Oh, Charles. Go home, you're drunk.

“They’ve had a terrific season,” the Hall of Famer-turned-analyst said. “But I don’t like jump-shooting teams. I don’t think you can make enough jumpers to win four series in a row. I’ve said that for 25 years, not just now. I think you physically manhandle them inside.

It's like everyone is getting the memo, but they aren't reading it. Yes, traditionally, "jump shooting" teams have a very hard time in the playoffs. Exhibit A is Flip Saunders, whose teams have ended almost all of their playoff runs via first round exit.

It's also true that, traditionally, "jump shooting" teams meant teams that shoot lots of long range, TWO-POINT jump shots. When Charles spouts off about how jump shooting teams do not win titles, he sounds a little out of touch. Lumping in midrange shots with three-pointers is the highest form of "basketball illiteracy". One's the worst shot in basketball; the other is the best. The fact that the shooting technique on both is similar is irrelevant.

When we look at the finalists of the last few years, though, we fail to see any sort of problem with "jump-shooting" teams, if by "jump-shooting", you really mean three point shooting (champions in bold):

Team	Year	3PA	3FG%
GSW	2015	4th	1st
CLE	2015	2nd	5th
SAS	2014	17th	1st
MIA	2014	15th	12th
SAS	2013	7th	5th
MIA	2013	6th	2nd
MIA	2012	23rd	10th
OKC	2012	12th	11th
MIA	2011	15th	7th
DAL	2011	5th	11th
LAL	2010	10th	24th
OKC	2010	23rd	25th

The Lakers are the only champion in that list that wasn't in the top half in three-point percentage. It sure seems like shooting the three is important.

Not All Jump Shots

More importantly, though, Charles is just flat out wrong. The primary thing that Steve Kerr has changed from Mark Jackson's tenure is to make Golden State LESS of a jump shooting team. Golden State's shot distribution is as follows:

	2014	2015
At the Rim	28.6% (18th)	26.4% (21st)
3 - 10 feet	14.5% (22nd)	17.6% (13th)
10 - 16 feet	10.4% (15th)	10% (22nd)
16 feet - 3pt line	15.4% (21st)	16.9% (21st)
Beyond the Arc	31.1% (7th)	29.1% (9th)

So it seems that the Warriors take a below average amount of 2-point jump shots (3ft - 24ft). And relative to Mark Jackson, there are fewer shots from the midrange, and more at the rim or beyond the arc. Yes, many of their shots are three-pointers, but there are plenty of teams ahead of them that Chuck would NOT call "jump-shooting" teams, like the Rockets, Cavs, and Clippers.

So I am left scratching my head and asking myself what the heck Charles meant when he called the Warriors a "jump-shooting" team. Or what he meant when he said that "you physically manhandle them inside", because that sounds a lot like he's talking about how you attack their defense...but...um, why does the number of jump shots a team takes have anything to do with their defense? If he is talking about how you defend against the jump shooting team, then, again, um.....if the jump shooting team is shooting jumpers, you don't have to manhandle them inside...do you?