I understand your concerns, but watching the video, part of me was wondering if the C's coaching staff intentionally had Smart practicing from even greater distances so that he could not rely on his innate strength but would be forced to improve his form and then build muscle memory through repetition. That doesn't mean it would work, obviously, but it did strike me as a thoughtful approach.
This is a nice point and would make sense; that hadn't occurred to me. I hope you're right. One thing I think we can all agree on: Marcus Smart with a dependable shot becomes one helluva NBA player.
What about the previous video posted just above that? Those are regular three pointers.
"Good form" shooting a basketball is often misinterpreted like when people say how awful Lonzo Ball's form is.....it is actually quite perfect (for him). Excellent balance, consistent release with elbow in and hips squared, ideal arc, tight and soft rotation. The length and athleticism of defenders can make a great high school/college shooter a poor one in the NBA if they can't slow the game down enough to where they can replicate their mechanics against a quicker and faster pace of play. Smart developing consistent mechanics is necessary and he has greatly improved in this area since he was drafted especially with his lower body floating away and maintaining a consistent landing spot but his long windup from his waist has always been a problem as it is very difficult to replicate a shot every time when you have so much "windup" motion.
Your point is valid but he was not that bad a FT shooter for a power forward. Wilcox shot 64% for his career (and 67% for SEA/OKC, where he had the highest usage of his career. And his percentage was generally better in the seasons where he took more FT attempts. Repetition for players with decent mechanics would, I would expect, help overall.
Yeah, he's not releasing from over his head there, true. I think the real test will come though when he's got NBA level defenders pressuring him. That over-the-head, late-release may have developed over the years to reduce the chances of his shot being blocked, and just turned into a bad habit. Anyway it's encouraging that he knows he needs to work on his shot. Some guys never figure it out, and don't bother to try.
Scal shot .344 for his career from 3 and .368 during his time with Boston. I'm not sure struggled is the right term for his shooting.
Smart needs a functional scoring skill, not all of them. I'd also think that being able to shoot would help create easier drives for him, so there could be a chaining effect on all of his offensive productivity if he can learn to shoot. Like, if he could learn to create at the rim, his awful range shooting would be less of a problem too. Learning to shoot, though, is a more likely path forward.
