Best 3-point shooters of all time | Dale Ellis
One of the best “catch and shoot” players of all time, Dale Ellis dropped a lot of long distance bombs on opposing teams throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
3-pt field goals made: 1719 (3rd all time)
3-pt %: .403
When Dale Ellis entered the NBA in 1983 shooting from downtown was way less popular than it is now. The 3 point shot was introduced only a few seasons ago and it took a while for it to gain popularity. Dale Ellis was one of the first players who started using three ball as one of his main weapons.
Dale wasn’t known as a shooter while playing for University of Tennessee but he always had the 3 point shot in his arsenal – he was just forced to play center as a youngster because of his height. He spent his first 3 seasons in Dallas and never averaged more than 10 points per game. In his 2nd and 3rd season he combined for 1175 points and 315 of them came from 3-point shots. In those two years only 3 players (World B Free, Bird and Hodges) hit more threes than Ellis.
In 1986 he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics and it turned out to be a career changing trade for him. He had suddenly become one of the league’s top scorers as he averaged almost 25 PPG. It didn’t come as a surprise that he also won the NBA Most Improved Player Award that season. Surprisingly, Seattle went all the way to the Western Conference Finals after missing playoffs the previous year.
Next season Ellis was one of three Seattle players who averaged more than 20 points (Ellis at 25.8 ppg, McDaniel at 21.4, and Chambers at 20.4). It was the first season when Dale made more than 100 threes but still he proved that he has become a much more versatile scorer – only 16% of his points came from threes. Unfortunately, SuperSonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
1988-1989 was probably his best season. He made his only All-Star game and won the 3-point contest. Only Micheal Jordan and Karl Malone averaged more points in 88-89 than Ellis (27.5 PPG). That season he made 162 3-pointers while having an outstanding 0.478 percentage from behind the 3-point line. Sonics made it to the second round of the playoffs in 1989.
He played only 55 games in the following season and then he was traded to Milwaukee. Dale’s playing time was significantly reduced there but it was still solid – close to 30 minutes per game. His minutes went up again when he was playing for the San Antonio Spurs from 1992 to 1994. Dale was a very effective scorer in San Antonio shooting nearly 50% from the field but he wasn’t getting any younger.
After these two seasons in San Antonio, at age 34, he signed with the Denver Nuggets. Many players retire when in their mid-30s but Ellis still managed to put together a string of 3 solid seasons in Denver. In 1996-1997 he averaged almost 17 points every night and that was his second best scoring season since leaving Seattle in 1990. However, he wasn’t shooting very well – 0.414 from the field. Dale really fell in love with the three ball that season as he made career high 192 3-pointers.
In the twilight of his career, Ellis returned to Seattle to play there for two seasons. Dale was just a couple of years removed from his 40th birthday but he was still good for 10 points every night. 1999-2000 was his last season in the NBA.
