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The Milwaukee Bucks have been home to some of the greatest shooters in basketball history over the years. While the 3-point explosion of the mid-2010s was the entry point for so many other franchises, the basketball minds in Milwaukee have always valued the spacing and attention to detail of a talented marksman.
So it was no surprise that the former Bucks were named throughout Bleacher Report's new ranking of the NBA's 99 Best Shooters of All Time. 14 players with history in Milwaukee cracked the list, from franchise legends like Khris Middleton and Michael Redd to recent additions like Damian Lillard and the Bucks' newest young star, Tyler Herro. The full list is below:
3. Ray Allen
9. Damian Lillard
10. Kyle Korver
15. JJ Redick
32. Dale Ellis
37. Khris Middleton
44. Michael Redd
50. Dell Curry
59. Jason Terry
73. Craig Hodges
82. Grayson Allen
85. Joe Ingles
92. Ricky Pierce
94. Tyler Herro
There are certainly a few things that stand out, both in where players are ranked and who they are ranked among. It's nice to see Redd and Khash Money Middleton get their well-earned flowers — although it's more than reasonable to squabble over some of the players ranked ahead of them, like LeBron James (36), Seth Curry (34) and Nikola Jokic (26).
Seeing some of the post-championship-era role players like Grayson Allen and Joe Ingles ranked is also rather fascinating. It's also hard to imagine that there are 49 better shooters than Dell Curry, or 73 better than Craig Hodges, but none of those come close to the confusion of one pick...
How in the world is Ray Allen ranked below Reggie Miller?
For a long time, the conversation for the greatest shooter began and ended with two names: Ray Allen and Stephen Curry. This remains a widely held belief among NBA fans and historians, with Klay Thompson often being the next notable inclusion to the debate. So seeing Reggie Miller jump ahead of them both was shocking, to say the least.
There's no doubt that Reggie Miller belongs near the top of this list. It's his placement that needs to be re-evaluated. Reggie played 89 more regular-season games in his career than Ray did, but made 413 fewer 3s in his career. Ray also shot a higher percentage from deep, albeit just .5%, on a higher volume per game.
These are two players whose names are etched into NBA history with some of the most iconic shots of all-time. There's really no use going tit-for-tat with Ray's Game 6 shot in 2013 vs. Reggie's 8 points in 9 seconds back in '95. So the real argument for Miller is his shot diet and how he was ahead of his time, but even that's deceiving.
It's a fair argument to consider; it's just hard to see why the Bucks legend was on the wrong side of this one. Nonetheless, No. 3 on the all-time greatest shooters ranking is an unbelievable feat from one of the best players in Milwaukee franchise history,
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This article was originally published on dairylandexpress.com as Bucks legends shine in B/R's all-time shooters list, but Ray Allen deserved better.
