Seeing Paul Pierce in a Washington Wizards jersey will never feel normal. However, seeing Pierce knock down a last-second shot to win the game was a staple of his career. In the final seconds of a May 9, 2015, playoff game, Pierce took an inbound pass toward Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schröder. With three seconds left, Pierce pivots, side dribbles, and launches a shot over Schröder and Kent Bazemore.
The shot tapped off the backboard and went through the net as the horn sounded. The Wizards formed a mosh pit. After the game, ESPN’s Chris Broussard asked Pierce, “Did you call bank?” in front of an electric DC crowd.
“I called game,” Pierce emphatically responded, “Game!”
Anthony Edwards hasn’t had much opportunity to call game in his career. However, he has recently embraced the bank shot. “I wanna bring it back,” he said. “Tim Duncan was super good at it, so I wanna bring it back, for sure.”
In the same interview, Edwards disclosed that some of his workouts consist of only bank shots.
But why? Why would one of the NBA’s most electric players want to bank in shots?
To find that answer, we need to understand basic physics and basketball history. The bank shot has existed since the beginning of the NBA. However, most players only use the glass on layup attempts or close-range shots to circumvent the long arms of taller defenders.
For that reason, it’s usually one of the first things coaches teach children learning to play basketball. It usually consists of teaching someone how to use the glass during layups. The Mikan Drill, named after the former Minneapolis Laker great, is usually the next step. It involves making a left-handed layup off the glass, catching the ball with the right hand, and making a right-handed layup off the glass.
However, coaching has changed as player development evolves and players take more shots from further away. Shooting form and where to aim have become the new focal point.
Basketball camps across the country teach kids to aim at the rim — specifically, at the front-most metal tie that holds the net to the rim. The form taught is intended to allow for the spin on the ball and a higher arching shot that will graze over the front of the rim and through the net for that all-desired swish. A swish is the most skilled shot in basketball. It doesn’t rely on anything other than a player’s talent to put the ball through the net.
Why do we teach kids to use the backboard on layups only to abandon the backboard from further out? It would be like teaching someone to dance, then telling them to stop counting their steps or how to hit a baseball, but then telling them to stop swinging through their hips. We teach fundamentals to build upon them, not cast them aside – except, it would seem, in basketball.
That leads to the physics discussion. From a physics standpoint, the bank shot is more likely to be successful than a swish. Shooting the ball off the glass rather than at the rim drastically widens the likelihood. After simulating a million shots with the same RPM and arc, an NC State study determined that in most areas of the court (obviously, not behind the backboard or the side of the court), a bank shot will result in a 20% increase in shot likelihood.
That’s due to the amount of surface area the backboard provides and the backboard’s ability to slow the ball down and distribute force. For example, an NBA rim is only 18 inches across or 9 inches on either side of the place where people coach shooters to aim. Therefore, the area of success is relatively small when a shooter aims directly at the middle because it risks hitting the rim. However, when using the backboard, the area of success is 38.5 inches or 19.5 inches on either side of the midline of the rim.
It seems impossible that a player can hit over three feet of the backboard and still make a shot. However, it’s important to consider how the ball responds. First, it slows significantly when it hits the glass, allowing the ball to hit the rim softer than if it hits the rim first.
Second, because the ball is rebounding off the backboard, it takes a downward trajectory toward the rim. That allows the ball to travel slower and towards the same front of the rim as someone (theoretically) would be aiming at for a swish. Because of that slowing factor, the backboard offers a much wider area for someone to aim at.
Below is a diagram that shows the area of effectiveness and where to aim when using the glass. Anything inside the U shape is considered an effective shot off the backboard.
While bank shots are a learned skill, the science shows a significantly larger area to aim for that will result in a made basket. It has also played out in live games and simulations. The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan, holds the record for most bank shots with 1,934. However, the NBA did not start tracking bank shots until Duncan was in his eighth NBA season.
Regardless, Duncan’s bank shot proved to be exceptional in 2003-04. He shot 70.3% on bank-shot jumpers and set the NBA record. For his career, he shot a 60.4% average. That percentage is incredible, considering these are mid-range jump bank shots, not layups or hooks. For reference, Edwards is shooting 35% from mid-range this year, but he’s 4/4 on mid-range bank shots.
Duncan and the science have proven that the bank shot is effective. So why don’t more players use it?
Rick Berry is a 12-time All-Star who played in the NBA from 1965 to 1980. He averaged 24.8 points per game and was a prickly personality who would do anything to win. However, he found an edge by understanding the game’s physics. Berry shot 89.3% for his career from the free throw line and shot over 90% seven times in his career.
But he did so by shooting free throws underhanded. Despite his resounding success lofting the ball underhanded, granny shots never caught on. They had the same physics behind them as the bank shot; they were likelier to go in because they had such little forward force. The underhand free throw had the same success as Duncan in making his bank shots.
Unfortunately, players didn’t think it was cool. Fans and players didn’t ridicule Berry because of his standing in the league. However, the shot didn’t catch on because it looked ridiculous. I assume the bank shot hasn’t caught on because it’s not cool.
Kids are taught to use the glass first to compensate for their lack of skill. Therefore, we can assume that the bank shot is considered inferior to the swish – a shot that shows a player isn’t as skilled as someone swishing the ball through the net. That’s likely why Pierce said he called game, not bank. It also may be why Duncan was known as the fundamental and not as a devastating scorer.
For Edwards, he’s unabashedly not concerned about being cool. He’s openly talking about wanting to be known for the bank shot because he sees it as a chance to grow his game. Likely, Edwards was told of the efficiency it could bring to his mid-range game and has devoted himself to doing anything he can to win. If Edwards can make the bank shot cool, it could lead to a Stephen Curry-esque level of kids growing up calling bank.
