Can He Bounce Back? Is a new series here at NBAPlaybook, and in it we will be looking at players that had a rough 2010 and determine whether or not it was a fluke or a start of a trend.

This past season, Richard Jefferson had one of the worst years of his career.  His 12.3 points per game was his lowest since his rookie year in 2001 (when he averaged just 24 minutes per game) and his PER of 13.18 was the lowest of his career.

Where He Struggled

Three Point Shooting

Richard Jefferson’s shooting percentage actually increased from 2008-2009 (43.9%) to last season (46.7%), but his shooting accuracy dropped from a few key locations, and his True Shooting percentage reflects that.  This past season, Jefferson’s True Shooting percentage was 55.1% (Compared to 55.4% two years ago).

The most important location where Jefferson saw his shooting percentage drop from was the three point line.  Jefferson’s 31.6% from behind the arc was the lowest of his career since the 2002-2003 season (and a steep decrease from his 39.7% clip last year).

Getting To The Rim

While Richard Jefferson’s three point shooting declined, his FG% on shots at the rim actually increased by a pretty wide margin.  Jefferson went from 57% two years ago to 67.7% this past year.  The problem though is that he wasn’t able to get to the rim like he used to.  Jefferson’s attempts at the rim dropped from 4.0 a game two years ago to 3.1 last year.  I know it doesn’t seem like much, but extrapolate that over the course of a full season, and that is a pretty big dip in attempts.

The reason Jefferson’s attempts are down is that he just doesn’t have the same athletic ability that he had in the beginning of his career:

In the above video, Jefferson grabs the rebound and brings the basketball up the court.  Jefferson basically has an one on one situation here.  In the prime of his career, Jefferson takes that ball to the rim strong, but instead he pulls it out.  This forces him to pick up his dribble, and leads to a turnover.

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