Klay Thompson is enjoying his best season as a pro, entering Wednesday's action as the league's ninth-highest scorer (a career-high 22.3 points per game) and fourth-best 3-point marksman (43.9 percent from beyond the arc, also a career best) for the league-leading 44-10 Golden State Warriors en route to the first All-Star berth of his NBA career. Just how sweet a groove is the 25-year-old swingman in these days? Well, apparently, he doesn't even need to see the basket to connect from long distance.
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Thompson recently visited ESPN's "Sport Science" to showcase the form and mechanics behind the hiccup-quick release on his jump shot. When the crew threw him a little curveball by cutting out the lights, though, Klay just kept right on keeping on. As it turns out, with apologies to Kathleen Hanna, he's no less dangerous with the lights out:
Thompson draining eight out of 10 triples without the benefit of actually being able to see the basket, as the broadcast claims he did, points toward the cumulative effect of the years and years of practice — the endless catch-shoot-catch-shoot reps, the tireless work to shave a split-second here and eliminate a wasted motion there — that go into building something that seems so effortless. I'm not sure Klay's got a 20-point checklist for his jumper, but the results sure seem to indicate that he's gone through a similarly rigorous process of refinement and repetition.
They also, interestingly enough, add one more layer of connectivity and comparison between Thompson and Kevin Love, for whom Klay was rumored to be traded this summer before talks between the Warriors' braintrust and the Minnesota Timberwolves broke off, leading to Flip Saunders eventually sending Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for a package headlined by 2014 No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins.
Back before Love was on his way out of the Twin Cities, though, the Wolves celebrated their All-Star power forward's marksmanship with a similarly styled promotional video:
So Love can hit 3s blindfolded, but Klay can hit them without any lights at all. Well, this seals it. Good job calling off the trade, Warriors. Smart non-move.
Hat-tip to SB Nation's Tom Ziller.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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