Shooting percentage hockey vs. basketball

[VoluntaryDom]

shooting percentage is more luck in nhl than nba

 

[LaP]

Historically the best goal scorers in the NHL shot a lot and often have relatively lackluster S%. In the last 30 years among players who played a minimum of 400 games here's the best s%

1st Craig Simpson (lading others by a big margin of 3.1%)
2nd Sergei Makarov
3rd Mike Ridley
4th Rob brown
5th Cam Neely
6th Mario Lemieux
7th Alex Tanguay
8th Gary Roberts
9th Pat Elynuik
10th Peter Stastny

Some big names like Lemieux, Neely, Makarov and Stastny but some not so big names too. Best goal scorers?

1st Jagr
2nd Hull
3rd Selanne
4th Shanahan
5th Iginla
6th Sakic
7th Robitaille
8th Yzerman
9th Ovechkin
10th Recchi

Outside of Lemiouuuuuuuuuuu I'm taking the 10 best goal scorers list before the 10 best s% list and it's not really close.

 

[McKappa]

Cause there's a goalie in hockey lmao.

 

[Alwalys]

you actually HAVE to shoot within a certain amount of time in basketball. just a totally different philosophy of offense in the game.

 

[Pookie]

In basketball, goaltending is a foul. In hockey, it's a position. If basketball had a player dedicated to stopping any and all shots that came at the hoop, shooting % would plummet and shooting volume and mad scrambles would take it's place, like it has in hockey.

I would add that in modern hockey we have added spaghetti flex sticks. Almost everyone can shoot in the 90's to 100 mph range. And almost everyone generally has no idea where the puck is going at that pace. So, volume matters.

What is an interesting sidebar is that we seem to praise shot counting stats but have a weird understanding/application of them.

Eg. Score effects. 100% accepted that shots lead to goals (what else produces a goal) but when losing, your shots are weighted less significantly than the team winning.

 

[txpd]

So in basketball if you shoot a lot with a low FG% you're a chucker that only gets his points through volume shooting and inefficiency. In the NHL it seems like the opposite. If you get goals from shooting a lot and not shooting a particularly high percentage it's considered a good thing. In basketball if you score a lot on few shots you're efficient but in the NHL in a similar scenario your production is unsustainable.

Why the difference? Is it because it's more of a skill in the NHL to shoot a lot than the NBA? Is it because it's harder to sustain a high shooting percentage in hockey? I'd be curious about your inputs.

"its never a bad play to put the puck toward the net." That is a hockey axiom. Not sure how you could believe that and then say a player shoots too much.

Its also true that players with high shooting % are often looked at like flashes in the pan. TJ Oshie as an example

 

[rent free]

in basketball there's no goalies and much easier defense. you should be asking why is it more common to score a goal then to hit the post in hockey

 

[Pookie]

you actually HAVE to shoot within a certain amount of time in basketball. just a totally different philosophy of offense in the game.

You know, it's interesting to think how the game would look if there was an actual shot clock in hockey.

Take out the blue line and give a team a few seconds to cross centre ice.

 

[g00n]

You know, it's interesting to think how the game would look if there was an actual shot clock in hockey.

Take out the blue line and give a team a few seconds to cross centre ice.

How do you decide when to reset it? The puck changes hands too much and possession is often too ambiguous. You also have to worry about defending teams just tying up the puck on the boards to run out the clock.

 

[Pookie]

How do you decide when to reset it? The puck changes hands too much and possession is often too ambiguous. You also have to worry about defending teams just tying up the puck on the boards to run out the clock.

Their clock would start once they got possession.

Just theorizing... not voting for it

 

[Talain]

In basketball there's no goalie to try to prevent your shot from going in, where as in hockey you only get credit for a shot on goal if the goaltender has to make a save.

Along with what has been already said here, regarding deflections and rebounds.