Bulls’ sharpshooter Matt Thomas astounding shooting from the corners
More than halfway through the regular season, the Chicago Bulls are sitting in a good spot in the Eastern Conference standings. And one of the major driving factors to the offensive success that the Bulls found so far this season is their efficient three-point shooting. The Bulls rank second in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage so far this season, at a clip of 37.6.
One of the most efficient three-point shooters of late for the Bulls is the former Utah Jazz and Toronto Raptors sharpshooting guard/wing Matt Thomas. After leading the NBA two seasons ago in three-point shooting percentage at an insane clip of 47.5, Thomas is starting to find his stroke from downtown for the Bulls a little more than halfway through this season.
Through 26 games played for the Bulls so far this season, Thomas is shooting a solid 42.2 percent from beyond the arc on around 2.5 attempts per game. That is a major improvement compared to his shooting numbers from deep during the 2020-21 campaign.
Thomas had a down stretch in terms of shooting efficiency in the 19 games he played in with the Jazz last season. He shot just 25.6 percent from beyond the arc with the Jazz last season. And that led him to post a career-low 33.8 three-point shooting percentage as a whole during the 2020-21 campaign.
Yet, this is a nice bounce-back campaign it seems in terms of shooting efficiency for Thomas in his first year with the Bulls. After a slow start to the season where Thomas shot just 1-of-7 from three in the first month, he’s really turned it on in the last two months.
Since the start of December, Thomas is shooting north of 45 percent from beyond the arc. That is the best three-point shooting percentage of any Bulls player during that stretch.
Where Thomas is really lethal shooting from beyond the arc, though, is from the corners. According to NBA advanced stats, Thomas is only shooting just north of 36 percent on three-point attempts above the break this season. Meanwhile, he is shooting nearly 59 percent on corner-three-point attempts.
Matt Thomas putting up some elite shooting numbers from the corners for the Chicago Bulls this season
This is not the first time that he’s really made his money living from the corners either. Last season, he shot more than 10 percent better from the corners than from above the break on three-point attempts. That was also the narrative when he led the NBA in three-point shooting percentage two seasons ago.
Thomas is in rare company this season in terms of his corner-three-point shooting. Among eligible players, he is one of only four players in the NBA that are shooting better than 55 percent on corner-three-point attempts where they take at least 20 percent of their looks from that spot downtown.
The other three are Dallas Mavericks big man Dwight Powell, San Antonio Spurs wing Keldon Johnson, and New Orleans Pelicans guard Josh Hart.
Moreover, the only other Bulls player that even comes close to touching Thomas’ efficiency in terms of his three-point shooting from the corners is star shooting guard Zach LaVine. The potential soon-to-be two-time All-Star LaVine is shooting 53.7 on corner three-point attempts this season. But LaVine only takes around 13 percent of his three-point attempts from the corners, so his volume from that spot is pretty low.
This is part of the problem for Thomas too. While Thomas is proving that he is truly one of the elite corner three-point shooters in the NBA, he’s not getting much of an opportunity to let them rip from that spot. Thomas is only taking around 0.7 three-point attempts per game this season from the corners.
Considering the fact that Thomas is one of the best in this department in the NBA, it feels like should be getting a larger volume and frequency of looks from this spot. He’s only taking around 26.6 percent of his three-point attempts this season from the corners.
Most of the other elite catch-and-shoot threats that are really lethal from the corners, such as Thomas, are taking a minimum of around 30-35 percent of their three-point attempts this season from the corners. That should be the frequency of three-pointers he’s taking from the corners too.
Yet, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and his staff are still having Thomas take most of his three-point attempts from above the break even in the last month. This is one very obvious adjustment that Donovan can make in games where Thomas is getting a heavier workload off the bench.
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Following a win over the Portland Trail Blazers over the weekend at home by a convincing double-digit margin, the Bulls are sporting a record of 31-18. Next up for Thomas and the Bulls is a meeting with the Orlando Magic at home on Feb. 1.