Reggie Jackson career 3P% before Pistons: .288

With Pistons: .350

Tobias Harris before Pistons: .318

With Pistons: .375

Ish Smith career 3P%: .298

With Pistons: TBD

So, did SVG just get lucky with Jackson and Harris? Maybe a little. But I don't think entirely so, and here is why.

At the risk of oversimplifying, there are three sorts of NBA 3P shooters: guys who are just not good at it (this would be Josh Smith), guys who are good enough at it that they can hit difficult 3P shots at a high enough rate to maintain an overall high 3P rate (these are your top 3P-as-a-primary-weapon guys, up to and including Stephen Curry), and guys who fall in between in the sense that they are good enough to hit quality 3P shots at a useful rate, but not good enough that their averages can survive a lot of lower-quality 3P shots.

And there really isn't anyone in the league better at understanding what is a good 3P shot, and how to get them, than SVG.

On top of that, we know the Pistons have a very thorough scouting operation for other NBA players. So, when SVG made a point of getting Jackson, and it was widely questioned how an apparently poor 3P shooter like Jackson could fit his system, I think SVG knew better--he knew that he could get Jackson good shots and that he would make them at an acceptable rate. Same thing when he grabbed Harris--recall many thought losing Ilyasova's shooting would hurt the Pistons in the short run, but I suspect SVG had good reason to hope not once Harris was playing in his system.

OK, so now SVG has made a point at getting Smith, and I don't think that is because SVG has abandoned the importance of decent 3P shooting in his PGs. Rather, I strongly suspect it is because he and his staff have thoroughly evaluated Smith's shooting, and determined it is likely he will be an acceptable 3P shooter in SVG's system.

In other words, don't be surprised if Smith is something like a 34-36% 3P shooter with us, because I would bet that something in that range is what SVG and his staff think they can get out of Smith.

And with that in mind, a couple bonus numbers: Ish last year had a 38.3% AST% to a 14.4% TOV%. The year before he had a 40.7% and 16.6%.

Do you know how many players last year had an AST% over 35% and a TOV% under 20%? Nine: Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, James Harden, Chris Paul, John Wall, Jrue Holiday, Dennis Schroder, our own Reggie Jackson, and Ish Smith. That's a nice-looking list.

So, a guy like that, shooting 34-36% on his 3P shots too . . . is a very valuable PG. And I would bet you dollars to donuts that is what SVG and his staff were thinking when they made Ish their top priority.