Is RR Pogoy the best PBA Three-Pointer Shooter Today?

(c) PBA Media Bureau

I am pretty sure RR will never forget their last game against Ginebra, last Wednesday, Philippine Independence Day. It was a close affair against the formidable roster of Ginebra, and to win the game, they needed every piece of his record-breaking 10 three-pointers! 

Brgy. Ginebra entered the 4th quarter with an eight points lead. And then RR catches fire and nailed four three-pointers and two lay-ups to help TNT came from behind and win the game. Yes, RR got almost half of his scoring output, 16 points, in the 4th quarter.

The ten three-pointers of RR made him the fourth local player to knocked that much long bombs, together with Marcio Lassiter, Kenneth Duremdes and Allan Caidic.

With this performance, thus this legitimize him as the best three-point shooter in the league?

Let us check the numbers.

THREE-POINT MADE

- Looking back at the last four conferences and this conference, let us where RR ranks in terms of three-point connections. 

So, how did RR faired? (Imports were not counted)

2019 Com. Cup: 4.5 (#1)

2019 Phil. Cup: 2.5 (#5)

2018 Gov. Cup: 1.4 (#27)

2018 Com. Cup: 0.9 (#49)

2018 Phil. Cup: 0.7 (#57)

Remember that Coach Mark Dickel entered the picture of the coaching staff just last Governors' Cup. Thus, you can see a huge bump in the number of makes of RR in the 2019 Phil. cup, when the scheme of TNT was already fully employed. 

If we used these numbers, there is no way we could anoint him as the top three-point shooter today.

THREE-POINT EFFICIENCY

2019 Com. Cup: 47% (#9)

2019 Phil. Cup: 35% (#27)

2018 Gov. Cup: 28% (#61)

2018 Com. Cup: 26% (#47)

2018 Phil. Cup: 16% (#69)

Yes, RR is not the most efficient shooter. Even this conference where he just hit 10 out of 18 in a single game, he is only #9. RR attempted more than three beyond-the-arc shots in each conference, which speaks a lot about how good RR really is in knocking down three-pointers. 

CONCLUSION

He is not the best three-point shooter in the league today. He is more of a streaky shooter but his form looks good and he is still improving. Let us see how he fairs in the next several conferences before we even talk about this topic again.