The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t exactly lighting up the nets from downtown this season.
They are last in the NBA in three-pointers made through 15 games and are shooting a league worst, 28.8% from three-point range for the season. That is almost four percent worse than the next worse team, the Chicago Bulls at 32.2%.
In an era where DeMarcus Cousins and Marc Gasol are launching multiple threes a game at a much higher clip, shooting that bad from three as a team is almost sac-religious.
Because of this, Head Coach Luke Walton is forcing the Lakers to improve their shooting before even attempting a three-pointer in a game moving forward.
Luke Walton has told all Lakers who shoot threes in games that they must make 100 each day after practice.
The Lakers have stalled at the three-point line all season, including 3-for-27 last night vs. Philly.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) November 16, 2017
This is an old-school tactic that feels very junior varsity basketball and not NBA basketball.
It could pay dividends if the Lakers players truly start improving their shooting in practice which should start translating in games, but in the meantime, if he is serious about not allowing Lakers to shoot threes if they don’t shoot well in practice the day before are they really setting themselves up to win in the NBA in 2017? What happens when they have back-to-back games with a bad practice in between?
Seriously though, the major theme here is that Walton is demanding that the Lakers improve their shooting stroke and wants them to take higher percentage shots.
They will get a good opportunity Friday night against a truly putrid Phoenix Suns defense that will be without Tyson Chandler
