Forget the analytics, Keion Brooks doesn’t believe the mid-range shot is dead
When he pulls up and shoots a mid-range shot, Keion Brooks could be considered a throwback to a time prior to analytics.
The numbers say shots taken in the shadow of the basket yield the highest likelihood of points from field goals and/or free throws.
The next best option in terms of points per possession is the three-point shot.
The classic mid-range jump shot — people of a certain age might think of Jerry West, Kevin Grevey or Louie Dampier — has fallen out of favor.
“The game has changed a little bit,” Brooks said on Tuesday. “But I don’t believe the mid-range (shot) is dead. You can get in those areas and pull up, and those shots can be really hard to defend.”
Alabama Coach Nate Oats, a self-described “numbers guy and an analytics guy,” agreed. Because statistics pooh-pooh mid-range shots, the logical conclusion for defenses can be to focus on limiting shots from three-point range and at the basket.
“When they’re open, they’re great shots,” Oats said. “Our scouting report when we played Kentucky was you cannot give Keion Brooks a long uncontested two. That’s bad defense. So, it’s probably good offense for them to encourage him to take them if he’s making them at a high clip. If he moves back 3 or 4 feet, he’s a much lower percentage (shooter).”
Setting aside shooting from any distance, Oats said of Brooks, “He’s a really good basketball player that needs to be on the floor for them because he impacts the game in many different ways.”
Brooks credited his father with helping him appreciate the mid-range jump shot.
“It’s always been a part of my game since I was little,” he said. “My dad made sure I was able to shoot from those areas.”
Keion Brooks Sr. suggested the mid-range shot is simply part of a shooter developing good habits.
“When he was a youngster, I never wanted him to throw the ball,” the elder Brooks said of his son, the UK player. “I’d rather he shot it with (the proper) form.”
Brooks Sr. said he worked with his son at different gyms in their hometown of Fort Wayne, Ind. They’d go from gyms at churches to a Boys and Girls Club to a YMCA to the McMillen Park Community Center.
Oats cited the NBA as a reason for the mid-range game being less valued.
“It’s falling out of favor because every NBA team has an entire analytics department now,” the Alabama coach said. “If you look at the numbers, you’re seeing the most efficient offenses in the history of the NBA. It’s not overly complicated math.”
Of the mid-range shot falling out of favor, the elder Brooks said, “that’s the game of basketball. The game is always changing.”
The father did suggest one constant. “If you can hit a shot, shoot it,” he said with a chuckle.
The son said that watching players like Kobe Bryant — “God rest his soul,” he said — Tracy McGrady, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade convinced him of the mid-range shot’s value.
The elder Brooks scored 1,766 points as a player for Wright State in the late 1990s.
Interestingly, only 13.9 percent of his shots were from three-point range. Going into this weekend’s game at Arkansas, his son had taken nearly a similar percentage of shots from beyond the arc (10 percent).
“I guess the apple doesn’t fall from the tree, huh?” the father said.
‘Great example’
The analytics suggest that mid-range shooting is not a high-value strategy.
“But I still believe there’s a very important aspect to the pull-up game,” Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said.
Why?
“Because that’s what the defense gives you,” he said.
Howland cited one of his players as proof of the mid-range game having value.
“Iverson (Molinar) is a great example of that,” he said. “He’s probably the best guy in our league at the pull-up jump shot or especially the floater. He’s third or fourth in the conference in field /goal percentage as a guard. That’s usually reserved for ‘bigs.’”
Historically good
Oscar Tshiebwe isn’t the only SEC “big” playing historically good this season.
Auburn center Walker Kessler blocked eight shots in the Tigers’ 77-64 victory over Ole Miss on Wednesday. That increased his total for the season to an Auburn-record 131.
Going into this weekend’s game at Tennessee, Walker was averaging 4.7 blocks. Incidentally, Anthony Davis averaged 4.7 blocks in Kentucky’s national championship season of 2011-12.
More, more, more
Earlier this season, Walker Kessler twice posted triple-doubles: 16 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocks against LSU, then 12 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocks against Texas A&M.
“It’s crazy the impact he has,” Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said of Kessler after the Ole Miss game. “The rest of the way, we need that from Walker. I told him after the game, I want more. Walker is the best shot blocker I’ve ever coached.”
This unquenchable desire for more, more, more fits with how Orlando Antigua defined a coaching mantra. What prompted this was a question about how Oscar Tshiebwe could improve.
“As coaches, we’re never satisfied …,” UK’s associate coach said. “We want to keep challenging them. When they give us what we ask, we’re going to ask for more because we think they’re capable of giving us more.”
‘Just having fun’
The father of Keion Brooks attended Kentucky’s game at Kansas and watched his son score a career-high 27 points in leading UK to victory.
“It’s not always about points and rebounds and dunks,” Keion Brooks Sr. said. “But seeing him lost in the game and just having fun and playing for the pure love of the game, that’s the enjoyment I got out of watching the game.
“It almost goes back to when he was playing when he was little and didn’t know anything but the wristband he had on. He was supposed to match up with the wristband on the guy across from him.”
Condolences
To the family and friends of Jim Hurley, who died on Feb. 14 at age 76.
Hurley was a pioneer more than once. He was part of the class that integrated Bourbon County High School.
Then he became one of the first recruited Black basketball players at Transylvania in the 1960s. After college he worked for Procter & Gamble for more than 30 years.
“An amazing ambassador of Transylvania basketball,” current Transylvania Coach Brian Lane wrote in an email. “Extremely successful in everything he did and one of the very best to ever wear the crimson and white. A great athlete but an even better person.”
C.M. Newton, who played for Kentucky and later became UK’s athletics director, integrated Transy basketball as its coach. Robert Berry, a 1965 graduate of Bryan Station High School, broke the color barrier at Transy in 1965.
Hurley’s Transy career began with the 1966-67 season.
Happy birthday
To Patrick Whitmer. The public address announcer at UK home games turned 52 on Friday. … To former Florida star Joakim Noah. He turned 37 on Friday. … To former CBS analyst Billy Packer. He turned 82 on Friday. … To Chuck Aleksinas. He turned 63 on Saturday. … To former North Carolina standout James Worthy. He turns 61 on Sunday (today). … To Tayshaun Prince. He turns 42 on Monday. … To Marquis Teague. He turns 29 on Monday. … To former Texas A&M standout Alex Caruso. He turns 28 on Monday. … To SEC Network analyst Daymeon Fishback. He turns 44 on Monday. … To former Mississippi State shot blocker Jarvis Varnado. He turns 34 on Monday. … To former Louisville coach Denny Crum. He turns 85 on Wednesday. … To Florida Coach Mike White. He turns 45 on Wednesday. … To Tom Leach. The “Voice of the Wildcats” turns 61 on Thursday.
