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Memphis Grizzlies: 5 goals for Tyreke Evans in 2017-18

By Greg Cassoli

MEMPHIS, TN - AUGUST 29: Tyreke Evans of the Memphis Grizzlies smiles during a press conference on August 29, 2017 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, TN - AUGUST 29: Tyreke Evans of the Memphis Grizzlies smiles during a press conference on August 29, 2017 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images /

4. Become a respectable 3-point shooter

Evans is only a career 29.5 percent shooter from deep. General consensus is that he’s always been so good at breaking down defenders off the dribble that he never really had to learn to shoot. That reality is changing.

Evans has lost a bit of the explosiveness that made him such a difficult cover to injury and age, and the importance of shooting has grown exponentially since the time he entered the league in 2009. Taking and making threes are prerequisites among perimeter players (and increasingly bigs) these days, and only those that possess truly elite level skills in other domains are excused from it (think Tony Allen).

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Evans is undoubtedly aware of all this. He’s had plenty of time to watch the game evolve from the sidelines. That doesn’t mean he’ll be able to instantly adapt, but he did shoot 36.9 percent throughout his two most recent, injury-riddled campaigns.

The sample size here is extremely small, and that decreases the likelihood of this goal ever being achieved substantially, but somewhere within Evans there lives a player that can knock down open looks from beyond the 3-point arc. The more that Evans can bring forth that player, the better.

We’ll set a goal of hitting 35.0 percent on 2.5 long range attempts per game. Those aren’t crazy numbers, and it’s possible Evans will need to pull the trigger more frequently if he wants to manipulate defenses in a meaningful way. Until recently, he hadn’t shown any reason to believe in his ability to hit from deep though. Reaching these benchmarks, however modest they may appear, would be a major step forward.

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