On December 19, Beijing time, according to the US media The Athletic, Timberwolves center Carl Anthony Downs released a bold statement. He said: "I'm the strongest big pitcher ever, and that's the way it is. This remark caused a heated discussion among fans, most fans swiped the screen "Dirk (Nowitzki)" in response, and some fans said that among the active players, Embiid and Jokic can also fight.
Judging from the response of the fans, the vast majority of people disagree with Downs. If there may not be so much controversy in active duty, he mentioned history, and inevitably compared it with some Hall of Fame stars. Shouldn't the best big pitcher ever be Nowitzki?
If you look at the data, Nowitzki's career three-point shooting rate is 38%, there have been five seasons of more than 40% three-point shooting, he entered the "180 Club" in 2006-07, shooting 50.2%, shooting 41.6% from three-point range and shooting 90.4% from the free throw line.
What about Downs? The current career three-point shooting percentage is 39.7 percent, and this is Downs' seventh season, and there have been four seasons where he has shot more than 40 percent from three-point range. Towns never made it to the 180 club, largely because he was dragged down by his free throw percentage, having four seasons of shooting at least 50 percent from the field and at least 40 percent from three-point range, but the highest season of his free throw shooting percentage was 85.9 percent.
Some fans pointed out that Towns does project very well, but his data should not be compared with Nowitzki's 21-year career, after all, Towns is still at his peak, and when he is about to retire, the overall shooting rate may not be as good as Norwildon.
Still, Towns may really be called the strongest big pitcher in the game. Fans mention embiid and Jokic also have three-point ranges and their shooting percentage is not as good as Downs. So far in his career, Towns has shot 39.7 percent from three-point range, 42 percent this season, and has averaged at least 2.4 three-pointers per game for three consecutive seasons. Embiid shot just 33.1 percent from three-point range in his career and 36.9 percent this season, and has never averaged more than 1.3 three-pointers per game in a single season. Jokic's career three-point shooting percentage is 35 percent, this season's 38.1 percent, and he's never averaged more than 1.7 three-pointers per game in a single season.