DENVER – Scan through the NBA’s 2014-15 three-percentage leaders list today and you’ll find an 11th-place tie between an unexpected pair of names: Klay Thompson and Tyreke Evans. It’s no surprise to see Thompson shooting 46.7 percent so far from beyond the three-point arc – he’s part of the famed Golden State duo nicknamed the “Splash Brothers” – but Evans’ top-15 status qualifies as an early-season eye-opener. After all, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound slashing wing entered this season with a meager career accuracy rate of 26.8 percent.
Before you completely dismiss his early-season hot shooting as a small sample size (14-for-30), consider that his three-point improvement also dates back to 2013-14, when he was a ghastly 9-for-56 (16.1 percent) through February, but went 12-for-39 (a semi-respectable 30.8 percent) in March and April.
Known primarily for his ability to get to the rim against defenders of all sizes, Evans has been a one-on-one matchup problem throughout his six-year NBA career, but opponents have always been willing to sag off him and let him take jumpers. That could be changing – his once-erratic perimeter shot has improved to the point where he’s leading the New Orleans Pelicans (6-4) in three-point percentage.
When informed of his early-season tie with Thompson, Evans downplayed the statistic, saying he wants to continue shooting this well deeper into the 82-game schedule.
“It’s early,” Evans said, smiling. “I shoot three (three-pointers) a game, at the most. I think one game I shot five. But it’s just (a result) of shooting with confidence. Working with (Pelicans assistant coach Fred Vinson) in the offseason helped a lot, getting repetitions and shooting the same shot every time. It’s been working in the games. I just want to keep it up for the whole season.”
When Vinson analyzed the mechanics of Evans’ shot last season, the player’s first with the Pelicans, the coach found several flaws that combined to prevent Evans from achieving consistency. For one, Evans was not squaring his feet up to the basket.
“There’s a saying, ‘All 10 toes to the rim,’ ” Vinson said. “You build your shot from the feet up.”
Evans also was not bending his knees – called “loading up” by coaches – when he took three-pointers or other deep jumpers. Just as damaging, he was holding the ball incorrectly and closing his fingers together as he released shots.
“He had a habit of letting the ball sit on the palm of his hand, rather than his fingertips,” said Vinson, an elite shooter who played in the NBA and once drained eight treys for Georgia Tech in a win at North Carolina. “He was also closing his fingers when he released the ball (instead of keeping them spread apart evenly). So he didn’t have total control of the ball. I saw it from watching him shoot from different angles and watching (his release) from his right side, his shooting side. He was ‘projecting’ the ball to the rim. Once he got that concept down, his shot really took off, because he had more control of it.”
Evans: “On threes, I get more lift now by bending my knees. It makes me go straight up (and on-balance) when I shoot (instead of leaning forward). When I catch-and-shoot on threes, I feel like if I load up, I shoot the same shot every time, it doesn’t matter if a (defender) is running at me or not.”
Evans spent many nights during the ’14 offseason in the Pelicans’ practice facility working by himself on his shot. He also is often one of the last players to leave the gym following team practices in Metairie, continuing to fine-tune his shooting stroke with Vinson. The 25-year-old is now seeing the dividends from the extra time he’s spent in the gym.
“I was coming in late at night, shooting with the (ball-back shooting) gun and then without it,” said Evans of the device that feeds balls to players so they can practice on their own. “I kept telling myself, ‘I have to get this shot down, because it will help my game out and make the game easier for me.’ In the summer, I worked with Freddy, came back in the gym and it’s been paying off so far.”
“That’s a credit to him,” Vinson said. “All the work he’s put in, after practice every day, he’s still out on the court shooting. That’s so important, to build the muscle memory. He had to be willing to put in the time to build muscle memory. Then he started to see certain things getting better (in his shot). When a player can sniff that they’re getting better, they get hungry for more. It’s a testament to his work ethic. I can show you something, but if you don’t work at it on your own, it’s not going to be the same result.”
The fact that he’s made at least one three-pointer in eight of the Pelicans’ first 10 games may be astonishing to some, especially Sacramento fans who watched him shoot a frigid 20.2 percent in 2011-12, but Evans realizes the 2014-15 season is only a few weeks old. He’d love to continue making shots at this rate into April and beyond.
“It’s good so far,” he said. “From the hard work I put in, it’s showing that it pays off. But at the end of the season, if I can stay near there, I’ll look back and say that I’m happy with it.”