Novak has the fifth highest 3pt percentage in NBA history: .4365

Over his career, Novak has averaged 8.9 3pt attempts per 36 minutes. In fact, two of his three his highest attempt-per-minute years came when he received 1,000 minutes or more. He averaged 10 3pt attempts per 36 minutes last season!!

In other words, his incredibly high attempt numbers are not overly-skewed by the fact that he has often been used as a last possession shooter.

The guy gets good shots off like no one in history has before, at least that I’m aware of.

Take the four guys ahead of him in shooting percentage. Steve Kerr averaged 3.6 attempts per 36. Stephen Curry 5.0. Hubert Davis 3.9. Petrovic 2.7.

What about the ten guys behind him in all-time 3pt percentage?

Kapono 3.6, Legler 4.1, Nash 3.8, Morrow 5.3, Armstrong 2.1, Wesely Person 3.8, Gibson 5.4, Rush 4.4, Korver 6.1, Bonner 5.2, Dudley 3.5

No one is even close. So, I was being modest in my argument. Novak may not just be the best 3pt shooter in the NBA, but in NBA history.

Maybe he should get more than 20 mpg.

Juany8: I generally agree with what you say, but this whole “Novak is the best 3 point shooter in the NBA” non-sense has to stop. Bonner, Korver, and Morrow all have legitimate claims to the top as pure spot up 3 point shooters. Korver set the all time mark for percentage just 2 years ago lol, and Bonner lead the league last year with a better percentage than Novak, on Novak’s same team. And I’d take Nash and Ray Allen (and possibly Curry), who can actually create space for their own 3?s, over any of those guys, purely for spacing the floor.

Of course there are great 3pt shooters who are better players then Novak and quite a few 3pt specialists who may be more valuable 3pt shooters because they can get shots off in more situations. Korver moves better off the ball and defends. Bonner threatens with occasional drive.

But there isn’t a player in the league who’s a career 43.6 shooter who shoots almost 9 threes per 36 minutes floor time. Not close in fact.

Novaks release is as good as there is, allowing him to make up for his other offensive flaws most of the time. But as we’ve seen however, when he can”t, he really can’t, unlike the others you mentioned.

But On a team that can get consistent penetration, why wouldn’t you want the leagues best spot-up 3 pt shooter of the last two years?

ruruland: where are you getting the idea the Knicks won’t be shooting many 3s? Because Woodson made the Olujawon thing happen?

You’re forgetting the out in inside-out basketball.
Not that they won’t be running a diverse offense. Novak should get between 15-20 a game, more or less depending on overall performance from he and other wings.

Camby is not going to play much back-up PF and I highly doubt Anar’e plays 36 minutes.

The Knicks had a six game stretch when they were healthy for Woodson last year and he used the depth, just as he will this year.

Novak is the best 3pt shooter in the NBA, on most nights there are plenty of lineup permutations that will hide his flaws and give him opps.

Very unlikely he becomes a DNP as you’re suggesting.

I generally agree with what you say, but this whole “Novak is the best 3 point shooter in the NBA” non-sense has to stop. Bonner, Korver, and Morrow all have legitimate claims to the top as pure spot up 3 point shooters. Korver set the all time mark for percentage just 2 years ago lol, and Bonner lead the league last year with a better percentage than Novak, on Novak’s same team. And I’d take Nash and Ray Allen (and possibly Curry), who can actually create space for their own 3′s, over any of those guys, purely for spacing the floor.

Prior to Shumps return, I see Felton and Kidd averaging around 60 combined minutes.

knicknyk:
Camby can play back up PF right & so can Melo. If melo and Amare are playing 36 minutes a game consistently. When Brewer gets back him & JR can play some back up SF. Camby & Melo can play back up PF. So there isa lot of depth at the two positions Novak can play. Also we aren’t going to be shooting a lot of 3?s next season. We are playing a different style of play under Woodson this year. That has to be factored in as well into the deduction of Novaks playing time.

That’s why I think Novak won’t be playing much in the playoffs, but if Melo and Camby are backing up Stoudemire, who backs up Melo and Chandler? Who backs up JR if Brewer is the guy playing the 3? I think Woodson will find a good 12-15 minutes overall during the season, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out of the rotation entirely in the playoffs

knicknyk:
Camby can play back up PF right & so can Melo. If melo and Amare are playing 36 minutes a game consistently. When Brewer gets back him & JR can play some back up SF. Camby & Melo can play back up PF. So there isa lot of depth at the two positions Novak can play. Also we aren’t going to be shooting a lot of 3?s next season. We are playing a different style of play under Woodson this year. That has to be factored in as well into the deduction of Novaks playing time.

Why would they sign him to a 4 year contract then? I think Melo will almost entirely play sf this year and Novak will come in as a stretch shooter from the 4 spot. Camby will get back up C minutes and maybe they’ll go with 2 bigs a little bit here and there. I think Smith will get closer to 30 min a game, maybe less when Shump returns. I think Brewer’s going to have to earn his minutes more than people think. Woodson trusts Shump/Smith and they are top notch athletes, and one of the three could easily back up Melo at the 3.
The real question to me is who will get more time at pg – Kidd or Felton? Also, will it be obvious to Felton that Smith is the new 3rd scoring option or will he chuck shots like he did in early ’11?
It’s cool that each position is well backed up this year in case anyone goes down (except maybe the 3, but I assume JR would slide down to the 3 if Melo went down.)

knicknyk:
Camby can play back up PF right & so can Melo. If melo and Amare are playing 36 minutes a game consistently. When Brewer gets back him & JR can play some back up SF. Camby & Melo can play back up PF. So there isa lot of depth at the two positions Novak can play. Also we aren’t going to be shooting a lot of 3?s next season. We are playing a different style of play under Woodson this year. That has to be factored in as well into the deduction of Novaks playing time.

where are you getting the idea the Knicks won’t be shooting many 3s? Because Woodson made the Olujawon thing happen?

You’re forgetting the out in inside-out basketball.
Not that they won’t be running a diverse offense. Novak should get between 15-20 a game, more or less depending on overall performance from he and other wings.

Camby is not going to play much back-up PF and I highly doubt Anar’e plays 36 minutes.

The Knicks had a six game stretch when they were healthy for Woodson last year and he used the depth, just as he will this year.

Novak is the best 3pt shooter in the NBA, on most nights there are plenty of lineup permutations that will hide his flaws and give him opps.

Very unlikely he becomes a DNP as you’re suggesting.

knicknyk: Oh so you have Novak receiving about 15 minutes? I am not sure Novak will be playing that much. There is a ton of depth on this team. Last year he was playing 18 minutes but we had bodies falling left & right. This year assuming that we are a little more healthier I think Novak plays less than 15 minutes.

I wouldn’t be so sure of this, we don’t really have a great backup SF/PF rotation right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Novak basically backs up the 3 and 4 spots until Brewer and Shump both come back. I doubt he’ll get more than 15 minutes a game in the playoffs though, spot up shooters who can’t defend, rebound or dribble well (think Matt Bonner or Kyle Korver) tend to get exposed in the playoffs, especially against the truly elite teams.