Film Study: Chris Paul's 3 Go-to Shots

Where did Chris Paul's 3 most frequent shots take place last season with the Golden State Warriors? Will those shots still be there now that he's joining the San Antonio Spurs?

When Chris Paul joined the San Antonio Spurs earlier this summer, I had posted his shot breakdown from last season with the Golden State Warriors.

With training camp arriving in 4 weeks, I wanted zoom in on Paul’s three most frequent shots from last season: 1) The Arc Three, 2) the Mid-Range Jumper, and 3) The Paint Two Jumper.

---

The Arc Three

As we look at Paul’s shot chart from last season, we see that he took 36% of his shots from the arc three, which was his most frequent shot with the Dubs. Paul was also efficient with this shot, knocking down 41.1% of those looks, 5% better than league average from that range.

Zooming in further using the NBA’s Heat map, we see that he preferred to shoot those arc threes from the left wing first, and the right wing second.

On his spot-up 3s, Paul is able to use the 1-2 gather to get his form ready to launch. Playing alongside Victor Wembanyama, who will command double and sometimes triple teams at different points of games, those spot-up looks should be there for Paul.

While Paul’s pull-up three isn’t one of his go-to attempts, he’ll be ready to shoot it, especially if it’s late in the shot clock. 46% of Paul’s 3-point attempts came off pull-up 3s last season.

---

The Mid-Range Jumper

Paul’s second most frequent shot last season was the mid-range jumper. This has been one of his bread-and-butter shots throughout his NBA career. 34% of Paul’s shot attempts came from mid-range last season, and there too, he made 45% of his attempts, about 3% better than league average.

Paul prefers to take the mid-range jumpers on the right side of the floor, whether outside the elbow, or all the way on the right baseline. He can get going by driving hard to his right and then pulling up, or using a pump fake to get some separation from his defender for that mid-ranger.

When running a pick-and-roll or dribble-hand off, he’s more likely to take the mid-ranger if a big switches onto him, knowing he has the speed to get a bit more separation against the big, or knowing most bigs play drop coverage.

The mid-range shot should be there for Paul off the P&R with the attention Wemby draws, whether Victor rolls into the paint, or if he pops out to three.

---

The Paint Two Jumper