36 Comments

  1. Kevin Osbonre

    Any list that doesn’t include Fred Brown is worthless. I love Bird but Brown was the best long range bomber I ever saw. If the 3 point shot had been around when he was in the NBA records would have been set that would still be around.

  2. Yep. They missed Dell Curry too. Jerry West, Rick Barry. Somebody didn’t do their homework. There were better shooters than the players on this list. Larry Bird was a great shooter, but his not the best. Number one could be Kobe if he took smarter shots. Best shooter of all-time is Downtown Freddy Brown. He had range and high accuracy.

  3. Guys like Jerry West, Rick Barry and even Dirk Nowitzki are not classified as “pure shooters” because they did most of their scoring off the dribble. Fred Brown was a terrific shooter, but he didn’t play in enough big playoff games to knock off any of the guys on the list.

  4. BeanTownBomber

    This is a list of the PUREST SHOOTERS. That means the guys that came off their screens and drained whatever was NECESSARY for their team to win. If you want to argue shooters with best range, best accuracy, etc… Make your own damn list. This is pretty spot on. Well done.

  5. Nick

    I like the list. Very well done, but would like to see Steve Nash on it. He is one of the most deadly shooters in NBA history. The fact that he is a pass first point guard shouldn’t eliminate him from this list.

  6. fred

    Dude – mahmoud abdul rauf – bar none – I give final props – No.1 position to larry bird – but after that – mahmoud abdul rauf

  7. Jimmy

    Steve Nash is the best shooter of all time!! I can’t believe he is not on the list.. Steve Kerr should be in the top 3 and a newcomer named Anthony Morrow will be shooting up this list in the coming years. He can stroke it. But, no nash??? A pure shooter is one who is mechanically sound and consistently accurate. Reggie Miller was neither of those (although he was a great shooter) Nash, Allen, Kerr, Petrovic, Hornacek, Ellis, Mullin, Price, Glen Rice, and even a guy like Kapono

  8. Sam

    Actually, Larry Bird entered the 3-point shootout FOUR times, and won three times. He won in 1986, 1987, and 1988 but lost in 1990 to Craig Hodges.

    And how can you not have Dell Curry, Jeff Hornacek, Steve Kerr? They were all certainly better shooters than Danny Ainge.

  9. icallbullshit

    Danny Ainge is nowhere near the top ten as a pure shooter or scorer or even a shooting guard. Rolando blackman, Craig Hodges, Joe Dumars, and a lot of others were much better shooters than Ainge. I can even name guys on Ainges own teams who were better pure shooters. This list is good because it recognizes great pure shooters like Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, but Danny Ainge on this list is a joke.

    • Mike Alonso

      Hodges was great in contests, not so great in games. Well, pretty good at Milw. Fair at best later on.

  10. icallbullshit

    Also, I disagree with your definition of a pure shooter. A pure shooter is someone who is almost guaranteed to knock down an open outside shot, not necessarily involving a screen. Many great pure shooters were guys who would just park themselves in the perimeter, and wait for a drive and kick, or a double teamed center to get them the ball, but what they all have in common is if they’re open, you would be surprised if they didn’t make the shot.

  11. Ice man

    UHHHHHH HELLO I THUNK WE ALL FOR GETTING DEMBKE MUTUMBO!!!!! Oh wait I thought this was the biggest shlong top 10 in the nba. If that we’re the case Larry Bird would be dead last … He was hung like a peanut… At least that’s what Magic Johson told me they shared many bath houses in in Barcelona back when the dream team was at its finest.

  12. Mick

    Steve Kerr was a specialist, same w/Craig Hodges. A guy needs to take some volume of shots to qualify. Yes, Houston and Hornacek deserve a mention. Glad to see Peja recognized, very underrated. Mark Price, Walter Davis and George Gervin are my top choices.

  13. papoo

    Hornacek should be on the list yes…
    Danny Ainge definitely deserves a place. He took a large volume of 3s and big shots and was the first person to reach 1000 3pts made.

  14. Carl

    Vinnie Johnson& Andrew Toney were too inconsistent to be all time greats, but when they were on, they were untouchable. Pete Maravich is often forgotten because he was injured early in his pro career. In college he was unbelievable. No help, and he scored 44+ a game for his CAREER! Most of them were from downtown, and no 3 point shot. Someone once went back and studied his game films and figured out that he would have scored 57 points a game if they had a three point line. For his entire CAREER!!! Think about that, really. Think about it. This wasn’t Wilt shooting from 2ft over guys 8 inches shorter. Amazing !!

  15. Mycroft

    You got Reggie Miller and no Steve Kerr?

    Son, Kerr was the best spot-up shooter of all time. This is not something that’s debatable, check the historical record. You need to take a step back and really think about whether or not you should be covering a sport you clearly don’t know as well as you think you do.

  16. World B. Free, who took pride in his long range ability long before there was a 3 point line. Derek Harper, Joe Dumars, and Rex Chapman might be other guys you’d want to consider.

  17. Its a good list….. Out of the guys I’ve seen from the 80’s on. I would put Rice in the top 3 with Bird, and Mullen…. I considered Miller a swing shooter, not a catch and shoot guy with effortless form… The “Rifle Man” had a nice stroke, when I think about “Pure” shooters.

  18. I know it

    People don’t know what a pure shooter means!

    Pure Shooter : Player who can shoot anywhere at anytime.
    The best ive seen is Pete Maravich !
    Jerry West and Rick Barry also great ones

    Guys that need screens/pics or stand stationary to get there shot made doesn’t count as pure shooting!!!

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