When it comes to shooting accuracy, what names immediately come to mind? Nash and Nowitzki? D-Wade and LeBron? Shaq and KG?
Guess again. Despite shooting form you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, Sacramento's Kevin Martin and Atlanta's Josh Childress have been the league's two most efficient shooters this year.
They're first and second in the league in True Shooting Percentage, which measures what a player's field goal percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers.
At first glance, it's hard to imagine Childress being anywhere near the top of this list. His stroke is reminiscent of Shawn Marion's -- he tucks the ball under his chin, sticks his elbow way out to the side, then snaps the wrist in one quick fling.
Although he doesn't have quite the arc or long-range accuracy Marion does, Childress' approach has been plenty effective. He's shooting 55.7 percent from the floor this season, and it hasn't all been on dunks and layups. Childress has become very comfortable shooting from 15-20 feet, especially from the corners.
As a result, his effective field goal percentage on jump shots is a healthy 50.7 percent, according to 82games.com. Throw in all the free throws he has earned by pounding the offensive glass, and his TS% is 62.4 percent, second-best in the league.
Childress has nothing on Martin, however. The Kings guard shoots while leaning farther to the left than Al Franken, yet still has managed to drain 49.5 percent of his shots. Additionally, Martin gets to the line nearly once for every two field goal attempts, and he's hitting at a stellar 85.9 percent clip from there. Throw in his 39.2 percent mark on 3-pointers, and it's easy to see that the Kings get serious bang for their buck whenever Martin attempts a shot. Thus, although Martin's 49.5 percent field goal shooting doesn't crack the league's top 10, it leaps to a league-leading TS% of 62.8 percent once we account for all his 3-pointers and free throws.
It's ironic that these two are first and second when one considers how similar they are. In addition to their funky jump shots, both are second-year wing players. Physically, they're both long, skinny guys who sport retro haircuts -- Childress goes with the 'fro, while Martin is single-handedly attempting to revive the fade. Both players were regarded as disappointments during their rookie seasons, and both started slowly this year but picked up steam as the season went on -- even as their teams had disappointing results. Each left college a year early, and each plays a couple of hours' drive from where the other went to school.
And each is showing that, when it comes to shooting, there's more than one way to skin a cat. The delivery might not be pretty, but when Martin and Childress shoot the rock, it's hard to argue with the results.
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