Heat's reliance on jump shots hasn't hurt them ... yet

James Jones has attempted 72 shots this season, and not one has come from within 15 feet of the basket. No dunks, no layups, no runners and no floaters. It's been strictly jumpers for Jones thus far.

Jones is a specialist, of course. As part of the Miami Heat's supporting cast, it's his job to complement the Superfriends by spreading the floor and knocking down open shots. To date, Jones has done that job effectively, shooting 48 percent from 3-point range. But Jones' paint allergy is representative of the Heat as a whole.

Miami ranks last in the league in both points in the paint per game (33.6) and percentage of points scored in the paint (32.2). Points in the paint have been tracked since 2000 and in the 11 seasons since, only one team -- the 2002-03 Knicks (30.9 percent) -- has scored a lower percentage of its points in the paint than the Heat have thus far.

Miami is also second (behind only Washington) in mid-range percentage (25.4). (Mid-range percentage is the percentage of a team's points that aren't scored in the paint, at the free throw line or from 3-point range.)

League-wide, mid-range shots are the most inefficient shots on the floor.

At times, points in the paint seem like an important stat; they're an indicator a team is penetrating the defense and taking better shots.But really, they're a stat that only tells you how a team scores its points, not how well it scores.

Though it may sound counter-intuitive, there's no correlation between offensive efficiency and the percentage of your points that are scored in the paint.

In fact, on Wednesday, the Sixers scored 56 points in the paint -- 14 more than the league average. But they made just four of the 28 shots they took from outside the paint and scored a paltry 86 points on 96 possessions in their loss to the Raptors.

This season, Philly has the fourth-highest percentage of points scored in the paint, but the 26th-most efficient offense. No matter how well teams can get to the rim, they need shooters to run an effective offense. And the Sixers lack outside shooters who can punish defenses for packing the paint.

The Heat are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They're very much a jump-shooting team -- and a very efficient jump-shooting team at that. They're one of only four teams that have taken more than half their shots from beyond 15 feet, but through Wednesday, they rank second in the league offensively, scoring 110.8 points per 100 possessions.

The Heat lack anyone that's comfortable in the low post and their bigs are either jump-shooters (Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, Zydrunas Ilgauskas) or offensive liabilities (Joel Anthony).

Dwyane Wade is the only one on the team who gets to the rim with any consistency, attempting 48 percent of his shots within three feet of the basket. Bosh (25 percent) and LeBron James (29 percent) also get there a fair amount, but their teammates do not. While the three stars have attempted 57 percent of their team's total field goals, they're responsible for 81 percent of their shots within three feet of the rim and 75 percent of their free throws.

The free throws are important. The Heat don't rely completely on jump shots, ranking No. 1 in the league with 33.7 free throw attempts per 100 possessions. Wade (9.5) and James (9.1) rank second and fourth, respectively, in free-throw attempts per game. Miami also takes care of the ball, turning it over a league-low 13.6 times per 100 possessions.

So far, Miami's paint allergy hasn't been much of an issue. It was their defense that failed them in each of their last three losses. In their opening-night defeat in Boston, they missed from all over the floor, clearly affected by nerves. Since then, the Heat offense has been thriving on its ability to knock down shots.

But there will be nights when the jumpers aren't falling. As we've seen with James' Cavs teams in the past, the Heat's offensive flaws will become more exposed in the postseason. They can overcome their lack of paint presence by getting to the line and playing great defense, but ideally, they need to find a better offensive balance.

The numbers above were compiled with the help of the NBA and StatsCube.

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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