Steve Kerr apparently has some out-there ideas to improve the current NBA product.
The Golden State Warriors coach was recently interviewed by The New Yorker, where he shared an interesting take on the state of long-range shooting in the league today. When asked about the potential addition of a four-point line, Kerr dribbled the other way entirely; Kerr claimed he would get rid of the three-point line entirely.
“I just think that the game, as it was designed, is really to create the best shots possible,” Kerr told the New York’s Charles Bethea. “That’s why in the early days, you just throw it inside to the big guy. A three-point line came from the A.B.A., in 1979, and I think it was really effective. It makes for an exciting play, but the analytics revolution has created a weird situation where we all know exactly where the highest efficiency shots are: layups and corner threes because the corner three is twenty-two feet and not 23.9, like the up above the break.
“You have this whole no man’s land between those areas. So if you shoot a twenty-two-footer now from the top of the key, that’s considered a really bad shot. I just wonder—and I don’t know if this would work or not—if we got rid of the three-point line, if it would diversify the way everybody would play and create a lot of different creative solutions to basketball.”
Kerr admitted that he has never seriously touted the idea since it’s “too out there.” He’d also wait for Steph Curry, the NBA’s most prolific three-point shooter, to retire before ever wanting to have such a drastic change implemented.
Kerr, who is himself the NBA’s all-time three-point percentage leader, also conceded that shooting specialists such as him wouldn’t have much of a place in the NBA in an arc-less future.
The Warriors head coach has been vocal in recent years about major changes that he believes would benefit the NBA in the long run. The removal of the three-point line apparently isn’t high up on his list of suggestions, but it’s scribbled in there nonetheless.
