There’s always talk about a dream slam-dunk competition. A dream three-point contest would be so much more entertaining.
Who would make the eight-person field? Who would win it all? Here are the contestants in our “Dream Three-Point Contest.”
Ray Allen
Credentials: Allen is the all-time leader in three-point field goals (2,973), and he shot 40 percent behind the arc for his career.
Why he would win it: He got game, right? Allen never won the Three-Point Contest, but nobody has better form.
Larry Bird
Credentials: Bird won the first three Three-Point Contests from 1986-88 and carried a 37.6 three-point percentage for his career.
Why he would win it: Because he’s Larry Bird. For most people that’s not enough. In this case, it is. Plus, he’s the best trash talker of the bunch.
Stephen Curry
Credentials: Curry leads all active players in three-point percentage (43.5) and is participating in his fourth Three-Point Contests this All-Star weekend.
Why he would win it: Who has better range than Curry today? Ever? He’s already worked his way into the “best shooter of all time” conversation.
Craig Hodges
Credentials: Hodges won three straight Three-Point Contests from 1990-92 and still holds the shootout record with 19 consecutive shots made.
Why he would win it: Hodges is the ultimate specialist. He’s to three-point shooting what Tom Emanski is to instructional videos on how to field a groundball.
Steve Kerr
Credentials: Kerr is the all-time leader in three-point percentage (45.4) and is one of the best spot-up shooters of all time.
Why he would win it: Kerr won the Three-Point Contest in 1997, a year in which he scored 22 in a single round. He could get hot, no question. For what it’s worth, he has the most NBA championship rings among the field with five.
Kyle Korver
Credentials: Korver is on pace to beat Kerr’s single-season three-point percentage record (52.3). Korver has hit 56.3 percent of his three-point attempts for Atlanta this season.
Why he would win it: That’s good enough to get him in the contest, and he’s more than capable of winning it. Can we get him to go head-to-head with Kerr in the first round?
Jason Kapono
Credentials: Kapono has made a career as a three-point shooter. He holds a 43.3 career percentage from long range and won two Three-Point Contests from 2007-08.
Why he would win it: Kapono is still tied with Hodges for the all-time high score in a single round (25). Sometimes the guy nobody expects to win goes out and wins these things.
Reggie Miller
Credentials: He made 2,560 three-pointers for his career, most among current NBA Hall of Famers. Miller finished with a 39.5 career three-point percentage.
Why he would it: Miller wouldn’t fall for Bird’s psychological head games, and it wouldn’t hurt to put Spike Lee courtside for the event. If that happens, would you take anybody over Miller?
Who wins?
There’s no wrong answer here, and any one of those eight sharp-shooters could get hot for three rounds. Curry or Allen would enter the contest as the favorite, and they would advance to the second round along with Miller and Bird. You get the four best in-game shooters from the last four decades, and at that point it would be impossible to bet against Bird.
We all know the legend – though the translation gets lost – of what Bird said when he walked into the first Three-Point Contest. Would he dare ask this group, “Who’s finishing second?” Maybe, maybe not. But we have a feeling he would back it up on the court, maybe with the money ball.
