LA Clippers: Things We’ve Learned #3 – The Clips Are an Elite Three Point Team, but They Aren’t Shooting Enough
When Ty Lue took over as head coach of the LA Clippers, he promised to bring an increased focus on pace and space. We’re still waiting a bit on the pace part of that, but the space has been there.
The Clippers are the most accurate three point shooting team in the league by a full 2.5 percentage points. They’re shooting 43.6% from deep, while the Milwaukee Bucks are in second place at 41.1%.
The difference? The Bucks are shooting 39.7 threes per game, and the Clippers are only shooting 34.8. In fact, despite being the best shooting team in the NBA, the Clips are middle of the road at 16th in the league in attempts.
Some of that falls on Luke Kennard. After putting up 7.1 threes per 36 minutes last season, he’s dropped to 4.8 threes per 36 this season. You can bank on, at least once per game, seeing Kennard pass up an open three to either make a pass or drive in for a floater. The Clips traded for him expecting him to be an elite three point shooter with more consistency than Landry Shamet, and they need him to be that.
The Clippers are, currently, a historically good three point shooting team. There’s no reason for such an accurate shooting team to be taking as few threes as they are, and I trust in Ty Lue to make those necessary adjustments.
What have you taken from this season so far? Let us know on social media and in the comments down below, and be sure to follow along at Clipperholics for all things LA Clippers!