Last week, a whopping 79% of you said that the Wizards will trade the 5th pick for cap relief/veteran help. I guess this means I'll be spending more time playing with the trade checker than reading scoting reports. -Jake
The jump shot is the most identifiable move in the game of basketball. With a good one you can earn quite a bit of money in the NBA, even the rest of your game is rather poor. With a great one you can become basketball royalty.
That said, many a player has had long, productive career in this league without a decent jump shot. But certainly its to a player's advantage to develop a respectable jump shot. A solid jump shot will stay true longer than just about any other basketball skill which gives them a better chance to stick around in the league.
If you're looking for a fine example of this at work, look no farther than DeShawn Stevenson. Without the work he put into his jumper before the 2006-07 season when he signed with Wizards for the minimum, he probably wouldn't be in the NBA right now, and if he was, he'd be getting a much smaller paycheck each week.
Right now, there's two players on the Wizards who find themselves at a jump shooting crossroads. Dominic McGuire and Javaris Crittenton have both been able to survive in the league, thanks to their athleticism and their solid rebounding and defensive skills but both could use some work on their shot. Last year, McGuire had an eFG% of 33.3% on jump shots and Crittenton had an even more dismal eFG% of 23.9. Both players need considerable work on their shot, but both players are still at a point in their career when they can make improvement in that area.
We shouldn't lose sight of what they bring to the table already. Especially on a team struggles with defense and rebounding, their contributions are valuable. Still, adding a jump shot would increase the value of both players and make it easier to justify more playing time for both players. Furthermore, adding a consistent outside shot stretches the opposing defense more which gives the team's primary offensive options more room to operate and makes everyone's job easier.
The question is, which player needs to shoot more free throws this summer to get a reliable jump shot? Should it be McGuire, since he'll likely receive more minutes next season or Crittenton, since developing a consistent jump shot is more critical to being an effective point guard. The choice is yours.