The Crazy NBA Story That Nobody is Talking About…

The Crazy NBA Story That Nobody is Talking About…

With the way NBA basketball is played today you could definitely make the argument that outside shooting is the most important skill that a player can have very rarely will you see teams put out lineups without at least four three-point Shooters sometimes even five and the idea is of course to create as

Much space as possible but the reality is no matter how far the game advances some players just simply excel in other skills s that aren’t shooting think of Giannis for example a two-time MVP NBA champion straight up one of the best players ever a career 28% three-point shooter who’s having the most efficient

Season of his career right now interestingly enough though the Bucks actually tried to make him a serviceable shooter they heavily tweaked his form had him shooting four five threes a game and all that’s to say that typically when a player enters the league a weak shooter it tends to stay that way or

They hit a pretty hard ceiling every now and then a player comes along to break that mold my mind immediately goes to Lonzo ball who went from a complete non-shooter in his first two seasons to producing a three-year sample of 39% on seven attempts a game that’s some

Highlevel stuff it took a complete changing of the form an almost unidentifiable jump shot but he did it usually when a player makes that type of leap it’ll require some huge changes but there’s something going on in the NBA right now that completely blows my mind what I’m referring to is the shooting

Leap of dearen fox if you watch him shoot the ball in his rookie year it’s really similar he probably had a more active base a bit more aggressive with the leg kick and maybe some more lift off the ground but for the most part The Roots body positioning and the release

Are pretty much the same so how did he go from someone who entering the NBA was viewed as a weak shooter held back as a halfcourt Creator because of it to now a guy who’s not just making jumpers but doing it from multiple levels in a variety of ways and with Incredible

Consistency to understand how far he’s come um we’ve got to take it back to day one he exploded on the scene literally as a blur in transition who put Relentless pressure on the rim but outside of that there really wasn’t much to his game if it wasn’t coming at the

Basket he really couldn’t score much he hadn’t yet developed a strong floater he wasn’t comfortable leveraging his drives into mid-range jumpers consistently and when he did the shots weren’t falling as the years went on he continued to improve in each of these departments his finishing only got more refined as he

Improved his touch and learned how to weaponize his length he added the floater and short mid-range as effective counters for when his driving Lanes got taken away he figured out how to use his body to initiate and draw contact all while improving as a passer and decision

Maker we were looking at the rise of a burgeoning star just just one problem the Kings weren’t a good team by any means that means they had lottery picks one of which they used to draft Tyrese halberton I think we all know that story so I’ll spare the details but they ended

Up trading halberton for a big man delont sabonis to pair with Fox they then brought in Mike Brown to implement a new system and all of a sudden we were looking at the best story in basketball a near 50- win season season behind the most efficient offense in NBA history

LED not just by Fox’s slashing but his now fully developed Elite in between game when he entered the league he was a 35% mid-range shooter I don’t think I need to explain how poor that Mark is by 2020 we’re looking at 44 to 45% pretty solid and in that 2023 season

A really impressive 51% not just good but enough to make him one of the best mid-range scorers in the sport so he still had the explosive driving and Hyper efficient finishing the playmaking and was now an elite mid-range scorer it’s like the only remaining box to check was the

Three-point shooting that brings us to the current day where after a career of 32% from three he’s shooting 39% on eight attempts a game not just good but phenomenal numbers so what in the world is going on the first thing I want to mention is the confidence take this play

For example Malik monk sets up the offense with Fox spotted up on the wing and his man over helps at the nail that means when he gets the ball he’s given just a little bit of space to pull the trigger and doesn’t hesitate at all for years he’d reluctantly take these shots

Or even pass up on them when he had a little room but now he’s actively seeking them out at volume even when trailing in transition the three isn’t treated like a last case scenario but a legitimate option you can really see the difference in his willingness to shoot

When he’s coming off of ball screens notice how Grayson Allen’s first instinct is to go under the screen in an effort to protect the paint and fox recognizing this immediately stops and Pops without even thinking about it compare that to a real similar play from his rookie season his man goes under the

Big’s dropping back and instead of quickly pulling he has to pause take a rhythm dribble to properly set his feet and then he’s taking the open shot getting into his own three just didn’t feel like a well-oiled machine like it does today here’s another one where his

Man goes under and he hesitates so that he can wait and see if wenyama is going to step off or not when he doesn’t that’s his cue to take the jumper and knock it down because it’s still a relatively small sample of him shooting the ball like he is the league hasn’t

Yet adjusted so they’re still playing him in a lot of these softer coverages to the point where it seems the defense is intending to give up the three but again the difference is that he’s hunting for them so on a play like this where Westbrook intentionally gives up

The right side of the the screen to play from Fox’s back while the big is dropping to the Lane instead of trying to force the issue on a drive or play the in between game he just takes two dribbles and steps into a highquality shot on nba.com you can actually find

Numbers that track how close a Defender is to a shooter when they attempt a shot and if we look at the percentage of Fox’s 3es that are considered to be open you’ll notice that this season lands right in the middle he’s actually had Seasons where he took

Tougher ones at a higher rate where you’ll find the real difference though is in the actual volume before this season he never took more than five open threes a game and he’s taking seven and a half right now which shows that he’s not hesitating or passing up on them

Just taking what the defense gives him just because a lot of these threes are considered open doesn’t mean they’re easy though this one starts with that high ball screen but cavon Looney comes out a little bit higher than what you’d see in a traditional drop still he

Doesn’t come all the way out to the level though so fox has room to comfortably step back into a three and here’s another example where he comes off the screen and aong moves up a bit higher so he takes an extra dribble as he waits to see if the big is going to

Come all the way up and when he doesn’t he steps back to the three-point line for another jumper you’ll see the exact same sorts of things when he’s initiating in early offense this is typically where he does his most damage as a slasher so point of attack

Defenders tend to leave a foot or two of space to which he counters with quick pullup threes to create even more separation for himself in these spots you’ll often see him throw a left-hand hesitation to threaten the drive before getting into his motion as a shooter and again

It all comes back to the willingness to actually hunt for that opportunity when you’re looking for a shot within the flow of the game and taking it at such volume it’s a lot easier to catch a rhythm you stay loose the mechanics flow a lot easier think of it as a comfort

Thing especially when you’re getting into those shots in so many different ways here Fox is isolating in the half court notice how print leaves a few feet of space as he prepares for a drive and he takes advantage by throwing a little size up before pulling the trigger

Nothing but the bottom of the net or you have plays like this where he actually does start on a drive only to slam the brakes and pull back into a three his Defender gets a pretty good contest but he’s more comfortable than ever taking and making that shot and because Fox’s

Outside shooting is still the least of the defense’s worries he’s able to consistently ly levers the threat of his inside the arc scoring into more space on the perimeter these are considered open threes but they’re only open because of what he was able to create more three-point creation of course

Means higher volume off the dribble shooting right now he’s taking more than five threes off the dribble per game a career high by a pretty decent margin but what’s even more impressive is the efficiency he he’s hitting 39 1.2% of those five attempts a pretty ridiculous

Mark you want to know how many players in the NBA are currently shooting at least 39% on five or more off the dribble 3es a game two dearen Fox and Tyrese halberton while a large chunk of his threes do come as a result of his own creation it’s really similar when he’s

Away from the ball he isn’t treated like a serious spacer or threat to move into shooting pockets and he takes advantage by actively repositioning himself and relocating along the perimeter so that he can find those wide openen opportunities if we take a look at the volume of his catch and shoot attempts

It’s another clear signal that he’s taking them with more consistency and confidence than ever of course some of it has to do with Sacramento’s improved offense and the way they run through sabonis but I keep going back to the fact that it requires Fox to actually take the shot which he wasn’t always

Doing now the question on everyone’s mind is this Improvement real I mean we’re looking at a sample of 30 games in comparison to 395 prior and we’ve seen crazier stuff so it’s a valid question I will say his free throw shooting does worry me just a little bit typically Shooters of this

Caliber especially after after making leaps show a similar pattern in the free throw department but that isn’t the case with Fox he’s never been above 78% is a career 73% and is currently shooting under 72% I think it’s important to keep in mind though that he doesn’t need to be a

39 40% shooter to stress defenses even if it does come back to earth and lands at around 35 to 36 by the end of the season that’s still a big improvement with these things only time will tell but I definitely think it’s safe to say we’re looking at some sort of leap and

It really needs to get talked about more because as things currently stand the kings are only three games back from the one seed if you enjoyed this breakdown make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn my post notifications on to be first on more content if you’re

Interested in my more in-depth research make sure to check out my website and social media profiles you can find those links in the description feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think of Fox as always I hope you all have a great day and I’ll catch you

Guys in the next one

There’s something going on in the NBA right now that will completely blow your mind… the 3 point shooting leap of De’Aaron Fox.

► Website: https://www.hoopvenue.com/
► Twitter: https://twitter.com/KGsGOAT
► Instagram: https://instagram.com/TheHoopVenue​​
► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hoopvenue
► Discord Server: https://discord.gg/HyAgdNn9qe

► Music Credit
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Mf7_YXe83CsYBVwKf3m6Q
https://www.youtube.com/@CazarBeatz