Steph Curry
What basketball player comes to mind when someone asks, “who is the best shooter that you have ever seen?” Do you think of the player who has the highest scoring average, the player who scored the most points in a career, a season, a game, the player who could score from “downtown”, or the player who scored under pressure? In my last post I listed my top 20 scorers of all time and picked my #1 scorer. I had a lot of responses that agreed with my pick of Kevin Durant. A few of you thought I was senile. I admit that the pick had some degree of subjectivity, but I do think I supported my pick with my criteria. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t really understand how anyone could say Chamberlain was the best scorer. (I know how many points he scored.) I think he is the most athletic player to ever play in the NBA. In my book “The G.O.A.T.: The Quest to Find the Best” he is in my all-time top 5. I watched him play and I never saw him shoot outside of 10 feet. He was a terrible free throw shooter, and he played in an era when “big men” were 6’6”. I gave some reasons why I did not pick Wilt, as well as reasons why I did not pick some of the other great scorers. This post is about another facet of basketball, shooting. Using analytics like percentage, efficiency, and shot selection picking the best shooter of all time should be “a little” less controversial.
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Jack has spent 70+ years playing, coaching, and watching basketball. Former D1 player at Middle Tennessee State, assistant coach at Oral Roberts University (3 All-Americans, 7 NBA Draftees, Top 10 rankings, 1974 Elite Eight), and author of three books on the sport he loves.
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Jack Sutter has spent 70 years playing, coaching, and watching players play the game he loves. His books are written for the casual basketball fan as well as the "hard core" fan.
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