The Phoenix Mercury have been the WNBA’s most efficient volume-shooting team early into the season. Shooting 40.2% from beyond-the-arc on a league-high 30.7 attempts per contest, Phoenix has been lights out to start the season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Nate Tibbetts has stressed his basketball philosophy ever since being brought in as the Mercury’s head coach. He’s continuously stressed that he wants his team to shoot “35-to-40” 3-pointers a game, and sees room for the Mercury to get even more shots off from downtown.
Tibbetts would also like to see more looks from the mid-range. Although he’s done his best to limit the volume from that area, there’s still space for mid-range opportunities in modern basketball, and Tibbetts realizes that.
“I’m sure that the players get tired of me talking about too many mid-range shots, so we could get a couple more, but that’s going to take time,” said Tibbetts ahead of Phoenix’s game against Washington. “We’ve got veterans that have been around and shot certain shots throughout their career, and I don’t want to completely take that away from them.”
The Phoenix Mercury have been the most efficient volume-shooting team in the WNBA this season. Our @LaCertosaSports asked Nate Tibbetts about the next steps to sustaining this level of production.
"I would say there's three to five to seven more threes a game that we can find." pic.twitter.com/olQ5rUVbcD
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) May 24, 2024
“But I would say there’s three to five to seven more threes a game that we can find,” Tibbetts added. “We’re not going to change in the first week — it may not be until game 10. But just because the mentality is to shoot, it’s going to open up driving lanes and things like that for us. So we’re going to continue to stress on it. Watch film, our staff does a great job individually watching clips with our players, and just educating them on how we want to attack. I think we’re off to a good start, but I think we can get better at it, for sure.”
The Phoenix Mercury (2-1) will host the Washington Mystics (0-4) tonight at 7 p.m. MST.
By-The-Numbers: Phoenix Mercury the most efficient shooting team in the WNBA
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Justin LaCertosa covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @LaCertosaSports
