After finishing near the bottom of the league in corner three point shooting, the LA Clippers added Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute to help out.
After shooting abysmally from the corner last season, the Los Angeles Clippers realized that they needed to shore up their shooting. Enter Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute.
Last season, the Clippers ranked at the bottom of the league in three-point shooting from the corner. For reference (Shout out to the NBA Almanac), they knocked down only 35.2% of threes from the right corner (28th in the league) and 33.4% from the left corner (30th in the league). This is supposed to be the easiest three-pointer to hit in the league, due to it only being 22 feet from the basket as opposed to the rest of the line being 23.75 feet away.
In order to address this concern, LA went out and added two players who could help out while also adding depth to an already deep roster – Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute.
Mike Scott
Last season with the Washington Wizards, Scott knocked down 40% of his 2.1 three-point attempts while playing a career high 18.5 minutes per game. He won’t be getting these type of minutes on the Clippers, but when he’s in he becomes a versatile forward who can space the floor.
Speaking of spacing, he was an outstanding 54.5% from the left corner, according to NBA Savant. From the right, he was not as successful, only converting on 38.1%. Still, despite being somewhat worse from the right, he still was above the 35.2% the Los Angeles shot.
Luc Mbah a Moute
Mbah a Moute on the other hand, was terrible from the left. He only made 25% of his 20 attempts for the Houston Rockets. On the right, he was able to convert 31.7%. Neither number is better than Los Angeles numbers, but it is worth noting that Mbah a Moute, a career 33.6% three-point shooter, shot 36.4% from deep in 2017-18 and 39.1% in 2016-17.
At 32-years-old, he knows he needs to continually improve his shot from deep. Having the capability to knock down threes opens up arguably the best part of his offensive game, his cutting ability. Luc should make more improvements from deep this season, especially with Doc Rivers already knowing how to best use him.
In his last stint with the Clippers, Luc hit 46.4% of corner attempts from the left and 38.8% of attempts from the right. These numbers are what the Clippers can use out of him. If he can shoot near these percentages but at a higher rate as he did in Houston, Luc will be the perfect bench addition for the team.
The Clippers have an outside shot at making the playoffs, but in order to do so, they will need to knock down….well, the outside shot.