Interesting post from the ESPN board:
I was talking to my brother about this the other day. He pointed out that statistically Nash is doing things that have never, ever, been done in terms of EFG% from the field, volume of jump shots, combined with an extremely low assisted rate. There is no precedent for this sort of shooting.
Nash obviously has an extremely pure stroke, but he seems to have absolutely mastered it these days. It's not as if he's sitting in the corners waiting for his teammates to get him a wide open jump shot. This year Hollinger argued that he was now the greatest shooter in NBA history and Hollinger is a big Nash critic.
I think we all take his shooting for granted. This year he has struggled with consistent energy either due to age or perhaps mental fatigue (he has greatly improved since Shaq arrived) when compared to guys like Paul and Williams, yet I still think we take his shooting for granted.
Players with high EFG% on jump shots and their assisted rate :
Ray Allen: 51.6% (69% assisted)
Posey : 53.9% (90% )
Matt Carroll: 52.5% (85% )
Daniel Gibson: 61.% (76%)
Anthony Parker: 56.3% (79%)
Jason Kapono: 56% (83%)
S. Vujacic: 56.5% (91%)
K. Korver: 57% (94%)
Caldron: 56.6 (37%)
Barbosa: 51% (72%)
Nash: 60.4% (24%)
Nash is an anomaly. He's a ridiculously efficient shooter who doesn't sit in the corner and take wide open 3s (eg. Gibson) or take a low volume of threes like Calderon.
Gibson for example only makes 41.7% of his two point jump shots while Nash leads the entire NBA in that category.
For example, Gibson has taken 43.3% of his threes from the corners.
Kapono is at 53.1%.
Korver is at 56.5%
Anthony Parker is at 63.3%
Vujacic is at a low 28.3%
Ray Allen is at an impressive 26.6% ( which helps to explain his overall relatively inefficient shooting).
Nash?
6.6% !
He combines the shooting efficiency of an easy-look jump shooting specialist with the degree of difficulty of a low percentage volume bailout shooter . It's really quite remarkable. Those who understand what Nash does aren't surprised that Suns could win without Amare and now without Marion, yet seem to fall apart whenever Nash is out.