Top 15 shooters in NBA history: CBS Sports ranks the greatest of all time

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There was a point in time where Miller was widely considered to be the greatest shooter of all-time. Before Allen came along, Miller was the NBA's all-time leader in made 3-pointers, as he connected on 2,560 shots from long distance over the course of his career. He currently sits second behind Allen (2,973), though he is likely to be passed by Curry (2,285) in the near future (he has already been passed by Curry in the GOAT shooter conversation).

Nonetheless, Miller was the most feared shooter in the league during his day, as entire defensive schemes were dedicated to limiting his long-range production; something that is common in today's NBA but wasn't so common during the 1990s. In many ways, Miller was ahead of his time, and if he had played in today's version of the league where such a heavy emphasis is placed on shooting, his numbers would have been gaudier than they already are. -- Michael Kaskey-Blomain

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Had Larry Bird played in an era as 3-point friendly as today, he might well have topped this entire list. He was so good that he once scored 47 points in a game using only his left-hand, declaring that the Portland Trail Blazers weren't worthy of his dominant side by saying "I'm saving my right hand for the Lakers." After winning the NBA's first two 3-point contests, he walked into the locker room before his third and asked his fellow contestants "who's coming in second?" He proceeded to win the event while wearing his warm-up jacket.

And he did all of that after injuring his finger in a softball game the summer before his rookie year. As he told Jackie MacMullan for her book, "When the Game Was Ours," he "never could shoot as well again." The fourth-best shooter in NBA history was the weakened version of Bird.

Bird was a lethal shooter from practically anywhere on the floor. He led the NBA in free-throw percentage four times, topped 40 percent from behind the arc six times and is one of only eight members of the vaunted 50-40-90 club, as he made 50 percent of his field goals, 40 percent of his 3-pointers and 90 percent of his free throws during both the 1986-87 season and the 1987-88 season. Even among his multitude of transcendent skills, Bird's shooting stands out as the best part of his game. -- Sam Quinn

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Ray Allen is history's greatest endorsement for routine. The infamously meticulous Allen maintained the same pregame regimen for his entire career. Before each contest, he'd take approximately 300 shots all across the court and in varying degrees of motion. As chaotic as his legendary game-tying 3-pointer at the end of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals may have appeared, for Allen, it was a simple matter of muscle memory. He had been in that position thousands of times before. Why should it matter that this one happened to come with a championship on the line?

That steadiness was evident in his numbers. Not once in his career did he shoot below 35.6 percent from behind the arc. Larry Bird and Reggie Miller, below Allen on our list, combined to do so eight times. Such consistency is unparalleled among shooters that made their name prior to this past decade's boom. On a night-to-night basis, few players have ever been as dependable as Allen, and it all started with his technically flawless and painstakingly rehearsed shot. -- Sam Quinn

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When former Warriors coach Mark Jackson said Curry and Thompson were the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history, people laughed at him. Turns out, he was actually being conservative. They're the two best shooters ever, period.

Thompson owns the record for most 3-pointers made in a single game with 14. He once needed just 29 minutes and 11 dribbles to score 60 points. Curry might be the better, more versatile shooter, but nobody is more flammable than Thompson. When he gets hot, the net is getting burned down. Quickly.

It would be interesting to see how Thompson would fare without a shooter like Curry alongside him. If he was a No. 1 option with an entire offense running through him, and having to deal with the defensive attention that comes with that, he might have numbers closer to a guy like Reggie Miller, who was surprisingly just a 39 percent career 3-point shooter. Thompson, on the other hand, is just under 42 percent from three for his career, the 14th-best mark in history. -- Brad Botkin

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This is not even a debate. Curry is the sixth-most accurate 3-point shooter in league history at over 43 percent for his career, which is just a ridiculous number when you consider the volume and difficulty of his shots.

And Curry isn't just a 3-point shooter. He'll kill you from mid-range, with floaters and runners, off the dribble and off the catch, and he's one of the best off-ball movers to ever play. He has every shot in the bag.

Quite simply, Curry has completely reshaped the way the game is played and redefined the standard of truly great shooting. His ability to shoot off the dribble, with easy range to 30-plus feet, has warped floor-spacing and detonated defensive strategies beyond anything anyone would've recognized before he came around.

For my money, Curry's 2015-16 unanimous MVP season in which he hit 402 3-pointers at a 45-percent clip has never been, and might well never be, topped. -- Brad Botkin

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