There is precedent for the breakout Ron Holland needs for the Pistons

Ron Holland II needs to develop his 3-point shooting to morph into the wing the Detroit Pistons need him to be, and luckily there is plenty of precedent for bad shooters improving in the NBA. 

Holland is a tenacious defender and agent of chaos who thrives in the open court, but his lack of offense in the half-court made him virtually unplayable in the postseason. 

Modern NBA wings can’t get away with not having a shot, unless you are a guy like Ausar Thompson who does a lot of other things on that end, particularly acting as a connector and being a plus offensive rebounder. 

Holland has no dribble game to speak of and isn’t much of a passer, though he is a decent rebounder on the offensive end. 

But it’s difficult to play a guy in the playoffs who the other team doesn’t have to guard, as Holland is not much of a threat to attack the rim off the bounce (unless it’s in transition) and shot 25 percent from 3-point range. 

Teams are just going to sag off him until something changes and the easiest path would be for Holland to improve his 3-point shooting, and there is precedent for that happening. 

There are models for Ron Holland II to follow 

There have been plenty of players who have improved their shooting throughout their careers, and Holland has the advantage of being younger than all of them. 

You immediately think about guys like Jason Kidd, a poor outside shooter who barely looked to take them but eventually morphed into a good 3-point shooter. 

You could say the same about guys like Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, who were both helped by the same shooting coach who is currently trying to fix Holland. Ball in particular had an awful release that improved year over year. 

Perhaps the player who is most like Holland is from the deep past in Bruce Bowen, who came into the league as a defensive player who barely shot from beyond the arc. 

He didn’t start really shooting them until later in his career (he was 25 as a rookie) and eventually led the league in percentage, mostly shooting from the corner for the Spurs and eventually becoming the prototype for the modern 3-and-D player. 

I would concede that most of these players were better shooters than Holland to begin with, but Holland is younger (just turned 21) and has shown signs. 

He shot 80 percent from the free-throw line last season, and his 3-point shooting started to pick up at the end of the regular season. 

In the last 15 regular-season games, Holland shot just over 40 percent on 2.1 attempts from long range per game. It’s a small sample size, but if Holland could get anywhere near that next season, it would be a huge boost for the Pistons’ bench. 

Holland has time, and there is precedent for him to follow, but he’ll need those types of numbers if he wants to crack the playoff rotation next year. 

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