Remember when we were all laughing at Tony Snell for providing us with his biggest claim to fame? His impossible, miraculous, how-the-heck-does-a-professional-NBA-player-do-this stat line of 0-0-0-0-0-28?
Well, that was the 2017 version of Snell. And though that may be the thing for which he'll be remembered best — similar, though not to the same extent, to how an All-Star like Bill Buckner is only remembered by many for one play — he's added a second notable stat line to his resume. This time, it wasn't filled with zeros. It wasn't laughable. And it wasn't anything that we'd ever seen before.
Really? A player that averaged 5.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game did something that crazy? Yes — instead of looking at the counting stats, take a gander at the percentages to the right of those numbers on your typical basketball card or statistics website. There, you'll find that Snell shot 51.5 percent in 171 field goal attempts, 56.9 percent on 109 three-point attempts, and 100 percent on 11-11 from the free throw line for the 2020-21 Atlanta Hawks. Fifty. Fifty. One hundred.
Want to know how many players have done that in league history, with a minimum of 100 field goal attempts? One. And his name is Tony Snell.
Is it as impressive as going 50-40-90, which is the typical trademark for efficient excellence on the court and is usually reserved for the very best players in the league, including Kyrie Irving this year? No, it's not, and there's no two ways about that, because Snell's sample size and workload is just a fraction of the members of that prestigious group.
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But it's pretty damn impressive. Heck, Snell went 40-40-100 last season — that's right, he hasn't missed a free throw in two years — and decided to add another digit to the tens place in those percentages from the field. Even if you take away that 100 percent free throw requirement, the group of 50-50 players with at least 100 attempts from long-range is a very small club (via Stathead):
As you can see, every other player on the list had a larger offensive role with their teams when they were able to go 50-50. Interpret that as you will — if it makes this Snell stat a little bit less impressive, so be it — but know that the days of 0-0-0-0-0-28 Snell are in the rear-view mirror.
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