Do NBA point guards take more 3 point shots?
As an avid basketball fan, I hear a lot of talk about how the league has been changing. So I decided to try and find the answer to one question: How has the shooting of point guards today changed since the inception of the 3 point shot in 1980? To answer this question, I graphed each active point guard since 1980 with respect to the amount of 2 point and 3 point shots they have taken. I then calculated the line of best fit for each years distribution, to show what the shooting trend for point guards was during that year. When you run through the graphs chronologically, there is a clear trend of point guards taking more 3’s each successive year. Where will this trend go? Only time will tell.
The line of best fit tells us a lot about the habits of point guards each year. A line is defined as y=mx+b, where in this case we have: (three points attempted) = m(two points attempted)+b.
In our application, the higher m gets, the more likely point guards that year are to skew towards shooting more threes, given their normal two point shot volume. Whereas b relates to the baseline number of threes a player would attempt if he or she didn’t shot any two point shots. You could then take this analysis further by saying those point guards who fall above the line are your perimeter scorers. Those who prefer to pull up from outside the arc. Whereas those who fall underneath the line tend to take it to the rim, or perhaps run a pick and roll play.