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The NBA records the location of every field goal attempt. Sort 4.5 million of them by zone and you can watch basketball's geography rewrite itself.
Each dot is a shot attempt, colored by zone. In 2004, the court was covered fairly evenly. Look at all that gray in the mid-range.
The pull-up jumper. The elbow fadeaway. In 2004, nearly one in three shots came from mid-range. It was the backbone of every offense.
Only 16 three-point attempts per game. The arc was a specialist's domain — not something you built an offense around.
The Rockets GM proved what the numbers always said: a 35% three-pointer is worth more than a 50% two. The analytics revolution had its thesis.
Three-pointers made in a single season. A record that shouldn't have been possible. The rest of the league saw and followed.
Same court. Completely different map. The dots migrated. The middle emptied out. The rim and the arc took over.
From 32% to 10%. The biggest vanishing act in modern basketball. The dots that used to fill this area simply disappeared.
37 three-point attempts per game. What was once a specialist's domain is now the foundation of every offense in the league.
If you're not shooting a three, get all the way to the basket. The restricted area grew from 26% to 35%. Basketball became a game of extremes.
DeRozan. SGA. Jokić. A handful of stars still pull up from mid-range — and make it work. But they're the exception, not the rule.