Adam Silver looking into critiques of increased 3-point volume - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — With the Boston Celtics on pace to shatter the NBA's record for 3-pointers attempted by a team this season, and with 3-pointers in general being up across the league, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night the league is studying the trend.

He also said criticisms of offenses becoming «cookie cutter» in approach and that teams are copying each other is something he thinks the league should take seriously.

«The answer is yes, [we are having] many discussions about the style of basketball [being played],» Silver told a small group of reporters Tuesday night before the championship game of the league's second annual NBA Cup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks. «I would not reduce it to a so-called 3-point shooting issue. I think we look more holistically at the skill level on the floor, the diversity of offense, the fan reception to the game, all of the above.

»I think the game is in a great place. I love watching the games, and I think we have some of the most skilled athletes in the world competing — and it's unfair, I think, to the players to lump them into categories as 3-point shooters or a midrange shooter or big man playing under the basket. It's an amazing game."

«Having said that,» he continued, «we're constantly having discussions about whether there are ways to improve stylistically the game on the floor.»

The Celtics are averaging 51.1 attempted 3s per game, which would easily shatter the record for treys attempted in a season. Teams across the league are shooting more than ever before due to the math of shooting more 3s, as opposed to midrange 2-point jumpers, bending the sport as a whole in that direction.

But Silver made it clear any attempt to change things on the fly,