For as good as he's been with the Milwaukee Bucks, Cole Anthony's outside shooting, especially in situations when given ample amounts of space, has been poor. Anthony is shooting a mere 1-of-10 on his "wide-open" 3-point looks and just 27.8 percent overall. It sounds simple, but the obvious way for Anthony to get out of this funk is to keep shooting the ball with the utmost confidence.
Anthony must knock down his "wide-open" looks sooner or later
When given excellent outside looks, players are supposed to thrive. Instead, Cole Anthony's brutal 10 percent success rate on "wide-open" triples is among the least efficient marks in the NBA. Among all players to shoot at least 10 outside shots when given six or more feet or room to fire, Anthony is tied for the third-worst percentage. He needs to clean that up incredibly quickly.
Luckily for him, Anthony's open looks won't be going away anytime soon. He's still playing alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, who generates more attention defensively than most players. In their short time together so far, Anthony is shooting 0-of-3 from distance off passes from Giannis. Sooner rather than later, those shots should start to fall with more regularity.
The key to getting Anthony going from three may start during his minutes alongside the Greek Freak. AJ Green has always been a much better shooter than Anthony, but the guard is having a career year due to his outside shot, where he's shooting 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) off his passes from Giannis. If the Bucks can get the same type of production from Anthony, he could ascend as well.
The only way to get out of a shooting slump is to keep letting it fly. With Milwaukee making it clear that the three-ball will be an essential focus of their offense, no one should be shy. That shouldn't be an issue with Anthony, who has displayed incredible offense early on in his Bucks tenure and for the entirety of his career with the Orlando Magic.
Even with Anthony, who has asserted himself as a key cog under Doc Rivers this season, struggling to hit his outside shots, the Milwaukee Bucks are tied for third in the NBA in 3-point percentage. As soon as Anthony, a bottom-three outside shooter on the roster among key pieces percentage-wise, finds his shot, they could be even more lethal from the outside.
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