The Three-Point Shot Wasn’t Always Worth Three Points

Once upon a time, a basketball going through a hoop meant one of two things: a successful free throw attempt during play stoppage —  worth one point — or a successful field goal attempt while the clock was running — worth two points. The distance on the field goal attempt didn’t matter. Layup? Two points. Mid-range shot? Two points. 25-footer? Two points. Half-court or 75-foot heave at the end of a quarter? Two points. There have always been basketball players who were adept at long-distance shooting, but the three-point shot wasn’t always worth three points (Yes, that sounds Yogi Berra-ish, but today is his birthday.).

THE ORIGINAL TROUBLEMAKERS

The three-point line was used by a couple of minor basketball leagues in the early 1960’s, but the American Basketball Association (ABA) was the first major professional basketball league — although some didn’t consider it “major”  — to adopt it beginning with the 1967-68 season, and the NBA added it at the start of the 1979-80 season. Ironically, the ABA’s commissioner at the time of implementation was none other than George Mikan, widely considered basketball’s “first dominant big man” and who may have never gotten to touch the ball had he played in today’s version of the sport at which he excelled back in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Took awhile, but this changed everything. It changed for the statistician, the scoreboard operator,  the PA announcers who now have reason to yell after a made three-pointer by the home team (even if they’re down by 25 points), and the referees required to learn more hand signals and watch where feet are positioned on perimeter shots. Offensive and defensive strategies have changed. And of course — while the league scrambles for ways to make the game shorter — more replays (“They’re gonna take a look at it to see if his foot was on the line.”). The low-post center with advantageous offensive positioning on a smaller opponent but can’t get the ball, then has to watch helplessly as the long rebound off a missed shot evades his reach.

THREE-POINT ATTEMPTS CLEARLY TRENDING UPWARDS

The average number of three-point attempts in an NBA game has actually experienced a slow growth in the 40 years since the league adopted the rule. After averaging 2.8 attempts per game during the first year (1979-80) a still-record low of 2.0 attempts per game was established the following year. Nowadays you can witness that same number of three-point attempts in about 30 seconds of NBA action.

It was about 15 years after the rule was enacted that NBA teams combined to average more than 10 three-point shots per game, when the league set a record — at the time — of 15.3 attempts during the 1994-95 season, and another 18 years before the league cracked 20 three-point attempts per game during the 2012-13 season.

Since then it has only taken five years for the league to jump from around 20 three-point attempts per game to almost 30, topping out at 29 for the 2017-18 season.  With total field goal attempts at around 86 per game, this means about one of every three field goals attempted in an average NBA game comes from behind the arc.

So it should come as no surprise that for the 2017-18 NBA season, the league also averaged a record-low 21.7 free throws per game, as players are less likely to venture into “the painted area” opting for the long-distance shot instead. Sometimes the opportunity to score more points with one shot is just too good to pass up.

THE THREE-POINT SHOT WASN’T ALWAYS WORTH THREE POINTS

Of course, many NBA stars of the past with shooting range out to 25 feet never got to play in a regular-season NBA game with a three-point line, while others only managed to play in a few games with it. The first guy who comes to mind is “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who was able to score from anywhere on the court. The NBA introduced the three-point line in Pistol’s final year in the league (1979-80). He only attempted 15 three-point field goals, but he made 10 of them (a .667 clip). Surely, that percentage would have gone way down with more attempts, but Maravich would have been a deadly three-point shooter.

THESE PIONEERS WERE AMONG MANY WHO MISSED OUT

There were many accurate long-distance shooters in the NBA before the three-point line, and it would have been nice to see how they’d have fared in today’s game.

Former Cincinnati/San Francisco/New York center Jerry Lucas had one of those high-arching shots that would skim the rafters before falling through the net while barely grazing the rim, and he could score from well beyond today’s three-point line.

Duke graduate and former Baltimore Bullet/Buffalo Brave Jack Marin would have done well behind the line, and he had some classic battles with former Knicks’ small forward Bill Bradley, who would have been a threat from that distance as well.

Lou Hudson played most of his career with the Hawks, and he paired with Maravich to form a dangerous combo for about a four-year period in the early 1970’s. A great shooter.

Jerry West and Gail Goodrich formed the perfect offensive backcourt pairing and compliment for Wilt Chamberlain on those powerful Lakers teams of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Goodrich was a confounding lefty; West was simply ahead of his time. Both required attention all over the floor.

Jon McGlocklin was the main outside threat on those strong Milwaukee Bucks teams of the early 1970’s anchored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge handling the midrange chores.

Former Knicks Dave DeBusschere and Cazzie Russell used their perimeter shooting ability to help create space for Willis Reed on the interior on their 1970 championship squad.

With repetition, Philadelphia’s Hal Greer would have been deadly with the straightaway three-point shot. Portland’s Geoff Petrie, Seattle’s Dick Snyder, among others, would have thrived behind the three-point stripe as well. Shooting from that distance was neither part of the game plan or the practice regimen in those days.

It is now.