There’s nothing wrong with resembling your twin brother. But let’s be honest: When Amen and Ausar Thompson show up in training camp in September, they’d like to look a lot more like Aaron Nesmith.
The NBA is undergoing a facelift, and thank goodness. We’re no longer talking about the paucity of American big men and the plethora of bad shots.
We’re seeing a new level of athleticism in the league — which was plenty athletic before. But not like this.
Sure, Michael Cooper was a great athlete. But not enough of one to ever become a regular NBA starter.
Why? Because he couldn’t shoot.
Sure, we remember Coop as a guy who buried some big 3-pointers for championship teams. But the guy quickly got a reputation as an opponent you could abandon in order to double-team Magic Johnson.
It didn’t take the genius of Don Nelson to figure this out. Cooper made 25 percent of his 3-pointers in his first full season, then 21 percent the next year and … 12 percent the following year.
But man, could the guy run, defend and alley-oop. And when you had Magic, Worthy and Kareem on the court at the same time, that’s all you needed to do.
Over the years, the NBA adopted an unofficial motto: If you can’t shoot, you can’t play. Stacey Augmon — “Plastic Man” because his arms were everywhere — is among the greatest defensive players of all time in the college game. But when he made 21 percent of his 3-pointers over his first five seasons for Hawks teams that didn’t have Magic, Worthy or Kareem, he was relegated to journeyman backup status for his final 10 campaigns.
The modern-day equivalent is Ben Simmons. Remember him? The Rookie of the Year for the 76ers in 2018. An All-Star the next season. A first-team All-NBA defender in Years 3 and 4.
A superstar in the making …
Until opponents figured out he couldn’t shoot. Well, from anywhere outside arm’s length.
Simmons already knew this. He stopped shooting 3-pointers shortly after making his first — 172 games into his career. Seriously, Year 3.
In the meantime, some really great college athletes never got a chance under the brightest lights. Or not much of one.
Take Jevon Carter of the Bulls. He joined Augmon on a short list of multiple Defensive Players of the Year while at West Virginia. Now, he can’t get off a seriously talent-challenged Bulls bench.
Same thing with Matisse Thybulle, now with the Trail Blazers.
At least Carter and Thybulle got a chance. Aaron Craft and John Linehan never did.
Which brings us back to the Thompsons. Teams sagged off them this season like they were Ben Simmons and his cousin Richard. And with good reason: Amen shot 28 percent on 3-pointers, Ausar 22 percent.
Why were they playing? They can thank Nesmith, a similarly electric athlete who couldn’t get off the Boston bench at the start of his career as scorers such as Romeo Langford and Josh Richardson were getting summoned ahead of him.
When Nesmith shot 27 percent on 3-pointers his second season, the Celtics got rid of him. And, boy, was that a mistake.
He was dealt as part of a package for Malcolm Brogdon.
For Nesmith, the problem wasn’t that he couldn’t shoot. He was over 50 percent from deep as a sophomore at Vanderbilt before getting hurt.
It was confidence. Credit the Pacers for recognizing it. And Nesmith for continuing to work on his game. Imagine that.
While some were gushing at his Cooper-level athleticism and defensive prowess, the Pacers let Nesmith shoot. Lo and behold, after seasons of 37 percent, 42 percent and this year’s 43 percent, he’s no longer compared to Cooper.
He’s better than Cooper. On both ends of the floor.
Now it’s up to the Thompsons — and the other misdirected shooters — to follow suit. For them, it’ll take some serious practice, something many pros believe became ancient history with that first seven-digit paycheck.
Don’t be surprised if more guys who “can’t shoot” get drafted higher than expected this year. There are advantages to having a Nesmith on your team well beyond 3-point prowess.
Take Game 2 of the Pacers-Cavaliers series. Remember how Tyrese Haliburton was awful for three quarters while Donovan Mitchell was running circles around Nesmith?
That changed dramatically by the end. And why? Because while Nesmith couldn’t stop Mitchell, he kept chasing him, exhausting the Cleveland star to the point where he shot 2-for-6 with the game slipping away.
Meanwhile, Haliburton never needed to use any such energy on the defensive end, and had enough in the tank to score 11 fourth-quarter points and … well, you saw the finish.
Afterward, it was all about Haliburton. Maybe someone should have noticed that Nesmith shot 5-for-8 on 3-pointers and actually outscored his star teammate 23-19.
Such is the new plight of the NBA’s supreme athletes. Some of them now can shoot. Others can improve their touch. The next step: Get noticed.
Maybe the Thompsons — after a summer of endless catch-and-shoots — can remedy that.
