Now that the 2004-05 stats are up at Basketball-Reference.com, I thought I'd update the tables from my historical analysis of shooting efficiency in the NBA. As it turns out, 2004-05 may go down as the year the league's tinkering finally yielded some results in terms of improved offensive efficiency and increased tempo, resulting in just the second season in a decade with an average team scoring above 97 points/game and the best shooting efficiency since they moved the three point line back eight years ago. Here's the new tables, including revised historical averages incorporating the new numbers:

The 2000s

You'll see that all the elements of offensive efficiency were up - shooting percentages from all distances were up, as were three pointers and free throws as a percentage of field goal attempts. These figures are reflected in the numbers for the league's top players and teams, notably several players on Phoenix (check the 1.23 PSA - another abbreviation for PPFGA - on Amare Stoudamire, who attempted nearly 800 free throws this season) and Miami. Also look at Kevin Garnett's career high 1.13 mark, as Garnett easily set career highs in free throw attempts and FT% while cutting his shot attempts and matching his career best FG%.