Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Ray Allen is considered by most as one of the greatest shooters of all time. However, early on in his illustrious career, Allen was actually discouraged by his coaches from settling for the 3-ball.
Speaking to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com, Allen detailed how he was once restrained from taking too many 3s.
“When George Karl came in [to the Milwaukee Bucks], we played faster,” Allen said. “And if we had a good shot available, we’d always take it. But early in my career, a lot of my coaches – if you took the 3 – were like, ‘You don’t have to settle. You’re settling.’”
Imagine if Allen actually took that advice to heart. What if the 6-foot-5 guard actually allowed his 3-point shooting to take a back seat and focused on developing the other aspects of his game. Allen was in no way a one-faceted type of player, but no one can deny that he was a shooter through and through.
The two-time NBA champion went on to share his thoughts on how 3-point shooting has changed how the game is played today. Allen also presented a possible pitfall to the multitude of treys being attempted on a nightly basis.
“I don’t want it to go completely in that direction – I like to see the big men in the game, to play in the post and play inside-out every now and then,” he claimed. “It’s great to see so many shooters, but I don’t want to see bad percentages.”
While Allen does make an excellent point here, there is also no doubt that the massive amount of 3s in today's game has made the sport more exciting. Allen should be given at least some credit in shaping how the sport is played in this day and age.
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