Protect the shooter!

Friday 30 July 2004

At the moment, two 6'5" forwards lead the league in three point shooting and I don't think it's a good thing. No doubt Lauren Jackson and Elena Baranova are good shooters but I think this reflects the fact that the league is not a perimeter friendly one.

Jumpshots are a big reason why I love women's basketball - whether it's Seimone Augustus' 17 footers, Belinda Snell's deep 3 pointers or Sheryl Swoopes' pretty pull-up jumper. You don't see it so much in the men's game any more and even then, I find the women's shooting form much more attractive.

However I think the physicality of the WNBA is changing the game and not necessarily for the better. Perimeter play suffers with excessive physicality and garbage play flourishes (ala Yolanda Griffith, Swin Cash, Cheryl Ford). The perimeter players that do well tend to be the big and strong ones (like Katie Smith and Diana Taurasi) but perimeter players like those aren't so common. More likely, you'll see the percentages of perimeter players take a big hit (like Becky Hammon and the Miller twins) or even decent shooters forced out of the league due to the fact that the rough and tumble nature of the game would have it more preferable to have a defensive utility player with limited offensive skills on the bench.

This can only change if the WNBA would make it a point of emphasis to discourage the excessive rough and tumble especially when it comes to perimeter players. Refs should protect the shooter more and I think this would raise the quality of the offence. I don't think the WNBA would want to do something like this though so unless there's a significant number of bigger and stronger shooters coming out of college (there's a few coming but is it enough?), the perimeter game will decline all the quicker.

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