No matter how great a career they had , or how old they have now become, if there’s one thing you can never shake from an athlete is his/her confidence. Just as Dale Ellis, who recently just said he’s the greatest shooter of all time. For our readers who aren’t old enough to remember Ellis, he was a tremendous shooter with a very quick release. But, I wonder what Reggie Miller or Ray Allen think about his claim.
“Guys look at age, and they shouldn’t,’’ Ellis said. “They should look at athletic ability. You can have a guy 50 years old playing to the level of a 38-year-old player, almost 50 years old, I truly believe that. I see [Ray] playing 20-plus years easily. Don’t take a look at his year but take advantage of his athletic ability and play him in spots; he’ll be around for a long time.’’
Ask any shooter, active or retired, and they will tell you they can get up off the couch and drain threes. That confidence is almost mandatory with great shooters, according to Ellis.
“I’m the best shooter of all time,’’ he said. “I know that from the jump. I set the standard. I gave them something to shoot for. I was the first player in the history of the game to get 1,000 3-pointers. To be able to play on that level, you have to have that attitude about yourself. You can say it’s arrogant or cocky or whatever, but that’s OK. There’s no way you can compete without it. There’s no way you can excel without that confidence level.’’
Read more of Ellis’ feeling on 3-point shooting in the NBA at Boston.com.
