Tag: Bomani Jones

The NBA has a 3-pointer problem

NBA teams are shooting more threes than ever before.

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.

What’s up hoops fans. The NBA season is a week old, and it feels so good to be back. To get a rematch of the Western Conference Finals on a random Tuesday night in October was just an absolute treat. We should never complain about getting to see some good bump.

However, one thing that stood out to me from the Dallas Mavericks’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves was the combined 78 three-pointers the teams attempted in the game. It wasn’t necessarily an issue, as they made about 45% of them, but it did follow a trend that may be of concern depending how you like your hoops and who you root for.

Teams are shooting more threes this season than they ever have in NBA history.

On average, NBA teams are taking 37 3-pointers per game this season, which is two more than last season’s average — the largest year-to-year jump since 2019-20 if it holds. It’s an increase of 10 from just eight years ago and 15 more threes than teams were taking 10 years ago when the Splash Brothers won their first title together.

The increase makes sense. Threes are worth more than twos. Of course teams are taking more. Especially after seeing how it benefited the Warriors. The Celtics rode the league’s most attempts to a championship last year. The runner-up Mavericks attempted the second-most.

But smart basketball isn’t necessarily good basketball. And when it’s bad teams trying to cosplay as good teams, it’s not smart or good. Which gets to the heart of my issue.

There is more than one way to skin a cat. The Denver Nuggets won the 2023 championship attempting fewer threes than the league average. Same with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. Those teams leaned into their strengths. Similarly, the Celtics shoot a bunch of threes because they’re really good at it. Yet, it seems more and more teams are simply leaning into 3-point shooting because the math makes sense. Doing so without the personnel to execute it, though, is fruitless, and ultimately just makes for some unentertaining basketball.

Unless you have a lineup full of All-Stars and legitimately good shooters — which most teams don’t — you can’t be the Celtics. And unless you have players who consistently break defenses down and get them out of rotation, many of those threes are contested and coming off little to no ball movement. In the words of Paul George, that’s a bad shot.

It’s a bad watch, too. Even when the shots are dropping like they were for the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls Monday when each tied franchise records for threes made in a game. Minus the ball movement, it’s not the most fun to watch when the good teams are letting it fly either. The games become too homogenous, robbing us of all the intricacies and skill that comes from good post play, a mid-range game or simply attacking someone at the rim and daring them to stop you.

I’m not the first person to make this point. Fox Sports’ Nick Wright went so far as to argue the NBA should change its rules after the Boston Celtics tied their franchise record for threes made on Opening Night.

Bomani Jones also said the league needs changes in response to a tweet about how many threes one of the NBA’s best athletes, Anthony Edwards, is averaging through four games (13.3!). “When the game incentivizes Anthony Edwards to play like Klay Thompson, something needs to change immediately,” Jones tweeted.

I’m not sure the best way for the NBA to move forward, or if it’s even something the league needs to address. As it is today, I’ll still watch it. It’s also possible younger fans that grew up watching Steph Curry and Klay Thompson like this style of play. I fully acknowledge I could be old man yelling at clouds here. But I can’t imagine it doesn’t become a problem in the near future if the 3-point shooting continues to increase.

It’s also possible the potential problem corrects itself.

According to Sportico data reporter Lev Akabas, teams have finally adjusted their shot profiles so that threes and twos generate nearly the same amount of points per attempt. Hopefully that means we’ll see a plateau in threes soon. If so, enjoying the NBA may be a matter of your tolerance for about 74 threes per game — 37 each team.

Personally, I’m less invested in the number and more concerned about how teams are creating those shots, and what they’re doing when the three isn’t open. What I’m seeing from a lot of teams today isn’t my ideal brand of basketball.

Chet Holmgren vs. Victor Wembanyama

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking of players taking too many three per game, 7-foot-3 phenom Victor Wembanyama is taking about six per game this season despite shooting just 22% on them. But if there’s one thing that might get Wembanyama to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim, it might be tonight’s game between his San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Or more specifically, his matchup with Chet Holmgren.

Wembanyama and Holmgren have somewhat of a rivalry brewing, Mike Sykes wrote, and it’s very competitive.

“COMPETITIVE. In all caps. The games are fun to watch. They both do things we’ve never seen anyone like them do on an NBA court. …

Chet and the Thunder walked away with two wins in their three matchups. But Wembanyama would usually walk away with a highlight or two that made you go, “Wow. Can’t wait to watch more of this for the next 10 years.”

So, look. Maybe this isn’t a rivalry now. But the more these guys see each other, the closer this matchup becomes the real deal.”

Read more from Sykes on why Wembanyama and Holmgren have all the makings of a great rivalry.

Shootaround

— Nick Nurse is already sick of questions about Paul George’s and Joel Embiid’s health

— Netflix’s Starting 5 Season 2 cast is here and NBA fans will love it

— Rudy Gay officially retired from the NBA

— The sculptor of Dwyane Wade’s statue said nobody could’ve done better

That’s all for today. Enjoy tonight’s NBA action, including an Eastern Conference Finals rematch between the Celtics and Pacers.

Game Theory with Bomani Jones season 2 monologues, ranked

HBO canceled Game Theory with Bomani Jones, but the monologues were all bangers.

HBO is not renewing Game Theory with Bomani Jones, the show’s host confirmed on his The Evening Jones podcast.

In two seasons beginning in 2022 and spanning 16 episodes, Bomani Jones entertained a late night audience by bringing to HBO the same witty and thoughtful sports commentary that has made him a star at ESPN.

It’s not clear why HBO decided to go in another direction, but there’s no denying the show had some hard-hitting, insightful and hilarious monologues worth revisiting. Season 1 is unavailable for streaming at the time of this post, so here’s a ranking of the best monologues from Season 2. And they’re all really good.

Bomani Jones laughed about Jake Paul’s childish insult on his show after loss to Tommy Fury

Jones had the first laugh AND the last one.

A few weeks ago, Bomani Jones interviewed Jake Paul on his HBO show, Game Theory, partly about his fight with Tommy Fury.

When the conversation turned to the ethics behind Paul’s “Betr” and micro-betting, the influencer/boxer turned hostile to Jones, childishly telling the sports commentator he doesn’t know who he is with expletives. With Jones also questioning Paul’s fighting acumen at the time, the clip of said exchange understandably went viral.

Now, after Paul made the lamest excuse for a split-decision loss to Fury on Sunday, Jones recalled what happened when he had him as a guest.

Jones seemed to take great pleasure in Paul’s defeat while trolling him over their interview on HBO.

(Note: NSFW language in the below video.)

In a rare case of the saying, I think it’s fair to say Jones not only had the first laugh over Paul — who lashed out at him for asking basic questions — but he also had the last. From that respect, Sunday had to taste extra sweet for Jones.

Jake Paul’s interview with Bomani Jones turned hostile after questions about Betr and micro-betting

Jake Paul finally met his match.

When promo clips first surfaced of Jake Paul’s contentious interview with Bomani Jones, the host of HBO’s Game Theory, the conversation appeared to go bad from a line of questioning around Paul’s unlikely success as a YouTube star turned boxer.

As it turns out, from watching the full episode released Friday, the interview was rocky from the start but took a real turn when Jones asked about Paul’s venture into the world of sports betting.

In August, Paul announced the launch of his sports betting and media platform Betr. With an emphasis on micro-betting, Paul described it as the TikTok-ification of sports betting. Jones asked Paul whether he was concerned about potentially pushing his young-leaning fanbase into what some experts have called one of the most addictive forms of gambling.

“My audience is older people,” Paul quipped. “And I get you’re trying to be like a hero here and save the day and paint me in a bad light. … Probably with a lot of your guests, you get one over on them and they’re not smart enough to keep track of what you’re doing…”

Jones interrupted, “nobody is trying to fool you Jake,” before repeating his question.

The below clip is a separate part of the interview closer to the end.

Warning: NSFW Language 

Jones’ question about Betr and micro-betting was a legitimate one in relation to Paul’s background as a social media star. During Jones’ monologue that proceeded the interview, clips were played of past interviews where Paul acknowledged how young many his fans are — not that anyone would think otherwise of the former Disney channel actor.

“TikTok-ifying gambling is downright frightening,” Jones said during the monologue. “Especially when you consider that TikTok and gambling are both hyperaddictive. It’s like crack-ifying candy.”

Ill-equipped to handle Jones’ question about his audience growing up and potentially following Paul into micro-betting, Paul reacted like a cornered wasp and went on attack. It was a bad look for the Betr boss.

Just last October, company co-founder Joey Levy announced that Betr will enforce deposit limits for users 21-25 years old and become the first U.S. sports betting operator to ban credit cards as a way to fund user accounts. It would have been the perfect script for Paul had it only come days earlier.

Instead, Paul learned the hard lesson so many before him have learned, which is you can’t verbally out-spar Jones, and he defaulted to a responsible gaming script.

“That’s why it’s always gamble responsibly. Only bet with money you’re willing to lose. The house always wins. Download Betr, but gamble responsibly.”

Yikes. It doesn’t get more awkward than that.

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Steph Curry reacts to Bomani Jones’ comments with shoutout to ‘system players’

After Bomani Jones referred to Steph Curry as the “greatest system player of all-time,” the MVP reacted in a shoutout to the WNBA’s return.

Through 10 seasons in the NBA, Steph Curry’s trophy case is packed with hoops hardware. Three championship rings, two Most Valuable Player awards, six All-Star appearances, a membership to the 50-40-90 club and more. Despite his decorated resume, ESPN’s Bomani Jones believes an NBA club may need a little more than just Curry to win a championship.

On his podcast “The Right Time,” Vince Goodwell of Yahoo Sports and Jones discussed what NBA superstars give teams a chance at winning a championship. When it came to Curry, Jones wasn’t convinced. Jones referred to the Golden State Warriors point guard as “the greatest system player of all time.”

Via ESPN’s The Right Time with Bomani Jones:

I feel like if you tell me that you have Kevin Durant, you have a chance to win the championship. If you tell me you have Kawhi Leonard, my immediate response is, ‘You have a chance to win a championship.’ And the same with LeBron. You tell me you got Steph — I want you to tell me a little bit more.

My only problem with Steph though — you know me and what I care about — this is a big problem — getting his own shot. He can get his own shot if he shoots it from 40 coming across the line. He’s got a sick handle and all that stuff. There’s something different. It’s hard to explain what it is with Steph, but Steph is somehow like the greatest system player of all time. And I’m not saying that to shade him. But you are not going 1-4 flat and being like — ‘get us a bucket.’

On Saturday, Curry had a subtle response to Jones’ “system player” comment. In a Twitter shoutout for the opening of the WNBA season, Curry saluted the league’s system players. The Davidson product wrote, “we get it done” with a pair of emojis.

Via @StephenCurry30 on Twitter:

Klay Thompson’s injury absence paired with Curry missing a majority of the 2019-20 season has brought a storm of questions regarding the Warriors’ ability to return to the Western Conference Postseason. Add Jones’ remarks to a long list of bulletin board material for Curry and the Warriors next season.

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