5 NBA 3-Point Shooters Who Need More Shots (and 5 Who Need to Chill) | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

As a general principle, Klay Thompson should take every open shot he gets. He's arguably the second-best sniper in league history, and we might go a couple of generations before we see someone with cleaner, more compact form.

The issue for him this season is that his diminished speed off the ball is making it harder to create the space necessary for clean looks. As a result, Thompson is pressing, forcing too many out-of-rhythm and contested attempts from all over the floor.

NBAĆentel @TheNBACentel

Klay Thompson is OFFICIALLY WASHED💔 <a href="">

The solution: Keep shooting. In fact, shoot more!

Thompson's shot selection was a topic of conversation in the early going last year, but he responded to the slow start by putting up perhaps the best two-month stretch of his career. Old habits die hard, though, and Thompson's lack of discretion resurfaced in the playoffs.

kingtisemedia @kingtisemedia

Steve Kerr couldn't believe what he just witnessed. <a href=""> <a href="">

This is simply part of the Thompson experience. He's going to take a lot of bad ones, because he's preternaturally confident and certainly hasn't forgotten how good it feels to score 37 points in a quarter or 60 in a game (with just 11 dribbles). Even more importantly, the apex version of the Golden State Warriors cannot exist without Thompson commanding maximum defensive attention away from the ball.

Thompson was 1-of-8 from three in yet another disastrous loss to the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 12, and head coach Steve Kerr closed the game with him on the bench—basically unheard of over the past dozen years. That might seem like evidence that Thompson should play and shoot less, but it's the opposite.

It's fair to say Thompson has slipped in many areas. He's not the defender he used to be, he has a harder time getting open off screens and he probably shouldn't shoot inside the arc unless it's a layup. But those shortcomings actually make it more important for Thompson to make an extremely high-volume impact from deep. Otherwise, he's not adding any value at all.

It's a cliché, and it comes with the caveat that Thompson must be better about letting the game come to him, but the only way for a shooter to escape a slump is to shoot his way out.