Taking a Different Approach

Over the past decade, NBA offenses have undergone a drastic shift in their approach.

Heavily influenced by the prominence of sharpshooters such as Stephen Curry, offenses around the league started to abandon mid-range jumpers in favor of a high volume of three-point attempts.

For reference, in 2010, the NBA team with the lowest percentage of offensive production coming from the mid-range was the Orlando Magic, which produced 13.7% of its offense from that zone.

This past regular season, however, the Sacramento Kings scored the highest percentage of their offensive goals from the mid-range, at just 11.2%.

These numbers make sense when considering the philosophical changes we have seen teams make in their approach to offense. Coaches, players, and general managers alike have often emphasized the importance of finding players who can either get to the rim or shoot the three.

In many ways, it seems that the consensus has become that shooting too many mid-range jumpers is a recipe for disaster from an offensive standpoint. That sentiment is one of many reasons these current playoffs have been so fascinating.

Of the four remaining teams competing for the title, three (New York, Indiana, and Oklahoma City) ranked among the top seven teams in the league in terms of mid-range production.

Even much of Oklahoma City’s success in Thursday evening’s win over Minnesota can be attributed to the team’s success in the mid-range, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (league MVP) and Jalen Williams combined to hit 15 jump shots inside the arc.

While the league as a whole has steadily been moving away from shooting mid-range jumpers, it has been interesting to see how the majority of the teams that have made deep runs in this year’s playoffs have been able to do so by taking a slightly different approach than what has become customary around the league.

As followers of Jesus, we live in a world that constantly bombards us with its ideas and “strategies” for living life.

Our culture's common messages tell us that we should prioritize making as much money as possible, living for personal satisfaction and enjoyment, or focusing on becoming popular in society.

But because the Bible gives us a different “strategy” for life, we must choose a different approach.

1 John 2:15-17 (ESV) says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

While the world tells us to indulge in our passions and desires and to focus on pleasing ourselves, the Bible tells us to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23), resist our evil desires (James 1:14-16), make it our aim to please God (2 Corinthians 5:9) and to prefer others ahead of ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

Embracing the lifestyle we have been called means intentionally filling our hearts and minds with God’s truth so that we remain rooted in our faith.

Since the anti-Christian messages sent by culture reach us regularly, we cannot be so naive as to think that we can rightly combat those messages by just occasionally reminding ourselves of the truth.

Instead, we must actively reject thoughts or “strategies” contradicting God’s ways and fill our minds with the appropriate truths.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB) says, “We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Romans 12:2 (NIV) reminds us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Today, let’s recognize that God has called us to take a vastly different approach to life from what we see modeled by the world. In faith, let us strive to live according to God’s principles so that we might glorify Him and experience maximum joy by doing things His way.

I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me recognize anything I believe that does not align with Your truth. Give me strength and wisdom to embrace the life that You have called me to live so that You might be glorified. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.