Abolish the Shaedon Sharpe 3-pointer. We, as a society of Blazers fans, have moved past the need for the Shaedon Sharpe 3-pointer.
Okay, a tad dramatic, I admit. But we've seen a steady decline in Sharpe's 3-point shooting each year of his career, and he's now shooting just 25.2% from deep on over six attempts per game. There are currently 40 NBA players who shoot at least six 3-pointers per game; Sharpe has the worst percentage among all of them, by a pretty comfortable mark.
I have no explanation for this, really. Sharpe's shooting was thought of as a plus skill when he entered the league, and average shooting as a rookie was enough to excite fans about his potential as a 3-point gunner (among other things).
That has not come to fruition, and at some point, we may have to admit this is not a slump. There's no "reason" for Sharpe to be this poor of a shooter, but it's been happening for three years now. He might just be a bad 3-point shooter!
Shaedon Sharpe's outside shooting continues to deteriorate
So, what's the necessary change? Asking him to just keep shooting until they go in feels like a humiliation ritual (for him or us, I'm not quite sure). Asking him to completely abandon the 3-point shot may feel dramatic too, but it might not be. High-level scorers don't need to be high-level 3-point shooters to be effective, but the "threat" of outside shooting opens up so many more scoring avenues.
Sharpe might not even have that "threat" anymore. Draymond Green is the ultimate "let him shoot that" player in the league, and even he is shooting 8 percent better from deep than Sharpe is. Defenses aren't too concerned with Sharpe's shooting right now, and the idea of simply making a few to keep the defense honest isn't really an option either, because Sharpe is not really making any.
From 3-10 feet, Sharpe has been solid. Most other places, he's been inefficient. His athleticism and burst is still top-tier and he doesn't struggle too much getting to that spot, but right now, only 15 percent of his shot attempts come from that area. Why not get that up to 30 percent? 40? When a player is struggling with efficiency, attacking the areas where they know they have success seems like a no-brainer.
For the most part, Sharpe has been pretty good this year — and the Blazers are better when he's on the floor for the first time in his career. But the idea that he should keep hoisting up 3-pointers until they go in is starting to feel like a losing strategy.