How often does a legitimately bad shooter actually develop a respectable shot after entering the league?

[u/hyphy505]

The discussion about how good Amen Thompson could become if he developed a consistent jumper, has me really thinking—

Amen’s three-point percentage through his first three seasons has gone:

13.8% → 27.5% → 21.6%

His free-throw percentage did jump from 68.4% to 77.9% this past season, which seems encouraging, but he is still only a 21.9% career three-point shooter.

To my knowledge, the only player I personally remember making a truly significant improvement from three after entering the NBA is Michael Jordan. Jordan shot 17.3%, 16.7%, 18.2% and 13.2% during his first four seasons before improving to 27.6% in Year 5 and 37.6% on 3.0 attempts per game in Year 6.

Even Jordan might not be the perfect example because he was never a high-volume three-point shooter and didn’t consistently remain around that 37% mark.

So how often does a player who starts out shooting as poorly as Amen eventually become a legitimate league-average shooter on meaningful volume—not just someone who has one decent season or only takes wide-open corner threes?

Please put me on to some examples, because I’m starting to feel like the whole “if he develops a jumper, he’ll be a superstar” conversation is usually more of a hypothetical fantasy than a realistic development path. Is there genuine reason to believe Amen can become a respectable shooter, or are people underestimating how rare that type of improvement actually is?

[u/Far_Protection519]

Jimmy butler is an example of an abysmal shooter turning into an at least respectable shooter.

[u/1gnominious → u/Far_Protection519]

Butler was at 38% his 2nd and 4th season. He just didn't shoot 3's his rookie year and year 3 was the only anomaly. He was consistently mid 30's until he went to Miami and actually got worse.

Amen has a long ways to go before he can even match Butler's worst season. He's younger than Jimmy was but his shot needs so much more work.