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Appearing on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast earlier this week, DeAndre Jordan that he, too, is working on his three point shot, but doesn’t see it as a big part of his game. He noted that he makes his living underneath the basket.
Asked about a three-point shot, Jordan, said, “Yeah, everyone is developing that part of the game and I’m obviously doing it. But I also want to stay on the floor. If I’m just shooting three-point shots, obviously, and I’m missing them, then I’m old and I’ll disappear.”
Jordan has made exactly one three-pointer in his career, four years ago, going 1-of-11 over the course of his career. He hasn’t even taken a three in last two seasons.
Giving the Nets hope that this isn’t a fool’s errand is that Jordan has dramatically improved his free throw shooting in the last several years. Last year, he shot 77.3 percent from the line in 19 games with the Knicks and 68.2 percent in 50 games with the Mavericks. Four times in his career, Jordan had hit less than 40 percent of his free throws.
In essence, Jordan said he was embarrassed being subjected to “Hack-a-Shaq” treatment late in games. In 2015-16, Jordan took 619 free throws, making 42 percent of them. As his percentage has risen, he has gotten to the line less and less.
“For me, Hack-a-Shaq sucked a lot. It sucked big time. I used to go hide and shit,” Jordan told the “Pardon My Take” hosts. He even admitted that he felt pressure dealing with his shooting problems in front of “20,000 people.”
“This season I actually didn’t think about anything other than shooting the basketball and it helped me out a lot,” he said.
Jordan spoke as well about his time in New York with the Knicks, agreeing with the hosts that he missed “being in the mix” as the Knicks moved from him to Mitchell Robinson as the season wore on, getting 12 DNP/CD’s.
“It was tough for me ... Last year was kind of a blur. It was a learning experience. It was good for my (pause) mental patience.”
There were positives, he admitted, and now he’s wound up in Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, two friends and teammates from the 2016 Olympic team.
“I had a cool time, man, when I was there. The Knicks fans were great. New York fans in general are awesome. They’re passionate as hell. They know the sport. They know the game. So they’ll call you out if you’re not playing the right way which is great, I mean. But I’m excited about the things the Nets are doing and the organization and the guys that we got.”
- DeAndre Jordan plans on adapting his game to fit with Nets - Brian Lewis - New York Post