National Basketball Association

Dallas Mavericks: Three-Point Shooting Set To Improve Next Season

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Dallas Mavericks had an uncharacteristic slump in the three-point shooting category last season. Expect that to change in 2016-17.

Throughout the Dirk Nowitzki era, the Dallas Mavericks have been known as a good three-point shooting team.

Whether it was the early years with Steve Nash, the mid- to late 2000s with Jason Terry and Jason Kidd or the last few years with Jose Calderon and Chandler Parsons, the Mavs have always seemed to find sharpshooters to help their team from beyond the arc.

To go a little deeper into their three-point shooting successes, take this into account: since the 1999-00 season (Nowitzki’s second season), the Mavs have been a top-five three-point shooting team in seven different seasons and they’ve fallen out of the top 11 just four times.

One of those times happened to be last season. The Mavs were 23rd in team three-point shooting in 2015-16 as they made 9.8 threes in 28.6 attempts per game (34.4 percent). In the past 17 years, they’ve had just one season with a lower percentage: 2011-12 (33.9 percent).

You would think that with shooters like Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki and J.J. Barea, the Mavs wouldn’t have been that poor from deep, but that was the case as they had just six players shoot better than 30 percent on the season.

While there were good moments, like Wesley Matthews hitting 10 threes against the Washington Wizards, there were also bad moments, like when the entire team shot 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) in Game 1 of the first round.

Despite struggles, the three-point situation is about to get better for the team in 2016-17.

This summer, the Mavs signed three new players as they continue to try to build around Dirk Nowitzki in the final years of his career. All three of those players shot higher than 38 percent from three in 2015-16.

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First is Harrison Barnes, the premier signing for the team this summer. As a member of the Death Lineup in Golden State, Barnes played in a smaller lineup most of the time and got minutes at both small forward and power forward.

As a result, he shot 38.3 percent from three–slightly down from his 40.5 percent in 2014-15.

Though he had a rough stretch once the playoffs came around, Barnes shot at least 40 percent from three in four out of five months last year.

While three-point shooting isn’t what his game revolves around, Barnes–who is expected to have a larger role in Dallas–adds more long-range shooting into the starting five.

The other two players come from the Sacramento Kings and will be key additions to the bench rotation.

Seth Curry could be the best three-point shooting Mav next year as he shot 45 percent last season and 48.9 percent in April, the month that he got the most playing time in. He also added in a 6-for-10 shooting game from beyond the arc back on April 9.

Mark Cuban had this to say on Curry’s shooting skills (via Mavs.com):

“He struggled some to stick within a dysfunctional system, but when he got the minutes and when he started, he put up great numbers. But more importantly, from a catch-and-shoot perspective, he’s almost automatic from three.”

Quincy Acy, who is an underrated shooter, shot 38.8 percent from three last season. You won’t see him take that shot consistently, but he’s solid whenever he decides to let them fly.

It’s weird to think that the Mavs will need a major improvement in the three-point shooting category of their offense, but last season, they struggled at times and it was one of the major reasons why they found themselves fighting for a playoff spot late in the season.

They lost their best long-distance shooter (Chandler Parsons) as he was out for the last month of the year, and they struggled to keep their other scorers healthy as the season began to wind down.

The Mavs had a surprisingly poor shooting season from three-point land last year, but don’t expect that two years in a row. With a few new three-point shooters added into the mix, look for them to push their way back into the top-ten among all NBA teams in 2016-17.

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