Basket-ball of Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Source: philly.com

Luc Mbah a Moute working to add a three-point shot to his arsenal

The Sixers have been shooting a lot of three’s under Brett Brown this season as they are currently 10th league-wide with 23.9 three-pointers attempted per game.

The team has not been making their attempts at quite as high of a rate however, converting on only 7.1 out of the nearly 24 attempts; good for last in the league at 29.7%. This makes the Sixers the only team in the league to shoot below 30% from long distance.

Brown has discussed his three-point policy publicly, saying that he allows players to test their stroke in games if they have been putting in the work in practice. This is how you get Henry Sims attempting 17 threes on the season when he has only taken two before in his career, and someone like Brandon Davies taking 30 threes in only 20 total games with the team.

Brown believes that if you work hard on your three-point shot in order to add it to your arsenal, you could be rewarded with in-game opportunities, at least in this season dedicated to development.

One player who has taken advantage of this open approach is seventh-year forward Luc Mbah a Moute.

Previously, Moute’s career high for three-pointers made in a season was 13; a total he has already surpassed less than halfway into his first season with the Sixers. Moute has converted on 20 of his 77 three-point attempts so far this season, and while the percentage still leaves a lot to be desired, the forward is gaining confidence in his shot.

“I think offensively, I’ve improved a lot on my jump shot; making more threes, taking more threes,” he admitted after the Sixers’ recent loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles in which he went 2-4 from long range.

It is safe to say that Moute isn’t going to develop into the next Reggie Miller, but adding a consistent shot would work wonders as far as opening up the game for him on the offensive end. Moute feels that his increased output from long-range is mainly a matter of opportunity and the confidence of his coach.

“It’s about opportunity, and putting in the work to gain [coach’s] confidence,” Moute said after the Sixers Monday night victory over Cleveland, a game that he did not participate in due to turf toe.

The attempts will continue to be there for Moute, he just needs to improve upon his percentage to match the increased output.