more than just having to watch this maddening, roller-coaster Lakers season.
It just seems like games come down to who hit the most threes, and while sometimes, that can be exciting, especially in crunch time, watching a 3-point shooting contest over 48 minutes and during a season-long worth of games becomes very underwhelming.
I’ve said it before but the aesthetics of basketball peaked for me watching the 2014 Spurs take down the Heat in the Finals. They had the right ratio of threes taken to two-point shots, and they only shot around 24 three point shots per game, while making about 45% of them.
When you combine that efficient shooting, with the ball movement and spacing principles, that team played exactly how I wish the game was played today.
Now, threes make up a larger percentage of the shot profile and they just become aesthetically and emotionally “numbing” to me.
I need battles in the paint, one-on-play. There’s more drama and entertainment within each possession that way. And, thus, the viewing experience is enhanced.
Much like baseball eliminated the shift, I wish the NBA put a cap on three point attempts. It would force teams to strategize when to use them and also, who shoots them. That proposal may seem radical, but with the ratings in the toilet, the league should do like baseball and start proactively looking to upgrade its product. Heck, while they are at it, maybe make the quarters 10 minutes long, instead of 12 minutes, too. That, alone, would shave off 30 minutes a game, and make the pace & drama more exciting.
Alas, I know none of these things will happen, but they could be rules implemented in the mid-season tournament games and tournament, itself, to help distinguish those games from other ones.
And over time, they could just phase those changes into all games.
I loved my NBA League Pass so much this season. Every team has at least one immensely watchable player. I get into arguments with my friends about this, but there are dozens of players now who are far better than a very good player like, let's say, Joe Dumars. I also think one of the most entertaining passes in basketball history (as done most regularly by Luka and LeBron) is the pass through traffic to the three-point shooter in the opposite corner