5 NBA players with most points scored from mid-range in the 2020-21 season
The NBA is a constantly evolving league. Every year, teams introduce new strategies to cope with unstoppable scorers. When Stephen Curry took over the NBA with his freakish shooting, teams responded by drawing more contact with him on non-possession movement. Defenders would push, shove and use their sizes to block his movement, even if it included the possibility of giving away a foul.
In nature, when a prey evolves to sneak away from predators, predators evolve to ensure the kill. Once rival NBA coaches became more physical with Curry, he put on muscle, improved his shot release and began shooting off quick switches. He even used the extra contact to his own advantage, drawing in fouls for easy free throws or and-1 plays.
In the 2011-12 NBA season, Ryan Anderson led the league in the most three-pointers made category by registering 166. In comparison, Davis Bertans had 169 three-pointers in 2020-21, but was only ranked 26th on the list of leading arc scorers. Curry, as the leader of the previous season, recorded 337. In just a decade, the 3PM stat has doubled.
While we're at it, let's also take a look at the mid-range shooting stats from 2008-09. Dirk Nowitzki sat at the top of the list with a whopping 453 FGM from mid-range. This leading number, in the previous NBA season, had dropped by more than 250 mid-range FGM.
That is only natural, though. As the league evolves, players also adopt new ways to up their games. The best mid-range shooters in the league are still some of the most prolific scorers, often producing match-winning performances. On that note, here's a look at the top five mid-range scorers in the 2020-21 NBA season:
#5 Nikola Vucevic (332 points)
The Chicago Bulls brought Nikola Vucevic this year from the Orlando Magic. He teamed up with Zach LaVine to become Chicago's leading offensive duo. Now, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso have also joined the squad to ease the defensive and playmaking burdens off the LaVine-Vucevic combo.
In Vucevic, the Bulls have one of the best mid-range shooters in the NBA. He can rain down threes if given the smallest of spaces. As a player under the paint, he likes to draw contact and shoot hooks, bank shots, tip-ins and dunks.
But from mid-range he exclusively relies on high-release hooks and quick jump shots. That's a technique that has allowed him to score 166 field goals. He did that with 372 attempts, maintaining a 46.4 field-goal percentage from outside the paint but inside the arc.
#4 Devin Booker (336 points)
Devin Booker put on some of the most memorable performances in the 2021 NBA playoffs. After Chris Paul's injury, he single-handedly tested the LA Lakers' defense. He averaged 29.66 points in the 1st-round series of the playoffs, producing his best performance in the sixth game, where he scored 47 points and snatched 11 rebounds.
By the end of the season, Booker averaged 48.6% FG from 346 attempts. He also had two more field goals made than Vuvecic from mid-range. Stephen A., after witnessing Booker's NBA postseason performance, couldn't help but compare him with Kobe Bryant, saying:
"Stephen A.: Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant."
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