When Steve Kerr played with the Chicago Bulls, he was one of the league’s most respected 3-point shooters.
Kerr, who played for the Chicago Bulls from 1993-1998, is one of several interviewees in “The Last Dance,” the highly anticipated 10-part documentary that premiered Sunday night on ESPN.
Winning three titles with Chicago, Kerr had two of the best 3-point shooting seasons ever with the Bulls.
According to Basketball Reference, he shot a career-high 52.4% from deep during the 1994-95 season; that’s the second-best 3-point percentage (52.4) for a single season in league history, right behind Kyle Korver’s 2009-10 season. Kerr’s quality shooting in the 1995-96 campaign also helped him claim the fifth-best 3-point percentage (51.5%) for a single season.
Kerr and Korver are the only players in league history to have multiple seasons in which they shot 49% or better from three; Kerr is the only player to have multiple seasons shooting 50% or better from deep. The 1989-90 season, Kerr’s second in the league, he shot 50.7% from the 3-point line with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That is the eighth-highest 3-point percentage for a single season.
On This Date: Steve Kerr silenced the Jazz with a series-winning jumper off a pass from MJ during the 1997 NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/u6QpAktivt
— ESPN (@espn) June 13, 2018
What’s interesting with Kerr is that he never shot threes at a high volume. His career-high in 3-point attempts is 2.9 a game, which he did twice with the Bulls.
The league was drastically different in the 1990s, with teams not opting to shoot as many threes compared to today’s game.
During the 1994-95 season, when Kerr posted his career-high in 3-point percentage, the Houston Rockets led the league in 3-point attempts per game (21.4.), per Basketball Reference. Ironically enough, the Rockets also lead the league this season in the category, but they’re shooting 44.3 3-pointers a game.
As a renowned shooter, it’s no surprise Kerr has helped evolve the game while coaching the Golden State Warriors. The team’s offense is a mixture of motion and parts of the Triangle Offense, along with a bevy of off-ball actions.
With two all-time level shooters in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors remain one of the league’s most feared teams despite an injury-riddled 2019-20 season.
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