Ultimately the battle to improve three-point shooting likely comes down to the fight against human nature rather than applied physics. Dave Hopla is a shooting coach who has worked for several NBA clubs, including two seasons with the Raptors — one of which was the 2007-08 campaign, when the team shot a franchise record 39.2 per cent from deep, second in the NBA that year. “Guys have to want to put in the time, and they have to believe it’s important that they get better at this,” says Hopla, who can routinely go through a 500-shot workout without a miss. “You want be a great shooter? I always say: Shoot it correctly and shoot it more than anyone else. But that’s when the excuses come in. ‘I can’t shoot today because Kim Kardashian is having a new plastic surgery.’ ‘There’s low cloud cover in Brazil.’ There’s all kinds of excuses instead of making it a priority.”

Hopla is huge believer in tracking results and offering objective feedback. He’s logged every shot he’s taken in workouts for more than 40 years. As a coach, he delivered reports on every shot his players took in every game. In that sense, he’s a believer in the potential Noahlytics offers. As a shooting coach with another NBA team who is using the system put it: “It’s a great way for me to check if my perceptions are accurate, and it’s a visual representation of improvement for the player. It’s a sales tool more than anything else.”

Noahlytics is too new in Toronto for many players to have formed definite opinions, but there is curiosity around the system’s ability to give feedback on a shot-by-shot basis in real time. “I’ve tried it,” says Norm Powell, whose draft stock fell in part because he shot only 31 per cent from behind the shorter college line. “I like it more when it tells you when you’re going left of right than when it tells you how high you’re shooting the ball. I can’t really tell how to adjust yet, but the “minus-1 to the right, minus-2 to the left” helps you line up, and then it’s more your release point and follow through — making sure it’s coming off your fingers the same way. I’m looking forward to learning more about it and having time to use it.”

Says second-year centre Jakob Poeltl, who is trying to expand his shooting range: “At first it threw me off a little, because it was talking to me while I was shooting, but it’s good to check yourself really … I feel like once there’s a certain amount of data, I can look over it and see what kind of adjustments I need to make.”