The NBA’s 2019-20 campaign reportedly could resume July 31 with an eight-game regular season before the postseason.
That return date would be three months after the regular season came to a halt in mid-March — a long time away from jump shots or trips up and down the floor.
It prompts the thought about which teams stand to benefit the most from the return, and why. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix on Wednesday, while appearing on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Felger & Mazz, had an interesting explanation in regards to who he believes will have the upper hand.
“Well, the only thing I can say that makes some sense to me not knowing what these guys will look like, but the teams that shoot few threes probably will do better. Because I think the shooting percentage is going to be college-like,” Mannix said.
“It’s just going to be awful from the perimeter because guys have been so rusty and so many of them, in addition to being off, haven’t done much in the way of workouts,” Mannix continued. “We’ve talked about (Jayson) Tatum, Giannis (Antetokounmpo)Â has said something similar about not being able to shoot. A lot of these guys, three weeks and camp and eight games is not going to get them into mid-season form.”
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The Miami Heat (No. 4 in the East) and Utah Jazz (No. 4 in the West) are tied with a league-leading 38.3 percent from 3-point range. The New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards round out the top-5, shooting an identical 37.2 percent. All five teams will be among the 22 teams invited to Orlando, if and when the vote passes Thursday.
The Boston Celtics, of note, are 13th in the league having shot 36.3 percent from long range.
The Houston Rockets (No. 6 in the West) attempt a league-leading average of 44.3 3-point shots per game, ahead of the Dallas Mavericks (41.5, No. 7 in the West), Minnesota Timberwolves (39.7), Bucks (38.6, No. 1 in East) and Brooklyn Nets (37.9, No. 7 in East). Only the T-Wolves won’t be in Orlando.
The Celtics are among the middle of the pack shooting an average of 34.2 3-point shots per game.
“Some of these other teams that aren’t three point shooting teams, they stand to benefit more, at least that’s kind of my read of the situation,” Mannix said.
It’s certainly an interesting point.
