So as a bit of an experiment I decided to go back and go through the Nevada game and look at all our 3 point attempts to see if it really was a bunch of good looks that we just didn't hit, or not. We shot 26 threes. Here we go.
1st - 19:40 - made shot Reeves. Not much movement by him prior to the shot. Went to the corner around 25ish left on the shotclock and stayed there for 10 seconds. Set up by Kelly faking a drive and Reeves' man leaving too much. Still able to contest. I'd consider this makable but wouldn't really say it was a good look. I'm sure some will disagree.
2nd - 18:58 - miss by Kelly. Little to no movement by Kelly, more or less staying in the spot he would shoot it from the entire possession. Bit of ball movement before hand but not enough to prevent a defender from contesting on the shot despite it being a couple steps beyond the line. He is capable of making that shot but it isn't a good look, especially as a first look for someone on a cold streak.
3rd - 18:07 - this one wasn't listed as a three by ESPN play by play, but looks like it was on watch. Transition three by Kelly with 28 seconds on the SC. Missed. It was a 5 on 3 break and Kelly just pulled up with no passes to shoot. Again a makeable look, but I don't think you can consider that a good look. To me it was just a bad shot.
4th - 17:19 - miss by George. 8 seconds left. Possession overall had almost no offball movement, and just some token passes at the top of the key. Shot was just a pull off the dribble by George off no movement or pass. Got a switch onto a big man but no real space created and still contested. That's a bad shot.
5th - 16:21 - made by reeves in the corner. Almost the same as the first one but without the drive action by Kelly. Early (21 seconds on the SC) contested shot off of no movement by Reeves, and no real ball movement. Obviously he made it and having already made one from the same spot I don't mind. Not really what I would call a good shot though unless you're the type to think any shot that goes in is a good one.
6th - 15:57 - made by Kelly. This was off an offensive rebound kick out where Kelly got to step into it and nobody was really around to contest. I'd call this one a good look.
7th - 12:56 - miss by Gapare. No movement by Gapare on that possession at all. Little bit of action to get the defense reacting, but not really effective. Still contested. To me that is a bad look. As an aside, that was a damn ugly form with his right foot rotating like it was trying to get back on defense mid shot.
8th - 12:18 - miss by Kelly. The best possessions that ended in a three so far by quite a bit. Good penetration by George to draw the defense including Kelly's man and should have lead to a great in rhythm 3 by Kelly in the corner. But Gapare drifted to the corner as well and intercepted the pass before handing it off for the shot. If it weren't for that bit this would have been a great look. The disjointedness of the actual end of it to me hurts. But this is the type of action we need more of sans the Gapare part.
9th - 11:35 - miss by Kyle. Pretty good possession where we got a switch off an Oreb that favored Ndongo early. Coleman passed it to Kyle as soon as the defender on Kyle went to try and switch back onto Ndongo. I'd call that a good look. Similar to the made shot by Kelly, it wasn't really off of the offense and more a product of the oreb scramble, but still a good look.
10th - 8:28. Made by Coleman. Other side of the court but it is basically the exact same as Reeves' second made shot. Early in the shot clock, defender contesting, no real movement by Coleman and not much movement by the ball to influence the defenders.
11th - 7:52 - miss by Gapare. A look what I found moment with a pass going right through Ndongo's hands to find Gapare alone on the wing. Absolutely wide open. For almost any player on the court I'd have considered that a good look. But it's still Gapare shooting with that weird rotation thing he has going on so I'm still not going to think that is a good look.
12th - 5:37 - miss by Coleman. Came with 8 seconds left in the shot clock. Came off of a bit of penetration by George but not effective. Several steps beyond the line, and contested. Airballed. I don't mind him shooting it in the context of the clock, but that is a bad look to me.
13th - 5:33 miss by kelly. More action than most of our half court looks have had. Sort of a double screen slip into a pop with Kelly and a roll by Claude. Like the design of that play, although it's a bit of an odd motion by Kelly to set himself for the shot. Good look.
That was the first half. So of the 13 attempts, I would consider 3 of those good looks, with 1 more should have been a good look. 2 of those were off of Orebs and 2 were off of good action by the offense. We had a couple others that I think people will say were good looks, but didnt have much movement by any of the ball, shooter, or defense. Maybe the first make by Reeves due to the kinda drive action by Kelly. So that would be 5 of the 13 shots and we went 2/5 on those and 2/8 on the others.
Second half.
14th - 18:16 - Miss by Reeves. Somewhat similar action as the last shot by Kelly to end the first half. Screen the screener situation with Reeves setting an up pick for Ndongo after a ball screen and the Reeves popping to the top of the key. But the action isn't really effective and Reeves doesn't go through the action with the same emphasis as Kelly. Kind of nonchalant about it. The defender is set defensively before Reeves ever begins his shot. It's a makable shot, but with 20 seconds left in the shot clock that is a bad look to me.
15th - 16:14 - miss by Kelly. This was with 20 seconds left in the shot clock. Was set up by decent penetration by George. Defender helped and recovered pretty well. In isolation this isn't a bad look. But Kelly is 1 of 5 by this point, and it's a quick shot off one pass. To me this is the type of shot that people are thinking is a good look that I'm disagreeing with. To a guy in rhythm having hit a couple? Sure, a good look. For a guy that is cold both on the season and the night, that's not a good look. It's a momentum three point attempt, but without the momentum.
16th - 14:11 - miss by Kelly. Off an OOB set. Kelly goes to his spot and doesn't have much movement. PnR action with Sturdy and Ndongo and Kelly's man hard helps to prevent the roll. Sturdy hits Kelly for the open three. Good look no doubt.
17th - 13:30 - make by Sturdivant. Basically same as the previous one, but Kyle shooting instead of Kelly. Not a lot of movement, but his defender helped off to stop Ndongo rolling, and George hit Sturdivant with a pass for an open 3. Good look.
18th - 12:06 - miss by George. No real movement by George on the possession. Ball does go into Ndongo and the defense collapses. Kind of a bail out pass out to Gapare who skips it to George for an open 3. Good look.
19th - 10:04 - Make by Coleman. No real movement by Coleman on the possession. Ball goes into Ndongo, who recognizes the double team and hits Coleman in the corner for an open 3. Good look.
20th - 8:06 - miss by Sturdivant. No real movement by Sturdy. Somewhat of a help by his man off a slip screen action by Ndongo, but his defender recovers to contest well. It's an okay look and he had some momentum the past couple of minutes so I don't mind him taking the shot. But I don't really consider it a good look because it was pretty well contested, and his defender didn't commit as hard to stopping Ndongo as on a couple of the earlier shots in this half. In fact Ndongo had good position down low and Kyle should have fed him the ball.
21st - 5:00 - miss by Kelly. 5 second left in the shot clock. Little dribble handoff action, but it was a contested shot from a couple steps behind the arc from a guy who is 1-8. Badly missed. IMO bad shot, although he pretty much had to take it given the circumstance.
22nd - 3:37 - miss by Reeevs. Very similar to the last one. Token dribble hand off action. Contested shot from a couple steps beyond the arc. This one with 19 seconds left on the SC. Bad shot.
23rd - 3:24 - miss by Kelly. Bit of drive and kick action by George that got Kelly's man to bite. However, Reeevs' man rotated and it was another very contested three from a couple steps beyond the arc. Ironically, should have made the extra pass to Reeves in the corner because he was wide open. Bad shot.
24th - 3:17 - miss by Reeves. Quick contested shot off the Oreb with no movement and no action. This was very contested. Bad shot.
25th - 2:42 - miss by Kelly (meaning the one in the first half wasn't considered a 3). Early in the clock (about 20 seconds remaining. No real movement by Kelly. Good cross court find by George with Kelly's man sagging hard to prevent Ndongo inside. good look.
26th - 30 seconds left. - Miss by coleman. Down by 6 with 30 seconds forced the issue. It was a heavily contested three from the corner off no real movement of ball, player, or defense. Don't blame him for taking it, but bad look.
27th - 19.3 seconds - Miss by George. Basically same situation as above. Contested long shot. Had to take it. Bad look.
28th - 7 seconds - again not one in the play by play as a three. Clear 3 point attempt. Miss by Kelly. Blocked. same story as above. Bad look.
So second half 5 good looks out of 15 and went 2 of 5 on them and 0/10 on the others. For the game we were 4/10 by my count on the good looks, and 2/18 on the rest. Now not every shot that isn't a good look is a bad look. Sometimes you're going to get looks you don't mind taking but that you could get better than. If I counted right, there were 8 shots I'd say weren't good or bad and we went 2/8 on those. We were 0/10 on shots that I thought were bad looks.
The other thing that stood out to me was how few of the shots we took from 3 came off action clearly designed to generate a shot. Being generous I counted 4. The two to bookend halftime were the clearest. Then there was the weird Gapare interception one. Then one where we passed into Ndongo and he dribbled into the double and kicked it to Coleman in the opposite corner. That last one is a bit of a stretch to me, but w/e. Otherwise almost all of our other shots were with little movement by the shooter at all, and usually with only one pass in the lead up. Even most of our good looks were more opportunistic than intentional feeling and there didn't really seem to be a dedicated effort to getting in rhythm looks off any kind of motion really for anybody.
