Chris Bosh feels like he's getting a taste of his own medicine these days.
"It sucks," Bosh, at his locker in Miami, said on a Wednesday night. "It's not cool. I'm supposed to be the guy doing this stuff."
He should be in a good mood. Just minutes before, the Heat beat the Washington Wizards at home. Beyond that, Bosh has returned to the court after a scary situation with blood clots in his lungs that put him in the hospital for nine days and abruptly ended his 2014-15 season in January. But forget all that, because right now Bosh is miffed. Three years after he famously migrated to the perimeter during the Heat's 2012 championship run, formerly paint-dwelling big men are draining 3-pointers in his face.
Threes are way up overall. Judging from preseason numbers, the average team is shooting 11.2 percent more 3-pointers than last season, and now shoots more 3s (24.8 percent) than the 2004-05 Mike D'Antoni Phoenix Suns (24.7 percent) -- the NBA's seminal run-and-gunners. But the biggest gains are courtesy of the biggest men. Back in 1998-99, only 17.2 percent of NBA players 6-foot-9 or taller shot at least 10 3-pointers all season. In 2014-15, that number stood at 45.6 percent, up from 30 percent in 2010-11.
"It used to be, 'I'm the 4, I'm the low guy and the 5 is out [in the mid-range],' " Bosh said. "Now they're all over the place."
Bosh had better get used to it. And fast. More and more teams are following the Golden State Warriors' blueprint by pushing the tempo and playing at least four shooters at all times. After shirking the 3 last season, the Wizards have devoted themselves to the pace-and-space offense that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra coined five years ago. Welcome to the modern NBA, where you live by the 3 or die.
Though the play occurred more than a decade ago during an uneventful NBA regular-season matchup, Kris Humphries instantly recognized it.
"Oh, I remember this one," Humphries said as he pointed to the screen. "I banged it on 'em."
It's a Wednesday morning in the 2015-16 preseason, and the 31-year-old Wizards power forward is getting his knees wrapped in ice packs after the team's shootaround. I'm showing him a 30-second clip I dug up from early in his career, a nationally televised game on Dec. 10, 2004, against the Portland Trail Blazers. Humphries was a teenage rookie playing for the Utah Jazz alongside Howard Eisley, who is now an assistant coach for the Wizards.
As a nearby Marcin Gortat leaned in to join the viewing party, Humphries watched the film with a knowing smile as coach Jerry Sloan's normally surgical offense began to unravel. On the screen, with the shot clock draining down to zero, Utah backup center Raul Lopez kicked the ball out to Humphries, who had been waving his hands wildly above his head on the perimeter.
Humphries caught the pass, stepped into it with confidence and launched a 3-pointer.
"Bang," Humphries said as he watched the ball splash through the net.
Humphries couldn't believe it. Not the shot result, mind you. He was stunned that the shot existed on film.
"Wait, how'd you get that video clip, man?" Humphries asked. "The video from anything around that era wasn't any good."
If Humphries makes it sound like the play is a relic from a different era, consider this: It was almost 11 years ago, and it's the last time he made a 3-pointer in a real NBA game.
Now? Humphries is firing up 3s more often than Kevin Durant's career rate.
After the Wizards lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks, coach Randy Wittman sat down with Humphries and presented him with a challenge: Extend your range, extend your career.
The thinking was simple. Wittman liked what he saw when he slotted Paul Pierce at the 4 in the playoffs and how it opened up the floor for John Wall and Bradley Beal to do their thing. With limited salary-cap space this summer, Wittman envisioned Humphries as a possible in-house option as a stretch 4 in case Pierce left.
"We've been successful playing physical, but now we also have to be able to spread the floor," Wittman said. "You've gotta look at who you got. John's strength is getting the ball up the floor and we want to give him driving seams. He's going to find open people."
Wittman drew a comparison to the Warriors, who unleashed Stephen Curry in the open court with shooters. But Humphries would have to comply.
Pierce, of course, did leave. And after that summer meeting, Humphries immediately went into survival mode and got to work in the gym.
"I just went at it," Humphries said. "Trying to expand my game so I can play longer."
"It used to be, 'I'm the 4, I'm the low guy and the 5 is out [in the mid-range]. Now they're all over the place." Chris Bosh
The offseason training was evident during pregame warmups, when he fired off a total of 50 3-pointers from around the arc. After a rotation of standstill 3-pointers, a Wizards player development coach wasn't satisfied with Humphries quite yet. "Good," the trainer said. "Now, in transition."
Humphries drilled five 3-pointers on the move from the left wing, and again on the right. It looked like he had done this his whole career. Little did casual onlookers know that Humphries had shot 0-for-20 from downtown in the past decade.
This preseason Humphries knocked down 10 of 28 (.357) from 3-point range, averaging 5.9 attempts per 36 minutes. For comparison, he's shooting 3s more often than Kevin Love's mark last season (5.6) and more than Durant's career rate (4.2).
"I told him that you evolve in your career, as your career gets further along, you're not the kid that you once were when you first came into the league," Wittman said. "You've got to change and adapt."
Wittman has changed and adapted himself. Last season, only 20.3 percent of the Wizards' shots came from beyond the arc, the third-lowest rate in the league. In the playoffs, that number leapt to 29.6 percent, identical to that of the Hawks. This preseason, the Wizards basically maintained that rate at 28.3 percent, which would have been good enough for 13th in the NBA last season.
The Wizards also played at the second-fastest pace in the league during the preseason, just behind the Philadelphia 76ers. With more spacing, the Wizards averaged 117.3 points per game and posted a 112.7 offensive rating, the best preseason offense we've seen in the past five seasons.
First, it was Cody Zeller who took Bosh by surprise. In Bosh's first game back since battling blood clots, Zeller hit two 3-pointers on him. Zeller had previously taken two 3s in 144 career games. Bosh had to catch up.
"Zeller's shooting 3s now, it's crazy," Bosh said as he motions a shooting stroke. "Like, bop. He surprised me on that one. Now I know, OK, he's shooting 3s now."
Zeller was just the beginning. The next game it was Channing Frye. Then, in order, LaMarcus Aldridge, Terrence Jones, Paul Millsap. Each of those power forwards launched at least one 3-pointer against Bosh this preseason. Years ago, almost all of them would have taken full-time residence in the key. Not anymore.
But Bosh woke up on that aforementioned Wednesday thinking he'd catch a break. The Wizards were in town and their starting power forward was Humphries. No way he takes 3s, Bosh thought. Not Humphries, of all people.
And then the coaching staff handed Bosh a pregame scouting report. Yep, Humphries had joined the 3-party, too.
"We talked about it before the game that Hump is shooting 3s," Bosh said. "But the coaches said, 'No, don't run him off the arc.' "
Bosh followed orders and didn't contest Humphries on the perimeter.
"And then," Bosh said, "he lit me up for two [3s]."
