Well, that was quite the All Star Weekend.
New Orleans set the stage perfectly, prompting everyone to be slightly more engaged than normal. Having CP3, DWest and Byron Scott all representing the most exciting team in the League in its own building certainly helped, too.
Of course, we all loved Birthday Cake, Kapono’s record-setting title defense and the Boobie Gibson show. And, hot damn, there really can’t be enough said about Dwight’s performance. That tip dunk was borderline extra terrestrial and the phone booth costume change theatrics leading to that Superman throw down was the perfect blend of showmanship and freakshow athleticism.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Even the actual All Star game was worth the hype. Predictably, with Kobe out, the two usual suspects showed up at winning time: Bron and Wade. But the most impressive display was the shooting pyrotechnics of Ray Allen. Indeed, Jesus Shuttlesworth turned water into twine down the stretch, drilling Tom Emanski-esque, back-to-back-to-back dagger threes in the waning minutes. LeBron and Wade closed it out for the East with two impressive drives to the cup, but it’s hard to believe they win without Ray Ray, who would have been MVP had the voting not gone all American Idol for the first-time ever.
Either way, watching the best shooting display in an All Star Game since Glen Rice got me thinking: Is it possible that Ray Allen is the best shooter of all time?
(40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)
I’ve always thought Peja is the best I’ve seen, with Bird, Dale Ellis, Allan Houston, Ray, Reggie, Dell Curry, Hornacek, Hersey Hawkins and Drazen all coming up just a whisker hair shy of Mr. Permanent Five O’Clock shadow himself.
Honestly, it’s a question that I don’t think gets asked that much. All these guys are listed as “one of the best shooters ever” but I’ve hardly ever seen any rankings. Obviously it’s tough given that the difference at the top is so minute and full of subjectivity, but with Ray Ray soon to become the all-time leader in career threes made, this question is bound to come up more often (Reggie is #1 now but is only up by about 500, which is a little more than two typical seasons for Allen).
So in a quest to get some sort of answer here, we’re gonna take an extended look at this subject at Both Teams Played Hard in an attempt to get something close to a ranking of the Top 20 shooters of modern NBA history.
(Note: As always, I’m not going back before 1980 in these history debates because (A) I think the game changed after Bird/Magic, and (B) I wasn’t alive before that.)
After some quick research, here are the early contenders:
- Ray
- Peja
- Bird
- Houston
- Reggie
- Hornacek
- Dale Ellis
- Dell Curry
- Drazen
- Calvin Murphy
- Hersey Hawkins
- Mark Price
- Rip
- Chuck Person
- Wesley Person
- Chris Mullin
- Glen Rice
- Michael Redd
- Mitch Richmond
- John Stockton
- Dirk
- George Gervin
- Dennis Scott
- Rashard Lewis
- Freddie Brown
- Brent Barry
- Steve Nash
- Detlef
- Joe Dumars
- Rickey Pierce
- Terry Porter
- Sean Elliot
- Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
- Mike Miller
- Chauncey Billups
- Dan Marjerle
- Danny Ainge
- Alex English
- Ginobli
- Jason Terry
- Hedo
- Wally Szczerbiak
- Dana Barros
- Scott Skiles
- Kiki Vandeweghe
- Kyle Korver
- Rolando Blackman
- Sam Perkins
- Mike Finley
- Jim Paxson
- Bernard King
- Adrian Dantley
- Kobe
- Vince Carter
- Terrell Brandon
- Voshon Leonard
- Craig Ehlo
- Steve Smith
- Tom Chambers
- Danny Ferry
- Ben Gordon
- Tracy Murray
- Bob McAdoo
- Sheed
(Another note: I’m not including any of the Kerr/Legler/Hodges/Hoiberg types. They never played a significant enough role to count. Yes, they were all incredible and possibly better pure shooters than anyone on this list…but they weren’t really legit 4th Quarter NBA-caliber players. I’m looking for the best shooters who are real players, not specialists.)
Okay, that’s the loooong list of 60ish guys who either my memory and the percentages consider to be somewhat legit contenders. I’m sure I missed several. And a few of these guys probably don’t even belong.
Also…there are various others that don’t match up with the stats or my memory. For instance, Shane Battier has a career 3PT percentage of 39.1%, which is good for 40th all time. But I have to believe that’s more circumstantial than anything else. I mean, he’s a good shooter and all, but he doesn’t strike fear into opponents. Similarly, Raja Bell is somehow 17th best of all time, which to me is more D’Antoni/Nash than his pure ability. Neither is making the list.
On the other side of things is Dan Majerle, who I’ve always considered one of the most dangerous shooters of all time. But for all his Playoff heroics and propensity to drill daggers, he never once shot over 40% from three in a season. Danny Ainge, too, has lower numbers than I expected. But since I remember these guys being dead-eye, I’m keeping them on the list for now. Why? Cause it’s my list.
Unfortunately, that’s all for now, folks.
But this will be an on-going project and we’ll revisit it soon in the coming weeks. And for all those out there reading (Hi Mom!) please let me know about the deserving guys I’ve certainly overlooked, especially those early 80s guys that I’m not going to remember as well.
‘Til later…
Known Associates:
All-Star Weekend,
Best Shooter of All-Time,
Boobie Gibson,
Gerald Green,
Jason Kopono,
Jesus Shuttlesworth,
Ray Ray,
Superman
