Doc Rivers Encourages Seth Curry to Continue Launching Threes at High Rate

Last season, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers found himself urging his starting shooting guard to take more threes. Although Seth Curry's an established
Doc Rivers Encourages Seth Curry to Continue Launching Threes at High Rate
Doc Rivers Encourages Seth Curry to Continue Launching Threes at High Rate /

Last season, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers found himself urging his starting shooting guard to take more threes. Although Seth Curry's an established sharpshooter from beyond the arc, the veteran guard often passed up shots he should've taken. 

This year, Rivers doesn't want to see the same thing happening. As Curry's coming off of a career year in Philly and drilled 45-percent of his threes last season, Rivers wants the guard to continue shooting at a high rate and stop passing up open shots.

"Shoot it," said Rivers on Thursday night when explaining what he wants out of Curry this preseason. "I want him to shoot the open ones. I don't want him to shoot the covered ones, but at the beginning of the year, he was passing up the open ones. I couldn't shoot at all, and I would have shot those."

So far, two games into the preseason, Curry hasn't had any issues consistently attempting and knocking down threes. During Monday night's loss to the Toronto Raptors, Curry was one of few Sixers that played well as he collected 14 points. Six of those points came from his three attempts from deep.

On Thursday, he didn't slow down. In fact, Curry ramped up his production from beyond the arc. In 21 minutes on the floor, Curry attempted nine total shots. All but one of his shots were three-pointers.

After drilling four of his eight three-point attempts, Curry finished Thursday night's win over the Raptors with 15 total points. "When you have a cannon like that, let it go," said Rivers. "We say that to all our guys who can shoot like that."

Although Rivers acknowledged it might be difficult for the Sixers to find open threes as consistently as they did last year without their top playmaker Ben Simmons on the floor, he wants to make sure they don't land in any situations where they are trading twos for threes in a sharpshooter's league -- especially when they have somebody like Seth Curry on the roster.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.


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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA