Mark Daigneault hopes to see Thunder second-round pick attempt more threes
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 38.9% three-point shooting percentage led the NBA in 2023-24, inching out the champion Boston Celtics (38.8%) by a hair. Shooting is vital in this league. Just ask Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who is equipped with an eight-man rotation of shooters, and half of them connected at a 39% clip or better from Derrick White (39.6%) and Al Horford (41.9%) to Sam Hauser (42.4%) and Jrue Holiday (42.9%), who was their most efficient shooter last season. The 2024-25 Thunder should have a deadlier shooting core. Aaron Wiggins went from shooting 39% to a lethal 49.2% clip last season, leading seven Thunder shooters that connected on 39% or better from three last season, including Jalen Williams (42.7%), Cason Wallace (41.9%), Isaiah Joe (41.6%), Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault’s new two-way threat Alex Caruso (40.8%), Kenrich Williams (39.7%), and Lu Dort (39.4%).
After crunching those kinds of numbers, who wouldn’t want to see more threes from such a promising shooting core? In addressing Wiggins’ volume last season — a modest 1.6 attempts in 15.7 minutes per game — Daigneault would like to see Aaron’s three-point attempts take a significant spike in 2024-25, per Oklahoman Sports’ Joel Lorenzi.
“Like anything else, you kind of let the efficiency tell you who can handle more,” Daigneault said. “When a guy is doing something efficiently, that’s usually a good sign — you can stretch him a little more, and you can increase the challenge point. So, a guy like Wiggins that has shot 40 percent plus for two straight seasons. He was close to 50 last year if he wasn’t 50. He can handle more volume and remain efficient. He’s just one example.”
Asked Daigneault if there was anyone he hoped shoots more 3s this season. He mentioned Aaron Wiggins. https://t.co/cNtqPgN466 pic.twitter.com/51xhHv8VJT
— Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) October 2, 2024
The Celtics led the league in three-point attempts last season, averaging 42.0 per game. Second to the champs were the Sacramento Kings (39.3), third and fourth were the Golden State Warriors (38.8), and the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks (38.2), who ended Oklahoma City’s season in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The league’s most efficient shooting team, the Thunder, finished 16th with 34.2 attempts.
While NBA analysts have been delivering their best 2024-25 Thunder bold takes lately, the Thunder are almost guaranteed to see an increased volume of three-point shooting this upcoming season.
Mark Daigneault encourages Jalen Williams to attempt more threes
DOUG HOKE/THEOKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is heading into training camp encouraging more three-point attempts for his team, including third-year shooting guard Aaron Wiggins and third-year forward Jalen Williams, per Thunder Wire’s Clemente Almanza.
“I’d like to see [Williams] shoot more 3s,” Daigneault said. “With how he shoots it and with how he drives it, if he can shoot 3s and force people to go play him a little bit higher, it creates more space for his drives and makes him even more difficult to guard.”
The Thunder will seize those opportunities in their first exhibition game against the San Antonio Spurs on October 7.
The post Mark Daigneault hopes to see Thunder second-round pick attempt more threes appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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