Now, watch the play again, but this time focus on Ray Allen. You'll notice that as soon as Stephenson turns his back and pinches in toward the paint, Allen slowly creeps up the three-point arc toward the wing. Only the craftiest of shooters do this, because they understand that those few steps can create that much easier of a passing angle. What's more is that it throws Allen's defender, Stephenson, off his expected rotation.
When he spins his head back around toward Allen once James makes the pass, Allen is not where he is expecting him to be. Instead of turning, pivoting and sprinting, he has to spend an extra tick locating Allen.
It's this split-second that gives Allen enough time to shoot the ball. By the time Stephenson does notice Allen has crept over, it's too late; his closeout is late, and the greatest spot-up shooter ever is already rising up. Even in the Wade video, we can see Allen doing the same thing. In that example, however, his movement is opposite. As Wade begins to probe the paint, Allen slides down to the corner. While it's certainly his ability to knock down shots that makes him such a great player, Allen's understanding of floor spacing coupled with his diagnosis of a help-side defender's movements are why he's open time and time again.
This same recognition of passing angles and manipulation of the defense usually get muddled up once a typical player drives into the teeth of the defense.
Allen likes to space on the weak side where defenders might forget about him, but sometimes that can hurt his chances of touching the ball because he's out of sight.
If a 6'4" player drives into two 6'10" players, it will be difficult for him to see the back side of the floor. That's why you'll often see drivers kick out to the strong side or try to finish, because the on-ball pressure is too consuming and his options are restricted. Still, Allen slides to the corners, anyway. In what is known in coachspeak as "baseline drive, baseline drift," weak-side shooters are supposed to move down to the corner to give a baseline driver an outlet on the far side.
Here's what the San Antonio Spurs refer to as their "hammer action," which takes advantage of this baseline drift with a screen as well:. Great defenses, however, will cut off the baseline and funnel drivers into an awkward in-between: not quite all the way low to the baseline but not the middle, either. Given the manner in which Ray Allen has gone about his basketball profession over the past three decades or so, referring to him as a creature of habit seems wildly insufficient.
A zealot for repetition? A borderline sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder? A cautious soul who respects ritual, heeds superstitions and prefers never to tempt fate? His work ethic and his discipline are in the top percentage in this league.
Ninety-nine percent of the players do not have that type of consistent work ethic. The sweat, the effort and the precision of taking the same jumper in exactly the same way — footwork, form, elevation, release, launch angle, backspin — went largely unseen.
By uber-practicing, Allen left little to chance and shut the door on doubt, enabling him to work amid chaos in a warm glow of preparation and confidence. He had made that shot, identical in every way — same backpedaling to the arc, time running out, smooth and swift release — so many times before, only with nothing on the line and no one in the house.
Write Hall of Fame speech, clocking in at a tidy given the five-minute max, for first-ballot enshrinement in Allen chuckled a bit at the idea of such a plan in a wide-ranging conversation last week. With all due respect to the other nine enshrinees this year, Allen, 43, is one of four recently retired NBA legends elected in their first year of eligibility for the Naismith shrine. The value of work and a sense of duty were ingrained in Allen by that life.
Once you sign up for the military, you are property of the U. And you have to own up to that and be accountable to that. Forced repeatedly to adapt to new surroundings, Allen hit South Carolina — and experiences off a military base — at a pivotal point. So that pushed him even harder, making him careful not to stumble when some might have wanted him to fall. What I always did, I put myself in situations around people I could learn from. People who were doing it the right way.
Going to UConn, I was around other people how had like minds, who wanted to grow and get better and win. His talent and preparation paid off quickly, with Allen averaging Over the past two decades, we've seen a variety of talented basketball players—some good at exploding and powering their way through the defense for an easy layup or a thunderous dunk and others who were adept at creating their own shot by shaking off their defender.
We've witnessed the effectiveness of a Steve Nash pull-up jumper and we're now witnessing the new wave of Carmelo, Lebron and Dwyane Wade. For starters, the ball has to be above the head centered between left eye and right shoulder, the feet have to be parallel about 12 to 18 inches apart and most importantly the follow through has to impart enough reverse spin for the ball to traverse the perfect arc and swish through the net.
The real reason he should be enshrined in NBA immortality though, is because he defines the near-perfect jump shot. Whether it's an open look or a catch-and-shoot running off a screen, Allen's shooting mechanics are as fundamentally sound as they can get.
The keys to his pure shooting lie in pulling off a "phone-booth shot", i. Furthermore, when taking a jump shot, looking at the basket is the last thing on his mind.
According to him, "Most times I don't look at the rim or anything else. In game time, when you aim, you miss. Most guys who can't shoot, they aim. Trust your shot. However, for all Allen's purity of shot and fluidity of motion, making baskets is inevitably all about rhythm.
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