Sacramento Kings take your best shot: Frank Mason
By Tyler Watts
A Royal Pain continues our take your best shot series with a projection of where Frank Mason should shoot from on the NBA court.
The Sacramento Kings drafted the Naismith College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award winner Frank Mason with the 34 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft. Mason had an outstanding senior year for the Kansas Jayhawks and now the 23-year-old transitions to the NBA.
Today, we take a look at Mason’s offensive game in an attempt to project where his most efficient shot comes from on the NBA floor. Without further ado, let us jump right into it.
Mason’s best shot
NCAA shot charts are difficult to come by these days, so let us take a look at his stats to see part of the story. Mason made a significant leap his senior year something that is expected when you are 22 playing against mostly players three and four years your junior. Throwing that all away and looking at his career shooting percentages tell me the only story I need. Mason shot 440 3-point attempts in his four years at Kansas, and he connected on 185 of those attempts. That is a sparkling 42.0% for his career from the 3-point distance. I know caveats apply (the line is further back in the NBA, and nobody shoots 42% from deep against NBA competition), but that is impressive.
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The worry is the number of attempts. Mason does not appear to be an aggressive 3-point shooter or perhaps as willing as the fantastic percentages suggest he should. For example, let us compare him against the college stats of perhaps the NBA’s current top 3-point marksman, Steph Curry. Curry in his three seasons at Davidson shot 1,004 3-point attempts and nailed 414 for a 41.2% connect rate. So, Mason shot a higher percentage than Curry, but could not muster half the attempts. I know Curry was the star of Davidson and Mason did not become the prominent player for Kansas until last season. In my defense, Curry’s minimum attempts in a season was 299. That is the better part of the former Jayhawks career total.
Frank Mason needs to be a willing 3-point shooter in the NBA. I believe that will be his most efficient shot in the league.
Final thoughts
Frank Mason needs to find his 3-point stroke to be successful in the NBA. I am interested to see Mason against NBA competition this season. He is under six feet tall and not regarded as a phenomenal athlete, so his adjustment to the league could be bumpy. I am a fan of his basketball IQ and drive, though. He should get opportunities to play for both Sacramento and the Reno Bighorns in the coming season. I will be a very interested observer in both cases. Stay tuned for more analysis on how Mason’s game is translating to the NBA.
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