While doing research for a recent Kevin Knox highlight video, I discovered that the was the second-worst midrange shooter in the league out of player who had at least fifty attempts from that range. Since I’m not going to waste all the effort I expended trying to navigate the stats.nba.com user interface, do you want to take a guess at who was the worst midrange shooter in the league at a full five percent worse than Knox’s 25%?
That’s right. Terry Rozier. His 12-of-60 on midrange jumpshots is the worst mark in the league by a considerable margin. You have to relax the criteria substantially (down to a minimum thirty attempts) before you find somebody who’s worse (Allen Crabbe, who really was booty butt cheeks before his injury). And, with the same criteria, you have to go back to the 2014-15 season to find somebody who was worse than 20%.
This should be a fun guessing game. Who was that player? He was a power forward on the Nuggets and it would end up being his second-last season in the league despite being only 26 years old at the time. He’s a guy who I thought could average 20/10 in the right situation, but the right situation never materialized. Need a bigger hint? The Cavaliers turned down a trade for Amar’e Stoudemire because the Suns wanted this guy in return.
You should have the answer now: J.J. Hickson! Yep, Hickson was apparently a dreadful midrange shooter that season, even worse than Rozier is this season. Thus concludes today’s NBA history lesson.