The first question is how many zones do you want use and what layouts they represent. While we have various schemes at 82games we look at, a good place to start is with a "16 zone" plan.

Zone Breakdowns:
Zones 1 to 5 - the three point zones
Zones 6 to 10 - the "outside the paint" two point zones
Zones 11 to 14 - in the paint
Zone 15 - at the rim layups
Zone 16 - dunks

Another scheme we often use is an 8-zone layout where the 'mirror images' are combined, eg zones 1+5 = baseline 3's. 6+10 = baseline 2's, etc.

For this article we're going to look at the leading individual players by zone

Baseline 3's

Zone 1: Left corner three-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% SA  Bowen 49 108 .454 TOR  Peterson 38 93 .409 PHO  Johnson 38 81 .481 PHI  Korver 34 77 .442 MIA  E.Jones 29 69 .420 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% GS  Dunleavy 20 35 .571 TOR  Marshall 36 69 .522 SEA  Lewis 31 62 .500 MIA  D.Jones 17 34 .500 PHO  Johnson 39 81 .481

Zone 5: Right corner three-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% PHO  Johnson 46 90 .511 TOR  Marshall 38 90 .422 SA  Bowen 34 89 .382 HOU  Wesley 27 60 .450 NY  Crawford 27 59 .458 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% SAC  Mobley 18 30 .600 SAC  Stojakovic 19 33 .576 BOS  Davis 19 33 .576 MIA  D.Jones 26 49 .531 MEM  Miller 17 33 .515

Some guys earn a nice living by hanging out in the corners and waiting for a pass to set them up with a catch-and-shoot three. Bruce Bowen, Joe Johnson and Donyell Marshall all basically ranked in the top five for attempts from both the left and right corner, and the shooting percentages were definitely impressive in many cases. The question is can these guys survive without other big time offensive weapons drawing a defense's attention? We will see how many good corner looks Joe Johnson gets in Atlanta as opposed to feasting of the Nash/Stoudemire leftovers in Phoenix.

Wing 3's

Zone 2: Left wing three-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% SEA  Allen 95 237 .401 MIA  D.Jones 76 195 .390 PHO  Richardson 76 191 .398 PHI  Korver 74 181 .409 PHI  Iverson 53 170 .312 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% DAL  Terry 35 69 .507 NY  T.Thomas 26 53 .491 HOU  Barry 25 51 .490 MEM  Miller 56 116 .483 PHO  Johnson 39 81 .481

Zone 4: Right wing three-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% PHO  Richardson 95 254 .374 WAS  Arenas 81 212 .382 NY  Crawfored 68 183 .372 POR  Stoudamire 76 180 .422 PHI  Korver 69 163 .423 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% HOU  Sura 27 54 .500 MIA  D.Jones 69 148 .466 GS  B.Davis 39 85 .459 CHI  Gordon 42 92 .457 SAC  Mobley 37 81 .457

The wing three's are the most common three point shots (60% of three's come from zones 2&4 as opposed to 22% for the baseline three-point zones and 17% for the straightaway zone 3). That's not to say they are always good shots, as Mr. Iverson's zone two exploits point out! Q-Richardson cracks both the right side and left side most attempts leaderboards, but again it will be interesting to see how he performs without Nash, Stoudemire and Marion drawing more attention from the defense.

Straightaway 3's -- Zone 3

Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% HOU  McGrady 53 145 .366 WAS  Arenas 47 131 .359 POR  Stoudamire 42 118 .356 PHO  Richardson 30 96 .313 TOR  Alston 33 90 .367 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% LAL  Cook 27 53 .509 GS  Murphy 26 52 .500 ORL  Turkoglu 23 46 .500 DET  Billups 38 78 .487 DAL  Finley 24 51 .471

McGrady often likes to begin a play with the ball at the straightaway three-pointer zone -- giving him the triple threat option to pull up for the three, or drive left, or right to the basket. Despite having the straight on look at the basket, this was only tied for the second best three point zone. The order of shooting accuracy on a league wide basis goes zone 5 (right corner), then zone 1 (left corner) and 3 (straightaway), with a significant drop off to zone 4 (right wing) and then zone 3 (left wing).

Baseline two-point shots

Zone 6: Left baseline two-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% NY  K.Thomas 74 173 .428 DET  R.Wallace 61 147 .415 MIN  Garnett 65 141 .461 MIL  Mason 54 141 .383 LAC  Simmons 64 138 .464 Most accurate (Min 40 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% IND  Miller 27 42 .643 UTA  Bell 30 52 .577 MIN  Hassell 34 63 .540 BOS  Blount 34 63 .540 MIN  Szczerbiak 40 77 .519

Zone 10: Right baseline two-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% TOR  Rose 83 165 .503 TOR  Bosh 62 138 .449 NY  K.Thomas 69 129 .535 CLE  James 44 128 .344 DAL  Nowitzki 63 122 .516 Most accurate (Min 40 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% DAL  Terry 27 45 .600 CHI  Harrington 27 50 .540 NY  K.Thomas 69 129 .535 DEN  Miller 23 43 .535 ATL  Drobnjak 24 46 .522

Kurt Thomas shoots more baseline two's than anyone, and particularly from the right side he is very adept at making the shot. He should find many more good baseline opportunities in Phoenix. Toronto seemed to run a lot of plays last year that wound up with Bosh and Rose taking a right baseline J. Minnesota likewise may have had an over-reliance perhaps on the mid range jumpers at the expense of more three's and inside looks. Whereas Bruce Bowen sits behind the three point line, Hassell sits in front of it for his token offensive contributions.

Wing two-point shots

Zone 7: Left wing two-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% HOU  McGrady 93 219 .425 PHI  Iverson 78 206 .379 SAC  Bibby 70 180 .389 MIN  Cassell 87 167 .521 MIA  Wade 67 155 .432 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% TOR  Bonner 32 53 .604 BOS  Blount 31 54 .574 PHO  Nash 43 75 .573 PHI  Thomas 37 68 .544 MIN  Garnett 66 123 .537

Zone 9: Right wing two-pointers Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% DAL  Nowitzki 139 328 .424 ORL  Francis 75 205 .366 MIL  Redd 89 204 .436 DEN  Anthony 62 186 .333 HOU  McGrady 72 179 .402 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% PHO  Nash 59 106 .557 IND  Miller 50 92 .543 UTA  Eisley 33 62 .533 MIN  Szczerbiak 50 95 .526 CHA  Hart 41 79 .519

Steve Nash ranks #3 in accuracy on the left wing two-pointers, #1 in accuracy on the right side ones. He's not too shabby either on the straightaway two's as we will see in a moment. Meanwhile his old teammate Dirk Nowitzki lives on the right side, taking a vastly higher number of shots from zone nine than anyone else in the league. And yes, Minnesota has some great mid-range shooters, but when we get to correlating team shot selection by zone to wins and efficiency (in the next article) we'll have some comments to make about that...

Straightaway two-pointers -- Zone 8

Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIN  Garnett 74 161 .460 PHI  Iverson 57 154 .370 SAC  Webber 63 149 .423 HOU  McGrady 67 146 .459 ORL  Francis 59 142 .415 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIL  Williams 56 92 .609 PHO  Nash 55 96 .573 NO  Brown 42 75 .560 DAL  Terry 31 59 .525 UTA  Bell 33 63 .524

Steve Nash was amazing from zones 7, 8, and 9. Locations on the court from which the league as a whole shot .389, .412, and .386 respectively saw Nash fire .573, .573, .557 -- best midrange shooter period. Now partly it's because he can create a good look by his omnipresent threat to drive or deliver a dazzling pass. Kudos to PJ Brown for knocking down the above the free throw line jumpers. Let's hope the year in Oklahoma City brings more team success to the Hornets and this "ultimate pro" especially.

"High Paint" shots

Zone 11: Left side "high" in the paint shots Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% LAC  Brand 44 91 .484 MIN  Garnett 36 79 .456 HOU  Ming 25 65 .385 SA  Duncan 19 64 .297 PHI  Iverson 26 64 .406 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% ORL  Hill 29 49 .592 TOR  Bosh 23 39 .590 SEA  Allen 25 44 .568 MIN  Szczerbiak 21 40 .525 DEN  Boykins 23 45 .511

Zone 12: Right side "high" in the paint shots Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% LAC  Brand 24 64 .375 MIN  Garnett 27 59 .458 DAL  Nowtizki 25 57 .439 DET  Hamilton 21 55 .382 CLE  McInnis 26 51 .510 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% PHO  Stoudemire 23 45 .511 CLE  McInnis 26 51 .510 BOS  Pierce 15 30 .500 IND  O'Neal 19 40 .475 SA  Parker 14 30 .467

While you might expect that shots closer to the basket would show a higher average field goal percentage, that's not entirely true. Certainly when you are at point blank range the FG% skyrockets, but high in the paint shots are actually low percentage -- .366 for zone 11 and .353 for zone 12. You won't be open from that location often, and frequently you'll have to contend with help defenders reaching in for the steal or even double teaming on contesting the shot! Zones 11 and 12 are arguably NBA "no man's land" for shot attempts.

"Low Block" shots

Zone 13: Left block in the paint shots Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIA  O'Neal 62 149 .416 SA  Duncan 54 127 .425 MIN  Garnett 49 120 .408 LAC  Brand 46 113 .407 CHA  Ely 45 110 .409 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% LAC  Rebraca 29 36 .806 DET  McDyess 23 38 .605 CHI  Harrington 17 31 .548 MIN  Olowokandi 25 47 .532 DET  Prince 28 55 .509

Zone 14: Right block in the paint shots Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIA  O'Neal 53 125 .424 CHI  Curry 41 112 .366 HOU  Ming 45 91 .495 PHO  Stoudemire 23 87 .264 SA  Duncan 43 87 .494 Most accurate (Min 30 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIN  Szczerbiak 18 31 .581 PHO  Johnson 27 49 .551 TOR  Rose 34 66 .515 BOS  Blount 17 34 .500 DAL  Daniels 16 32 .500

There's a key note on these numbers -- we have separate breakouts for Dunks and 'at the rim' layups, which means the zone 13 and zone 14 shots are the ones which came short of point blank range and usually are heavily contested. If you include layups, dunks and the low block shots together, it's high percentage territory, but the non point blank close shots are surprisingly hard to hit in the NBA. Even the mighty Shaq can be constrained if you can get him to shoot a little ways away from the basket.

"At the Rim" shots

Zone 15: at the rim layups Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% PHI  Iverson 313 539 .581 MIA  Wade 256 481 .532 SA  Parker 297 457 .650 NY  Marbury 265 432 .613 CLE  James 258 410 .629 Most accurate (Min 125 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% ORL  Hill 163 219 .744 MIN  Szczerbiak 132 185 .714 BOS  Blount 100 140 .714 DEN  Miller 207 292 .709 SEA  Daniels 95 134 .709

Zone 16: Dunks Most attempts Tm Player FGM FGA FG% MIA  O'Neal 258 273 .945 PHO  Stoudemire 238 261 .912 DEN  Martin 166 180 .922 ORL  Howard 161 172 .936 PHO  Marion 143 152 .941 Most accurate (Min 50 Att) Tm Player FGM FGA FG% CLE  James 128 130 .985 BOS  Davis 59 60 .983 UTA  Boozer 54 55 .982 LAC  Brand 73 75 .975 DEN  Johnson 61 63 .968

These are the glamour zones -- the players who can get to the rim for layups and dunks are generally going to be your superstars: Iverson, LeBron, Wade, Shaq, Stoudemire. Let's not overlook the guys who may not get there as often but can finish when they do, like Grant Hill and his league leading zone 15 percentage.

If you add the at the rim layups and dunk attempts together, the league leaders are:
1. Shaq
2. Stoudemire
3. Wade
4. Iverson
5. LeBron
6. Parker
7. Anthony
8. Marion
9. Marbury
10. J-Rich

Who will climb into the top ten (and higher) for 05-06? We'd guess that Dwight Howard (#13 in at the rim FGA last year) will make some big noise inside!

The follow up article to this will look at team based shooting by zones and the relationship to winning.