I didn’t realize it because he’s been so far under the radar even for an enthusiast of scrubs like myself, but Shabazz Napier is shooting 24% from three this season on four attempts per game. Somewhere, LeBron James is looking at the stat sheet and shaking his head. He’s also laughing because the Heat drafted Napier in order to appease LeBron, even though LeBron’s tweet praising Napier was made purely in passing and was not supposed to be a LeGM power move.
Is lowkey one of the reasons why the Timberwolves are underpeforming so hard this season because their role-players can’t hit threes? Teague and KAT are good shooters, but Covington and Wiggins are merely okay from deep, and as you go down their roster, they’re giving big minutes to some guys who are woeful when it comes to shooting from distance:
Josh Okogie: 29%
Jarrett Culver: 24%
Shabazz Napier: 24%
Treveon Graham: 21%
Noah Vonleh: 7% (I don’t think he’s even trying anymore)
Maybe there’s a curse in Minnesota. I’ve caught their commentators bemoaning the fact that Treveon Graham in particular is playing way below career norms for seemingly no reason at all. Napier, too, has become a brickmaster from three even though he’s been a pretty good long-range shooter for the other five years he’s been in the league. I’m just saying, curses are real and they can really affect shooters. And don’t forget that Minnesota is the land that is beset by the cursed white sand, as Gorgui Dieng regularly reminds his teammates. It’s possible that Minnesota has many curses placed on it by Satan.
(This performance from Napier could also maybe be classified as a REVENGE GAME, but the Blazers were where he found the most success as a player, and their giving him twenty MPG per game is what guaranteed him roster spots in future years, so there might not have been a big REVENGE component here.)