This is not part of Luke Walton’s offense... or is it.
No, it’s not.
Timofey Mozgov attempted seven three-pointers last season in Cleveland, and he hit one. For his career, Mozgov is 7-of-39, or 17.9 percent, from beyond the arc. The Lakers are not paying him $64 million to space the floor.
But put Mozgov in an empty gym and he can knock down threes, as he showed in a video released by the Russian Basketball Federation before a game against Sweden.
Шведы завтра собираются много бросать издали, но у нас есть, кому ответить 👌
— РФБ (@russiabasket) September 6, 2016
Someone's gotta show it to @Lakers fans pic.twitter.com/N5cqmB48zo
Honestly, this isn’t as uncommon as you think — NBA players can flat-out shoot. Put what you and I consider average to poor NBA shooters in an empty gym and you’d swear they were the second coming of Ray Allen. To use a tied-in example, I once watched then player Luke Walton hit about 10 threes in a row standing a step out of bounds in the corner. A career 32 percent guy from three, in warmups Walton was Stephen Curry.
These guys are good. It’s just one thing to do it in an empty gym, another to do that when Anthony Davis is closing out on you.