2019 NBA Mock Draft: Learning from the playoffs

The best way to measure 3-point effectiveness in the NBA is by judging the combined impact of a team’s willingness to shoot and their efficiency doing so. Eight of the top ten teams in terms of 3-point rate (the portion of a team’s shots that come from deep) made the playoffs, while nine of the top ten most efficient 3-point shooting squads. There is some overlap there, but each year that 3-point shooting becomes a bigger part of the game, the gulf between teams that can and will shoot and those who refuse grows larger.

The Lakers are one such team that based on roster construction and injuries could not consistently space the floor. Los Angeles was 29th in 3-point percentage and shot the 12th-fewest 3s of any team. That’s almost inconceivable with LeBron James on the roster for three-quarters of the season — he is a walking assisted 3 and couldn’t lift up the haphazardly constructed Lakers roster.

Herro can’t change the flaws of the Lakers on his own — no shooter can — but he can be part of the solution if Los Angeles keeps him. Herro shot 36 percent from 3 and 42 percent of his shots came from deep, better numbers than most Laker rotation members last season. Put him on the court with shot creators like James and Lonzo Ball and the offense creeps back toward respectability and away from the point where it is insulting to James.

Whatever Los Angeles does this summer, they need to keep shooting in mind. They completely ignored it in 2018 and their failures showed why that was a flawed plan.