NBA 3 Pointers:

I've been watching the Boston Celtics some this season. This is a team in the mists of an extensive rebuilding plan, and sometimes the games can be brutal. I've been interested in watching the development of some of the young players and in trying to figure out coach Brad Stevens' offensive philosophy. It's been striking how many 3 pointers they shoot, and I often cringe as the shots go up. It got me wondering, is this just the way of the NBA these days, or do these Celtics shoot more 3 pointers that most teams? Also, is their accuracy significantly worse than a typical NBA team. Naturally I decided to turn to the data.

Below is a scatter plot showing 3 point shot usage (% of shot attempts that come from 3 point range) and 3 point accuracy (% of 3 point attempts that are successful). The color indicates team winning percentage (red-low to green-high).  The chart is interactive, click on a point to see the detailed data.  The chart platform here is Tableau Public.  A bit of a learning curve, but lots of fun once you get up to speed.

As it turns out, the Celtics shoot the 3 pointer an exactly typical amount of time, however their success rate is well below average. The chart also indicates how important the 3 point shot is to team success these days. Teams that can't do it well tend to be losers.  I hope to update this dataset further into the season to see if the trends still hold true.

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