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Comment by e0m | Hacker News Reader

It's amazing that there's a noticeably higher hit rate on a very precise line right down the middle and a relative shot gap 10 degrees on either side before reaching his "sweet zone". Anyone know why being only a few degrees away from center makes it harder to score?

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partly, it's that totally open shots (where there wasn't a defender in the area) will tend to be charted as coming from dead-center. So if Kobe gets a steal and has a clear path to the basket, or a defender gets out of position, he's going to get an easy shot which is marked as being taken from the center unless it's obviously taken from waaaaay off to the side.

Relatedly, shots that are marked as being taken from slightly to the side are more likely to be contested, often by a much bigger defender.

When you shoot from directly in front of the basket, if the shot hits the rim it can bounce off the rim, hit the backboard, then bounce back into the rim. This is actually pretty common.

When you are shooting from the side and miss, the ball will be much more likely to bounce off the backboard to the side.

When I saw that I just assumed that when playing he has practised shooting from the centre line and prefers to take that extra step on the line before taking a shot.

There's no way that is indicative of anything other than issues with measurement

I noticed that, and assumed it was issues with measurement.

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