The New York Knicks went from laughingstock to contender in four seasons under the guidance of team president Leon Rose. Most impressively, they did it without tanking. It did require parting ways with fan-favorite players like in the case of the trade that landed the Knicks defensive star OG Anunoby. New head coach Mike Brown is helping make that trade look like even more of a Knicks fleece. Anunoby has been great on both ends, including his domination as a corner 3-point shooter. It's almost Christmas, and he still leads the league in both attempts and makes per game.
Anunoby's sharpshooting has been key to Brown's offense
The 28-year-old wing has played 19 games so far this season, averaging 15.5 points a night. He's made 2.3 shots from downtown of his 6.1 average attempts, good for a 38.3 3-point percentage. Extrapolated over the course of the entire season, that would be tied for the third-most attempts on average of his nine-year career thus far. The conversion rate would be his third-highest.
His corner 3-point shooting, somewhat unsurprisingly, has been absurdly accurate. By distance, it's the closest 3-point shot possible. Therefore, it is beloved by analytics addicts, calculator cronies, and, also, coaches that like to win. Sorry, but those are the cold, hard facts in today's NBA.
The Knicks pivoted to Brown as their head coach in part because of his desire to modernize the team's shot profile. That meant making sure that their roster, chock-full of players capable of draining the open 3-pointers Brown wants to create for them, was actually taking enough of the game's most efficient shots.
Knicks are top of their class from the corners
Through Monday, the Knicks still lead the NBA in corner 3-point attempts per game. They took the 11th most corner 3-pointers last season, with their average of 10.2 attempts paling in comparison to this year's 12.1 through 28 games per the NBA.
Anunoby is averaging 3.1 attempts from the corners through 19 games, demonstrating just how integral he has been to the team's corner 3-point revolution. That has arguably been the change to New York's shot diet that has most influenced their early success, from their league-leading 3-point volume and effiency to the NBA Cup trophy they got to take home from Las Vegas.