The Best Three-Point Shooter of the Last 20 Years
Ray fell 49-45 to ReggieWe’ve played through the top 16 shooters of this generation, and today we can crown a champion. According to your votes, Reggie Miller is the best three-point shooter of the last 20 years, edging Ray Allen by the slimmest of margins, 49-45.
But we didn’t think that the debate should end there. While your votes make up the definitive, official answer to the question, we polled some members of the Dime office on this question for their take on Reggie vs. Ray.
Patrick Cassidy – Editorial Director
Without doing a detailed breakdown of the numbers, I’d have to go with Reggie. If you’re asking the question of who you would want to take the big shot for your squad, I think you have to go with Reggie every time. Ray’s jumper is ridiculous, but he’s almost too robotic. That’s great for knocking down open shot after open shot, but I don’t think he has the same stuff inside that Reggie had – the “I’m going to snatch your heart” mentality that Miller used when attacking big-time opponents in big-time spots.
Their respective shooting talents are negligible – their jumpers are two of the best ever. It’s the intangibles that clearly put Reggie on top. As nice as Ray is, I don’t think there are NBA players and teams out there living in fear of him like they did with Reggie back in the day. The guy who stirs fear in the heart of the enemy is the guy I want on my team, letting ‘em fly, every day.
Christian Grant-Fields – Lifestyle Editor
I absolutely hate Reggie Miller. I hate him the same way I hate Michael Jordan….pretty much because of the way they used to give my NY Knicks the full service buffet.
Reggie’s ratchet was ridiculous. I know if he suited up for the Celts last year he would have done his thing. The dude is automatic from out there….and at like 6′7 he gets his shot off on anyone. Let’s not talk about how he gets busy in the clutch. …Remember that Nets series from a couple of years back when he hit a three from like Half court?
…Then there is Ray Ray. His jumper is the smoothest I’ve ever seen. If I could shoot like one person it would have to be Allen. I was always a fan but started liking him alot after the series against Philly when he was on the Bucks and he had like 17 points in the 3rd.
Ray’s release is dumb quick and while you’re frontin his handle is underrated. He doesn’t need a screen or pick to get his shot off.
I am going with Ray. By the time he retires he probably will leave the game as the most prolific three point shooter in league history….surpassing Reggie.
Jesus Shuttlesworth for President!!!!
Jason Burke – Marketing Project Manager
No man, woman or child can knock down a corner tre like Ray Ray. He’s patient, modest and lets his J talk. Reg can shoot, but he didn’t carry himself like a champion. Plus, no one turns a child into an NBA thoroughbred like Jimmy Calhoun. Mr. Ray Allen wins, hands down.
Austin Burton – Associate Editor
Andrew Katz knows me well, and he assumed that, given my Seattle roots, I’d use this space to write an “open love letter” to Ray Allen. Not true. My vote for the best three-point shooter over the last 20 years is rooted in a personal bias — but it’s for Reggie Miller.
While the Sonics have been my team dating back to X-Man and Dale Ellis, Reggie was my favorite player for a long time. I guess it was for the same reasons that I’ve always liked Mike Tyson; Mike was a kid who (like me) got bullied as a youngster, but he grew up to be the baddest MF on the planet. With Reggie, here was this skinny guy getting pushed around by the ’90s Knicks, who played like a real-life version of “Arch Rivals,” and eventually he was able to find ways to slip into open spaces and slit their collective throats nonetheless. 25 points in the fourth quarter. Eight points in nine seconds. After a while, the tables were turned and New York — the self-proclaimed toughest place on Earth — abjectly feared Reggie Miller.
Given that, I always followed the Pacers’ playoff runs during the Miller era, which meant I got to witness the greatest clutch performer to step on the basketball court this side of Michael Jordan. I don’t know Reggie’s percentages off the top of my head, and maybe they aren’t better than Ray Allen’s, but I know that when it comes to one guy sticking one three-pointer with everything on the line, I want Reggie Miller. You can have anyone else.
Andrew Katz – Editorial Assistant
Putting all allegiances aside, I go Reggie because of the mental aspect of the game. Maybe it was the NBA on NBC music or that stupid pre-game bowing/kicking routine that Miller and Mark Jackson did, but watching Reggie wasn’t like watching a dead-eye shooter. It was like watching a home run hitter. For whatever reason, Reggie’s three’s meant more than anyone else’s. He was the guy that every team keyed on stopping, but absolutely no one could.
Some of our readers – namely Frankie and Ian – mentioned that we should revisit this debate in six years. I’m all for it – and I think that one thing will change then. Currently, we remember the absolute best moments of Reggie Miller. And with Ray, I’m guilty of envisioning him in a Celtics jersey – which isn’t the prime of his career. Maybe when we revisit this in six years I’ll look at Ray as a cold-blooded killer in his prime, but right now, it’s all Reggie.
Kyle Henry – Dime Intern
While Reggie was a great shooter, it’s Ray Allen all day for me. Reasons being: Ray Allen has a better all around game. People can say that this is just about shooting but I don’t care, Ray got better shots off because he had better moves to get to his spots without the flopping, acting and pushing off of Reggie Miller. Reason number two, Ray Allen is Jesus. Reason number three is that Reggie made his name off a couple games against the Knicks. I am a Knick fan.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
David Brandon says:
damn!! i JUST voted y’all!!
ok………ok…..i know, i was on CP time, but still.
*no, that doesnt mean chris paul time, for those outta the loop*
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
T Dubbs says:
This is an outrage. Reggie Miller is the best “clutch” 3-point shooter of all time, but not the best overall. Ray Allen shooting a jumper in general is like textbook artwork.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
ERIC says:
Good start for Mario Chalmers and Darrell Authur
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3567481
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
jeremy says:
you knick fans aren’t biased at all
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
sans says:
Reggie had a pretty unorthodox jumper that hit nothing but net all day.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
it aint easy being green says:
IM APPALLED!!!!!!!!!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Drink The Haterade (Kobe Rocks) says:
I absolutely hate Reggie Miller. I hate him the same way I hate Michael Jordan….pretty much because of the way they used to give my NY Knicks the full service buffet.
Thats so true, Reggie always struck fear in his opponents, Ray missed something like 20 some odd shots in a few games in last years playoofs, Reggie would’ve killed teams that left him open.
The 9 points against NY, where he mugged the PG was classic Ray is soft.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Kudabeen says:
Booo…
I guess I can see the whole “fear-factor” thing showing itself in how people remember Reggie. But like many have said Reggie was the most clutch and had some the more savvy (aka: dirty vet moves) ways of getting his shots and fouls…
I remember watching Ray hit like 27 striaght shots around the perimeter and just saying to myself “that’s the just pure”…
That and dude’s calf inspired my night in night out calf raises that had me at 5′8 13/14 yrs dunking…Sad part is at 6′1 now I barley attempt to dunk playing pickup…Not worth the inevitable undercutting…
Ray Guns got robbed based on NBA TV commercials and not on the comparable strokes themselves…
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Kudabeen says:
Ray Says This Is How You Do It:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPuD8bGdts
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Kudabeen says:
Ray Allen is Soft!??!
Don’t let the smooth taste fool you. He’d bust ya A$$!
Get Some Tracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wDJqH_J40&feature=related
Rare footage of Ray punchin it on cats heads. Dude is not soft:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3o2zkGwMo
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
weezy f says:
are you kidding me…ray allen was shootin in the dark a few years back..shootin and hittin!!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Drink The Haterade (Kobe Rocks) says:
@ 10 maybe Ray Ray would, but back in the day he would got killed.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
KingBruin says:
Reggie didn’t have slumps.
Ray Ray disappeared for awhile in the post-season last year and needed Pierce to hold him up.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Kudabeen says:
I know where you are coming from Hater, but I look at Ray’s games against guys he didn’t like or when people got him hyped and he gives people buckets. I don’t think He’d get killed as much, because he isn’t as stubborn as a MJ player that will keep attacking. Ray’s J would relieve a lot of stress. If Reggie can take the “beating” I think Ray is built to handle it too…
People forget, because no one cared about the Sonics, but Ray in Seattle was a beast. He played villain more there than his entire career combined. He had all his scuffles there (Dooling, Bowen, Kobe), called out Kobe and Vince, and he completely terrorized Utah for no apparent reason…
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Kudabeen says:
KingBruin (no bias there):
Reggies entire last year in the league was a slump!
32% anyone???
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Kudabeen says:
Slump or no slump Ray shot 39% from 3 in the playoffs and carved LA up when called upon to the tune of over 50% from 3.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Drink The Haterade (Kobe Rocks) says:
@ Kudabeen… I realize that in his own right Ray is a great shooter, but sometimes he takes shots that I think he should make 90% of the time and he doesn’t make them. I know he gives people buckets, but I would much rather have Reggie…
What tips the scale is that Reggie had that FU attitude everytime he stepped on the floor. Ray doesn’t always have that, he reminds me of KG in that respect, great thru the first 3-1/2 qtrs, but come time for that gut check and it’s clank, clank.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
dagwaller says:
Good contest. I would’ve liked to see Ray win, but I figured that there were more Reggie fans out there than Ray fans.
I guess to the guys that thought that clutch shooting was what put Reggie over the edge, I would just say that if Ray hits 2 threes in the first half, and Reggie hits the one in the clutch, Ray is still a better THREE POINT SHOOTER than Reggie.
Fortunately, I like both of these players, so no big deal…
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Big V says:
You should set this up next time as an actual poll instead of tallying up people’s responses and giving them multiple options to vote for the same guy (as I’m sure was the case here, for both Ray and Reggie). This is 2008, it ain’t that hard to design a poll……
And yes, I had Ray winning this one, hands-down. Clutch ain’t everything……
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Kudabeen says:
I hear you Drink…Haterade:
Reggie was the ultimate offensive villain, but I’ve seen Ray play the same role. I don’t know where you get Ray Allen is a choke artist from though. He just didn’t carve up a team that get as much undue hype as the Knicks and he didn’t play in the Jordan Era of clutch. Ray has his share of game winners and back breakers… Reggie was a demon, but his level of competition made him a demigod. You crush the Knicks (Reggie, Jordan and Crew) or if you are an Average player who plays for the Knicks your legacy is enhanced for reasons that have no statistical merit (Starks, Oakley, Herb Williams, Alan Houston, etc)
Point is Ray lights LA up in finals, plays respectable defense on Kobe, hits to the tune of 52% of his 3s, and hits multiple game breaking and winning buckets…yet people can still say this ‘Champion’ doesn’t deliver in the clutch?? Just doesn’t make sense…
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Drink The Haterade (Kobe Rocks) says:
I guess maybe its the fact that until this year, Ray really didnt go deep into the playoffs and he did do his thing against the lakeshow, but he was in a serious slump until then and he’s never eally been on tv, so thaty sort changes things. I will say when he’s on it’s lights out… But Reggie was the villian, a love to hate player, you either loved him or you hated him, Ray doesn’t have that going for him.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Luigi says:
k. ppl who sayn rays better hes not………
not until he retires..
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm
soitslikethat says:
The best man won. They both use the “3″ as a weapon. With Ray it’s a Swiss Army knife. With Reggie it’s a samaria sword, but it’s all good.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Ian says:
millers the best ever shootin the three
and comon people here are complaining that some votes reggie got was because hes a better clutch player
well since they both shoot around the same percentage
why not tie brake with clutch shootin or who makes the toughest shots or who has the FU attitude which is all reggie
reggie is the best
“With Ray it’s a Swiss Army knife. With Reggie it’s a samaria sword”
btw
frankie we got mentioned
September 4th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Camb0dia says:
I want Reggie Miller. You can have anyone else.
what happened to larry or MJ?
September 4th, 2008 at 5:42 am
S-SiN says:
Ray if we’re talkin form, but overall Reg gets my vote
September 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Kudabeen says:
Swiss Army knife vs Samurai Sword?
I want to argue and I don’t agree, but it’s too good a line…
Touche Soitslikethat…