Looking for shooters

[magoon]

There seems to be widespread agreement at this point that one of the Raptors' core offensive problems is a lack of three-shooting. The team only has four historically above-average three-point shooters: Lowry, Patterson, Ross and Carroll. Patterson is ice-cold right now, Ross was cold before he got injured, Lowry is shooting league average at best and Carroll is down. We have a dearth of three-shooters, and that's a serious problem.

Here is a list of every player in the league this season shooting at least 5 threes per 36 minutes and who's shooting more than 34% on threes:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=ws

Looking at that list it's clear there aren't that many options. Once you kill all of the star options that we cannot trade for, skip all the quality gunners playing for teams looking to compete, and cut the marginal players who barely have minutes, the list boils down to:

Eric Gordon
Ryan Anderson
Toney Douglas
Hollis Thompson
Isaiah Canaan

And honestly, I think even this is a stretch, because Philly WANTS young assets right now, and New Orleans might not be ready to give up yet, even if they should. In a few weeks' time, we might be able to add Marco Belinelli, Jeremy Lin, Nic Batum and Jeremy Lamb to the list, if Sacramento and Charlotte begin to plummet as expected.

Here's another list: this is everybody who, last season, made at least 100 three-point attempts and shot at least 36%:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=ws

Mostly the same crowd, but some additional gettable names on this list, same logic as above:

Anthony Morrow (OKC doesn't trust him)
Luke Babbitt
Jonas Jerebko
Wayne Ellington
Dorell Wright (currently in China)

The point to be made here is: there aren't a lot of available shooters in the trade market.

Looking forward to next season, the free agent market has a bunch of decent shooters, but most of them will be snapped up quickly. (For example, Bradley Beal WILL end up in Washington again; he's just an RFA because Washington has Durant money free up.) The question becomes: who can the Raptors consider targeting in free agency who can give the team much-needed shooting? Other than Kevin Durant, of course.

Harrison Barnes is probably the best (but most expensive) bet: he'll be an RFA and unlike Beal, if he's offered a max, Golden State might not match. Nic Batum will be available. Donatas Motiejunas is an RFA and a good shooter (but not hot on the boards). Ryan Anderson is unrestricted but will probably cost too much. Chandler Parsons will probably opt out.

tl;dr: The NBA free market has largely cornered most quality shooting. Trades appear unlikely and free agency next year will be a fight. Of course.

[Nilanka]

We need Kapono, stat!

[raptors999]

Raptors dont have a shooter problem but a system problem. 76ers have a shooter problem where everything looks good until they shoot. Raptors dont look good setting up shots and they are getting away from it as a part of the offense. Its Biyombo as well as a hangover from last year when they expected shooter to create their own three. 2Pats and Ross disappeared alot last year too

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Morrow (~$3.5M team option next season), Ellington (~$1.6M player option next season) or Wright could provide short-term help, provided the price is next to nothing. None of them really move the needle at all.

[S.R.]

We need Kapono, stat!

Have you heard about that Steve Novak guy?

[raptors999]

The only difference a new player would make aside from Korver or Reddick is that they havent had the confience drained out of them. Its a never ending cycle, Raps cant hit threes, Casey stops threes and so the Raptors cant hit threes. The have stopped trying to shoot. Its a self fufilling weakness, like passing. Nevermind, a very large sample size that shows Ross, DC and 2Pats being very good shooters a small 9 game stretch is much more indicitive of ability

[Cody73]

Babbitt sounds like a great fit here. people underrate him all the time, but he's been the Pelicans best shooter this year and last. He's not bad defensively either, can play PF if needed in tight situations, etc.


But who do you trade for him?

[Nilanka]

Have you heard about that Steve Novak guy?

Oh ya, forgot about Novakain. I'm sure a 50 yr old Dell Curry would work too.

[S.R.]

Oh ya, forgot about Novakain. I'm sure a 50 yr old Dell Curry would work too.

I always liked Walt Williams' socks. The Wizard!

[magoon]

The only difference a new player would make aside from Korver or Reddick is that they havent had the confience drained out of them. Its a never ending cycle, Raps cant hit threes, Casey stops threes and so the Raptors cant hit threes.

Last year the Raptors were ninth overall in three-point attempts by team, and Casey is well-known for letting his players try to shoot their way out of scoring slumps. You are just wrong. Casey knows the value of three-pointers as well as anybody these days who isn't Byron Scott.

[slaw]

The only difference a new player would make aside from Korver or Reddick is that they havent had the confience drained out of them. Its a never ending cycle, Raps cant hit threes, Casey stops threes and so the Raptors cant hit threes. The have stopped trying to shoot. Its a self fufilling weakness, like passing. Nevermind, a very large sample size that shows Ross, DC and 2Pats being very good shooters a small 9 game stretch is much more indicitive of ability

Ridiculous. Last year they were 8th in 3PM and 9th in 3PA. 9th and 11th in 2013-14. They've improved the 3P shooting every year under Casey in terms of both makes and attempts.

To the extent you are talking about this season, you are citing an extremely small sample size. Which, as you've noted yourself in your own post, should not be heavily weighed....

[raptors999]

Ridiculous. Last year they were 8th in 3PM and 9th in 3PA. 9th and 11th in 2013-14. They've improved the 3P shooting every year under Casey in terms of both makes and attempts.

To the extent you are talking about this season, you are citing an extremely small sample size. Which, as you've noted yourself in your own post, should not be heavily weighed....

They were near the bottom for assist fg%. Watch videos of how Lou and GV were getting those threes. Its why everyone knew those werent going to work in the playoffs. Nobody defends anybody taking pullup threes

[planetmars]

Carroll is injured and once he's back and in the groove he gives you 3 point shooting. 2Pat and Ross have been terrible but I see 2Pat eventually getting his mojo back. He's just in a funk and is playing scared. He played like that last year and figured it out. I'm hoping Ross figures it out.

The biggest issue really is DD. But he's also a free agent! So let him walk and then get a guy that can shoot to fill in. Lots of wings in the 2016 free agency class.

Last thing I want is Masai to jeopardize the future (ie, trading a pick/prospect) by getting a scrub to help them this year. Raptors are not contenders so it doesn't really matter if they get an extra 3pt shooter.

[slaw]

They were near the bottom for assist fg%. Watch videos of how Lou and GV were getting those threes. Its why everyone knew those werent going to work in the playoffs. Nobody defends anybody taking pullup threes

What does that have to do with your point that Casey stops guys from shooting threes, therefore, the Raps can't shoot threes?

[Kuh]

I hear this kid called Bruno is pretty good at shooting 3s ... maybe we could get him (some playing time).

And seriously, when you have a kid like Bruno in the wings (pun intended), any solution you get is going to be a short term veteran solution, and Masai has sort of indicated that he'd rather develop youth. So we may have to suffer through this for now, rack up a few more losses than we'd like this fall, and look for improvement by the end of the year ... which is when the games matter anyway.

P.S. What we really need is a rockstar, full-time, shooting coach like San Antonio has.