Do not copy your favorite NBA player. Copy the one whose game already looks like yours. Answer three questions: where your shots come from, who has the ball when you score, and who you can guard. The answers point to one of eight archetypes, and each archetype has a model pro whose 2025-26 shot diet you can compare against your own. Then copy one habit, not the highlight: the way he relocates, the pace change before the pull-up, the angle of the screen. That is the part that transfers to your level.
| Archetype | You, if you... | Study | His 2025-26 shot diet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-up scorer | Score off the dribble from 10 to 18 feet | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 28.5% mid-range, 26.3% at the rim |
| Crafty guard | Score with floaters, angles and footwork | Jalen Brunson | 28.8% floaters, 35.5% threes |
| Shooter | Get open without the ball | Stephen Curry | 60.6% threes |
| Downhill guard | Beat people with speed to the rim | Anthony Edwards | 22.2% at the rim, 41.8% threes |
| Tempo creator | Control the game with pace and passing | Luka Doncic | 47.6% threes, 25.1% floaters |
| 3-and-D wing | Guard the best scorer and hit open threes | Mikal Bridges | 43.6% threes, 22.9% at the rim |
| Rim-running big | Screen, roll, finish and protect the rim | Jarrett Allen | 54.3% at the rim, 1.8% threes |
| Connector | Pass from the middle and do a bit of everything | Nikola Jokic | 34.8% floaters, 28.7% at the rim |
Shot diets are the share of each player's 2025-26 field-goal attempts by zone, from HoopBrief's free how-to-guard reports. "Floaters" means short attempts in the paint outside the restricted area.
Why archetypes beat positions
"Point guard" and "shooting guard" describe where you stand, not how you play. In 2012, Muthu Alagappan presented a paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference that clustered 452 NBA players from the 2010-11 season by how they actually played, and found 13 functional types instead of five positions, from "shooting ball-handler" to "paint protector". Later work kept reaching the same conclusion: a 2022 study in the Journal of Sports Analytics found eight tracking-data archetypes that explained winning better than the traditional five positions. The exact number matters less than the idea: two players with the same position can need completely different skills.
That is why copying the wrong star goes wrong. A 5-foot-10 point guard who worships Luka Doncic will spend hours on step-back threes and post-ups that his body cannot use yet, when Jalen Brunson's footwork or Tyrese Maxey's speed would help him this season.
Find yours in three questions
1. Where do most of your shots come from? Track your last three games. Split every shot into four buckets: at the rim, short range in the paint, mid-range and three. This is the single most useful thing a player can know about his own game, and almost nobody tracks it.
2. Who has the ball when you score? If most of your points come after you dribble, you are a creator: pull-up scorer, crafty guard, downhill guard or tempo creator. If they come after someone else passes to you, you are a finisher: shooter, 3-and-D wing or rim runner.
3. Who can you guard? Be honest. The answer separates a 3-and-D wing from a shooter, and a rim-running big from a connector.
Now compare your shot split with the table. You will rarely match anyone exactly, and that is fine. Look for the closest shape: mostly rim, mostly three, or a mid-range and floater game.
Track your own shot diet
You need three games and a simple chart. Watch the film or have a teammate keep score, and log every shot you take in one of four buckets.
| Bucket | Makes | Attempts | Share of your shots |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the rim | 9 | 14 | 30% |
| Floaters and short paint shots | 4 | 11 | 24% |
| Mid-range | 3 | 8 | 17% |
| Three | 5 | 13 | 28% |
That example player took 46 shots over three games. To get each share, divide the bucket's attempts by the total. A shot diet spread fairly evenly like this one, with a real share at the rim and a real share of threes, looks most like Anthony Edwards or Mikal Bridges. More than half at the rim points toward a downhill guard or a rim runner. More than half from three points toward a shooter. A lot of floaters and mid-range pull-ups points toward Jalen Brunson or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Keep the chart. Run it again in six weeks, after you have worked on your pro's habit, and see whether the shape of your game is moving the way you wanted.
The shot diets side by side
Here is how differently the model players score, using the same four buckets you tracked:
| Player | At the rim | Floaters | Mid-range | Three |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 26.3% | 23.0% | 28.5% | 22.2% |
| Jalen Brunson | 14.4% | 28.8% | 21.3% | 35.5% |
| Stephen Curry | 15.3% | 12.1% | 12.0% | 60.6% |
| Anthony Edwards | 22.2% | 16.6% | 19.4% | 41.8% |
| Luka Doncic | 11.2% | 25.1% | 16.1% | 47.6% |
| Mikal Bridges | 22.9% | 17.3% | 16.2% | 43.6% |
| Jarrett Allen | 54.3% | 37.9% | 5.9% | 1.8% |
| Nikola Jokic | 28.7% | 34.8% | 10.4% | 26.1% |
Two things stand out. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the best scorers in the league, takes more mid-range shots than threes, which should comfort every player who is told the mid-range is dead. And Jarrett Allen built an NBA career on a shot diet that is more than 90% in the paint, because screening, rolling and finishing is a job teams need filled.
Copy the habit, not the highlight
Every one of these players has a highlight you could copy. None of them got there because of it. Copy the habit underneath:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: the change of pace before the pull-up. He wins with rhythm, not speed. Our Shai breakdown shows how.
- Jalen Brunson: pivot footwork and using his shoulder to create space. See play like Jalen Brunson.
- Stephen Curry: relocation after the pass. Most of his threes start with movement, covered in play like Steph Curry.
- Anthony Edwards: the first step and finishing through contact. See play like Anthony Edwards.
- Luka Doncic: pace changes and patience in the pick-and-roll. See play like Luka Doncic.
- Mikal Bridges: closeouts and staying attached to scorers, then a simple catch-and-shoot.
- Jarrett Allen: screen angles and rolling hard every time, even when he does not get the ball.
- Nikola Jokic: reading the defense before he catches it. Bigs should also look at play like Victor Wembanyama.
If you are a smaller guard, read the undersized guard handbook before you pick your pro.
How to study your pro
Pick ten possessions, not ten highlight clips. Watch five where he scores and five where he does not, and write down what he does before he touches the ball: where he stands, how he gets open, what he reads. Our method for studying a player in 10 possessions walks through it.
Then pick one habit and live with it for about four weeks: drill it in workouts, try it in pickup, and check whether your shot diet starts to change. Research on sport expertise suggests that elite players' real advantage is in reading cues early, which is exactly what you learn by studying possessions instead of highlights.
Study your pro with HoopBrief
Every number in this article came from HoopBrief's free how-to-guard reports, which show the shot diet, strengths and weaknesses of hundreds of NBA players, built from public statistical and play-by-play data. Start there with your model player.
Then ask the question that matters to you. With HoopBrief Starter, at $9.99 a month, you can ask unlimited questions like "how do I play like Jalen Brunson at 5-foot-10?" or "what should a 6-foot-4 slasher copy from Anthony Edwards?" and get a structured, scouting-style answer, plus attack and guard plans for any matchup and every NBA player's tendencies to study. It is billed monthly and cancels in one click. Start with Starter, or try the free matchup scout first.