Make the game look fun??
Bruh.
You understand the math checks out here.
You know what is better than 2 points?
Three points.
This isn't a diabolical scheme to get suburban dads to buy more Knicks tickets or make the game more visually appealing.
3 points is not better than two when you considered a number of factors that are not stated when you make said statement. yes 3 things are better than 2 things. if all else is equal. but all else is not normally equal.
taking a deep mid range shot or taking a half a step back to hit a 3. sure in that case its obvious you might as well try to hit the 3. you're more or less taking the same shot anyway. why not go for 3 vs 2.
But shaq in the paint is not just 2 points. what part of this dont you get?
Shaq in the paint is humiliation (this actually is not being measured statistically at the moment). its like measuring how afraid was a boxer after mike tyson hit them in the body in his prime? in the first round. and how afraid where they before they stepped into the ring? vs how afraid would the same boxers be of say Ali, who technically was a better BOXER but may not have instilled fear even though he couldnt be beaten by many. so when people have a convo about who's the best of all time, these things have to be taken into account. If tyson aint scaring you away before the fight because of you seeing giants getting laid flat in 2 secs or less. and you can withstand that first hit or two. then thats 40% of the battle...or is it. or is mike that dang good(prime mike). and whether or not you're afraid of ALi doesnt really matter because his skill will get you regardless in most cases. but would it work on iron mike if mike taps his jaw?
this is the kind of thing you have to understand that is not being measured. jordan made people afraid of him. those that were not afraid could some what hang and still lose in a 7 game series but hang in a game or two (starks who was not nearly as talented as say drexler). jordan took people's souls. and made them stop playing their style. because he was humiliating them. steph and klay as a team makes you feel bad only when you're up by 20 and they hawk you and go up by 15 in the 4th. you're like how in the blue hell...we were just up a dub..how we losing by 15? 3 is better than 2 so to speak. But it was not humiliating enough to make a team just stop trying. this is why MR YMCA league Australian Deli thought he could guard steph (he couldnt..legally) This is why the cavs thought they could beat them. technically they couldnt as long as dray, klay, curry, iggy didnt go down. or get suspended. but the cavs believe it. this is why they were able to play as hard as they did and steal a game.
prime shaq, and semi prime kobe, + horry+fisher+fox all super clutch role guys = Scary as hell before the game starts. if you cant match up(the kings could...sort of) but others could not in the east. then you end up losing the series before it starts. its the iron mike "i'm afraid before the match even starts." why does this matter? If you have never played with nba players in a pickup game or real life you wont understand what i'm about to say. the difference between 6'2 Lue williams, and 6'2 me(in my prime). is this. when lue starts hitting, he wont miss. he gets WHITE hot. when i get hot. I'll hit 3 or 4 in a row and brick the next 2. still a good fg% but not nba level WHITE HOT. these guys get scary hot vs lesser comp, and pretty darn hot vs equal comp IF....watch this, IF they BELIEVE they can win or IF they believe the refs are on their side. Ai believed in himself but the rest of the 76ers did not. they won one game that year the lakers steam rolled everyone in the playoffs. and that one game was won by the guy who believed.
lets go back to it. Shaq in the paint humiliates you. which means its not just 2 points when he dunks on everyone. its also an AND 1. meaning mis or make the ft. its an additional team foul + an additional foul on his man + this defender is upset because he just had shaqs legs on his shoulders. super embarrassing in front of millions watching. Shaq does it again no matter how hard this guys pushes shaq. shaq over powers him. how embarrassing can it be to be a fully grown pro athlete that hits the weights daily to find out you are no longer the strongest biggest bully on the block? and it aint ish you can do about it? Remmeber old man Sabonis crying on the bench throwing the towel? I do. that is what can happen when you keep destroying someone in the paint like that. it makes guys FEEL helpless. There's a flipside to this. I've seen the reverse in high school and college when it comes to white guys vs athletic bruhs. a bunch of savvy white dudes with skill that dont care about getting dunked on can actually weather the humiliation storm. and continue to play well and out play said athletic team that keeps rushing the rim. they hit them with a solid zone and thats it. bruhs cant shoot, and game over. white guys//less athletic guys win.
but that aint the nba. the nba has athletic bruhs who can shoot and dunk. and a few athletic white guys who can do both as well.
there's a reason why when the game is on the line and your team is up by 2 and your coach says NO 3's. all the other team has to do is rush the rack. everyone collapses like idiots and leaves a person open for a 3. coach JUST SAID NO THREES. its because in basketball no one. i mean no one wants to watch someone make an easy greasy basket in the paint. they just cant watch it. this is mental. this means if you have someone or someones who are monsters in the paint. let them be monsters. DO NOT remove them from the paint and put them on the outside for spacing for long stretches. sure analytically you may be able to score more points.but you are completing missing the mental aspect of the game of basketball/strategy/mind games that can be played. along with all the fouls you can get because the mind games means the guy thats guarding you is frustrated, and now he's starting to lose his mind mid game and now he's out of sorts and starts intentionally fouling you, yelling at the refs etc. uh oh TECH. he's thrown out. he's gone. now its even easier for Kat or Embid to dominate. now they have to double/tripl team. these two can pass very very well for bigs. its a wrap cause now the 3s are about to pop. because your teammates are ULTRA confident. why? because the pressure of missing is no longer there when they know they have Godzilla in the city on their team in the paint.
^This my friends is what the analytics is missing. it can be measured but they are not or have not YET measured it. therefore the current analytics are incomplete. this is why i can say i agree with them to a degree but not 100% because they do not have all of the information there.