The three-point shot has become a bigger and bigger part of the game over the past decade as more teams realize that the long two-pointer is the worst shot in the game and the math for the extra point makes complete sense.

Three-pointers account for 25.3 percent of all field goal attempts league wide, well above the 16 to 18 percent shares the NBA averaged for most of the mid-2000s.

"We shoot too many 3s now," says Jeff Van Gundy. "We are out of whack. The numbers people have analyzed the game correctly, but we are eliminating a certain segment of NBA players."

"As analytics people take control of more teams, you'd think there will be more and more of this," says Rod Thorn, the NBA's president of basketball operations. "Obviously, there are more 3s being taken now. But we're still in the infancy of this, in terms of deciding whether it is good or bad for the game. Remember, we've had people pontificating that the 3-point arc is bad for the game for as long as the 3 has been around."