Klay Thompson sets greatest 3-point season for mortals not named Curry

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25549421



Klay Thompson sets greatest 3-point season for mortals not named Curry



By Zach Harper | NBA writer


April 10, 2016 11:43 am ET



We all know the ridiculous prowess that Stephen Curry has behind the 3-point line. We've never seen that kind of volume and accuracy in NBA history. We used to wonder if 300 makes in a season from beyond the arc was possible, and now Curry is attempting to get to 400 makes. It's all quite ridiculous and a seemingly unbeatable standard for anybody else to approach. For those non-Steph Curry shooters, the new standard has become his Golden State Warriors teammate Klay Thompson.

After just a 2-of-10 shooting night from deep, Thompson still stands alone as having the greatest 3-point shooting season for players not named Steph Curry. He now has 270 3-point makes on the season, which tops Ray Allen's single season best of 269 makes. The only other person to make more in a season is Curry, who has bested that total three times now.

For Thompson, it beats his career high by 31 makes with two games to go. And he's shooting the second best percentage of his career at 42.5 percent. His previous best was 43.9 percent last season when he made 239 3-pointers. That kind of accuracy and volume is nearly unprecedented when you're not counting Steph. Ray Allen's two highest volume seasons were 229 makes in 2001-02 and 269 makes in 2005-06. He shot 43.4 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively, in those years.

Thompson is quickly becoming the second greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history. While the eras and emphasis on 3-point shooting across different eras have certainly changed, nobody has hit this volume of 3-pointers in their first five seasons. And only one other guy has had his accuracy.


http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=1&p1=curryst01&y1=2014&p2=allenra02&y2=2001&p3=millere01&y3=1992&p4=korveky01&y4=2008&y5=2016&p5=thompkl01&p6=thompkl01&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool#totals


At this rate of volume and accuracy, only Curry will be better in all-time 3-point shooting than Thompson. He's 12th all-time in accuracy and he's tossing up 3-pointers like only his teammates has done. He just needs to make two more 3-pointers in his final two games of the season in order to knock down Curry's third best season of 272, which he made when he beat Allen's single season record.

Nobody expects Thompson to approach 400 makes next season, but cracking 300 seems very doable.



bob


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