Which NBA Players Try To Dunk the Most

As most would have predicted, Dwight Howard led the NBA in total number of dunks with 202, during the ’08-’09 season. But which players had the highest percentage of their shot attempts come as dunks? Anthony Morrow of Golden State led the NBA in 3 point shooting with a .467%. Which players had the most of their shot attempt come from behind the arc and can truly be considered 3 pt specialists? Some on these two lists are as expected while others will surprise you.

 

Players Who Had the Highest Percentage of Shot Attempts as Dunks

 (min 300 shot attempts)

 

Player	Team	% of Dunks	# of Dunks
Joakim Noah	CHI	94	86
Joel Pryzbilla	POR	92	61
Tyson Chandler	NOH	91	89
Greg Oden	POR	90	99
Eric Dampier	DAL	88	69
Andrew Bogut	MIL	86	38
A. Biedrins	GSW	84	66
Dwight Howard	ORL	83	202
Leon Powe	BOS	78	47
Kendrick Perkins	BOS	71	52

 

No real shocks here, but Noah as #1 in the league over players like Oden and Howard got my attention. Notable players with more than 100 dunks who did not make the list are Shaquille O’Neal, Nene, Ameka Okafor, and David Lee. I guess all of these players could stand to add a 10 foot jumper to their arsenal.

 

 

 

  Players Who Had the Highest Percentage of Their Shots as 3 Pointers

(min 50 shots)

 

 

Player	Team	% of 3 PT Shots	3 PT %
Shane Battier	HOU	66	.384
Rudy Fernandez	POR	63	.399
Dequan Cook	MIA	61	.387
Eddie House	BOS	60	.444
Bobby Simmons	NJN	59	.447
James Posey	NOH	59	.369
JJ Redick	ORL	59	.374
Vujacic	LAL	55	.363
Boobie Gibson	CLE	53	.382
Rodney Carney	MIN	53	.350

 

 We all knew that Eddie House, J.J Redick, and Boobie Gibson like to jack up 3’s immediately once they are on the court, but I personally thought that Shane Battier was a more well rounded player since he also plays great defense. His stats show he is strictly a 3 point shooter when in the game, as evidence by his 2 dunks for the entire season. The two players who are the best slashers on the list prove to be Rudy Fernandez and Rodney Carney since they had 26 and 39 dunks to go with shooting more than 53% of the time behind the arc.

 

Thanks to 82games.com

Why the Warriors Could Be a Sleeper Team in the West

Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.  He also writes for Hoopdoctors.com

Don’t look now, but a California based team who drafted one of the most exciting NCAA players in recent memory has aspirations of making the playoffs next season. No, it is not the LA Clippers, but possibly the youngest NBA team in terms of experience, the Golden State Warriors. Although the Warriors finished a dismal 29-53 and in 3rd place in the Pacific division, they did have a winning record at home. After a few on and off the court changes, they could be a team to make some noise in the 09′-10′ season.

Before the NBA draft, several moves were made to jump start this young and exciting team that seems stuck in mediocrity or worse for the last few seasons. Starting with the front office, former Warrior legend, Chris Mullen was left go as GM, and replaced by Larry Riley. The new GM quickly started altering the team by trading Jamal Crawford, a 19 ppg scorer to Atlanta for 3rd year point guard Acie Law, and 11 year veteran Speedy Claxton. Although this could be a cost cutting move, Law could become a valuable back up at the point since 2 years ago he was worth the #11 pick in the draft out of Texas A&M. The real coupe was drafting former Davidson sharpshooter, Stephon Curry, #7 overall in this year’s draft. While many scouts weren’t sure if he could handle playing the point in the pros, it is undeniable that the kid knows how to put the ball in the basket averaging over 28 ppg in his senior season. The new GM has so much confidence in Curry that he nixed a draft day trade to acquire the Sun’s Amare Stoudamire for Curry.

The young Warriors have been the talk of the Las Vegas Summer League with two players setting new scoring records with 2nd year players, Anthony Randolph scoring 42 points, then teammate Anthony Morrow racking up 47 in one game. The trio of Randolph(26.8), Curry(17.4), and Morrow(10.1) has been impressive this Summer playing against other NBA newcomers.

That trio is surrounded by a few underrated veterans, namely leading scorer Stephan Jackson, who has found a home with the Warriors, averaged 20.2 points, 6.5 assists, and 5 rebounds. Jackson, a 9 year veteran just needs to learn to control his emotions. Corey Maggette, who hasn’t quite lived up to the hype of being the #13th pick out of Duke 10 years ago, is a steady 16-18 ppg scorer when healthy. Maggette, who had off-season wrist surgery should be ready by August 1st to resume basketball activities. Kelenna Azubuike, a 3rd year player from Kentucky has steadily increased his numbers in each year to 14.4 ppg last season.

The true diamond in the rough may be former 2nd round pick in 05′, point guard Monta Ellis. The 4 year pro, signed a 6 year, $66 million dollar contract in 08′ after averaging 20.2 points. Last season he averaged 19 points in only 25 games because of a 30 game suspension and injuries sustained from a moped accident. On the defensive front, Ronny Turiaf led the team with 2.1 blocks.

There’s no denying the Warriors are on the right track as far as scoring the basketball but the real test for Hall of Fame Coach Don Nelson will be defense. The upstart Warriors ranked among the leagues worst in defensive categories among NBA teams last season. They may need another veteran player to direct all of their young talent as evidence of their decent record at home and horrendous 8-33 on the road.

Even in a tough Western Conference, “Nellie” just might be the perfect architect to motivate these young Warriors to play a little defense and sneak into the 2010 playoffs.