[https://twitter.com/NBABlackburn/status/1577419450122309632](https://twitter.com/NBABlackburn/status/1577419450122309632)
He also said (transcribed from the picture):
“Yeah, our goal every time is to generate an uncontested look. What we’ve been stressing a lot in terms of our shots back during August and September when we played, a lot of times we told our guys ‘mid-range shots are worth one \[point\], even if it goes in. Threes are three. Corner threes are worth four. Anything around the rim is worth three.’ We’re trying to put that in their mind \[that we want\] mid-range discipline. We don’t want to take contested mid-range shots, especially early in the clock. Now, the caveat to that is obviously, we have a player in Nikola Jokić who is not a good but great mid-range shooter. We don’t want to take that away from him.
But to your point, just because a shot goes in doesn’t mean it’s a good shot. I think Michael Porter made a contested mid-range two last night; the spacing was awful, the execution was awful, and the shot went in. Poor possession, poor shot. We can get better than that.”
by fattymaggo
13 Comments
Points are points imo. You can’t rely on the 3 the whole time. Especially late game
It do be going in tho
Not super excited about how negative Malone has been about MPJ so early in the season especially after the injury – the dude definitely has things to improve on but to say that Jokić is the only great mid-range shooter is weird to me.
I think MPJ and Murray are both great mid range shooters along with Jokic. MPJ is such an odd guy but I feel like he really rubs Malone the wrong way lol
Moach knows ball.
need tough shot makers to win games late. essentially every NBA offense falls apart late in close games where things become more iso heavy.
MPJ must be an infuriating guy to coach for a multitude of reasons but, at the end of the day, he makes tough shots and that’s a rare skill in the NBA and a big part of why the Nuggets paid him.
i can appreciate saying “our goal every time is to generate an uncontested look” and that’s nice for the first 40 or so minutes but it’s a goal, not an expectation. for MPJ, as long as it comes within the flow of the offense, it’s probably an OK shot. but not all his shots do come within the flow of the offense which is where the frustration starts. end of the day, i’d rather have MPJ taking those “out of the flow of the offense shots” than Barton.
They gotta just let MPJ loose man. Any shot he can get off cleanly is a good shot
I think he’s just using MPJ’s shot as an example, and not just calling him out to call him out
Kinda feel like he could’ve explained the “generating the best shot” point really well without calling out any of his players tbh.
He still doesn’t fucking get it after all this time lol. The circumstances do not matter for this kid – any shot that Porter puts up inside the half court line is a good shot
I like Malone and I understand what he’s getting at, but I agree that it not a great look to only be calling out MPJ for a shot that honestly wasn’t even a “bad” shot. And plenty of great players are efficient enough in the mid-range that it’s still worth it to take those shots (Jokic, Kawhi, Durant, Derozan, etc).
I know it’s not quite the same, but can you imagine Kerr calling out Curry for taking “bad” shots? Like if you have one of the best shooters in the league you pretty much just gotta let them shoot at will and especially not complain when they usually make it lol
MPJ makes a lot of mistakes but he also seems to get it harder from Malone and the guys when he screws up. I hope he can get better at making smart plays and the team can be a little less harsh on him when he screws up. Just doesn’t seem like a positive dynamic right now.
Y’all are fucking ridiculous