>Nobody is arguing that open midrange shots are less efficient
>than 3's. But if you watch the flow of an nba game, most
>midrange shots taken--especially by "stars" are high degree of
>difficulty, off balanced, well defended shots.

smart players take smart shots -- it's why Rajon Rondo can dominate games even though his jumper is broke. it's also why Kyle Korver or Jason Kapono can have lengthy careers despite sucking at every part of basketball besides catching and shooting 3s.

Kobe can take and make from anywhere at an unbelievable clip. doesn't mean he's immune to charges of shitty shot selection.

it's just silly to say "shot x is superior to shot y" without any other context. open shots within a player's skillset are better than contested shots that might not be. shoot, contested shots within a player's skillset might be better than open shots for others -- again, need context. trying to condense to simple shot types just doesn't explain enough about the game.