Smith, a basketball player, successfully made 80% of the shots that he

Question

Smith, a basketball player, successfully made 80% of the shots that he attempted this year – an exceptionally high percentage for a player in Smith's league. However, this statistic does not mean that Smith is an exceptional shooter, because the best shooters take many shots from risky locations 20 or more feet away from the basket. Instead, Smith's high shooting percentage simply shows that he takes most of his shots from locations very close to the basket.

Which of the following statements, if true, provides additional support for the argument?

A. Smith's shooting percentage for shots taken from more than 20 feet away from the basket is no higher than other players' shooting percentages from that distance.

B. Smith took most of his shots during games that were closely contested and in which his team could not afford the time and effort to set up easier shots.

C. Very few of the baskets scored by Smith's team from locations close to the basket were shot by Smith himself.

D. The position that Smith plays allows him relatively few shooting opportunities from locations close to the basket.

E. Smith's shooting percentage, the highest in the league, was almost 10% higher than that of the player with the next highest percentage.

Rohit2015 · Answer

IMO...Answer must be A

LeoGT · Answer

Stimulus: 
- Smith=80% shots success this year (very high rate)
But: 
 Best shooters take many shots >= 20 feet.
  Smith's rate shows that he take most shots very close 
 Conclution : Smith is not exceptional shooter

The underline sentence is just an inference. Author assumed something here:
- The best players and exceptional players should be the same
- Author considers the number of shots with long distance, not the rate.
- The inference in stimulus must be true. It means that when smith has hight rate, he does not take many shots with long distance.

Feill these gaps, we can strenthen the argument:
A fill the gap.
IMO: A is the answer

sudarshan22 · Answer

Pre-thinking  :  
Even though Smith made 80% of his shots, an exceptionally high percentage, we can not say that he is a great shooter, because most of his shots were from close to the basket, whereas, the best shooters take shots from 20 feet away or more.

A. Smith's shooting percentage for shots taken from more than 20 feet away from the basket is no higher than other players' shooting percentages from that distance. -->   Correct , matches our pre-thinking

Hence,   A  .

neelesh1508 · Answer

Let’s break the argument as below –

Fact: Smith is a basketball player

Data Point: Smith’s 80% shots are success and this figure is considered exceptionally high in his category of players.

Author’s Opinion: Author doesn’t consider Smith an exceptional shooter (even Smith has 80% success shots)

Supporting Data for Author’s view: Best player takes shots from risky locations (20+ feet) 
What Author thinks: Smith has got most of his shots from close location (which is not the characteristics of best player)

Now, we need to find out the supporting info from the given options. Means, we need to select an option that helps us to prove why Smith is not an exceptional player even though his 80% shots are success.

A. Smith's shooting percentage for shots taken from more than 20 feet away from the basket is no higher than other players' shooting percentages from that distance.  – Author says that best player takes shots from location more than 20 feet whereas (% of) Smith’s shots from more than 20 feet of location are not higher than (% of) other players. So, Smith doesn’t fall in the category of exceptional players.

B. Smith took most of his shots during games that were closely contested and in which his team could not afford the time and effort to set up easier shots. –  This option says that the games were closely contested and possibility of creating easy shots was less. Means, the games in which Smith played were so tight that players didn’t get a chance to take the ball near (location < 20 feet) to basket. Smith tried taking the shots from best possible location irrespective of distance and made it success. I think we can consider Smith an exceptional player with this data which is in contrast with Author’s view point.

C. Very few of the baskets scored by Smith's team from locations close to the basket were shot by Smith himself.  - This option compares the number of success shots made by Smith and Smith’s team from location less than 20 feet from basket. No data is being provided here to compare Smith with best players.

D. The position that Smith plays allows him relatively few shooting opportunities from locations close to the basket.  
Let’s analyze this option mathematically. 
No of opportunities from location more 20 feet = 100
No of attempt made to shoot: 2
No of success shots: 1 
% of shots that are success: 50%

No of opportunities from location less than or equal to 20 feet: 5
No of attempt made to shoot: 5
No of success shots: 4 
% of shots that are success: 80%

So, when Smith is shooting from near location, his success rate is 80% even though the opportunities are few when compared with far location. This data is insufficient for absolute comparison. Also, this option doesn’t provide any data for the comparison with best players.

E. Smith's shooting percentage, the highest in the league, was almost 10% higher than that of the player with the next highest percentage.  – Oh! that means Smith is the best player among all. Or, if like Author, you don’t take the shooting percentage in account to assess the player’s performance, what other data you have in this option to compare?

Skywalker18 · Answer

Smith, a basketball player, successfully made 80% of the shots that he attempted this year – an exceptionally high percentage for a player in Smith's league. However, this statistic does not mean that Smith is an exceptional shooter, because the best shooters take many shots from risky locations 20 or more feet away from the basket. Instead, Smith's high 
shooting percentage simply shows that he takes most of his shots from locations very close to the basket.

Conclusion - Smith is NOT an exceptional shooter

Type - Strengthen

A. Smith's shooting percentage for shots taken from more than 20 feet away from the basket is no higher than other players' shooting percentages from that distance. - Correct

B. Smith took most of his shots during games that were closely contested and in which his team could not afford the time and effort to set up easier shots. - Incorrect - So most of Smith's shots were difficult ones ; also does easier shots mean shots taken from 20 feet or less

C. Very few of the baskets scored by Smith's team from locations close to the basket were shot by Smith himself. - Incorrect - this is a mild weakener - Very Few of Smith's shots were taken from locations close to the basket ; But we can't infer that most of the shots were taken 20 feet or more away

D. The position that Smith plays allows him relatively few shooting opportunities from locations close to the basket. - Incorrect- So his position may not offer him many shooting opportunities from locations close to the basket but we can't infer that most of his shots were 20 feet or more away

E. Smith's shooting percentage, the highest in the league, was almost 10% higher than that of the player with the next highest percentage. - Irrelevant

Answer A

JadAsmar · Answer

Official explanation :

The principal issue in the argument is the interpretation of Smith's 80% shooting percentage. The argument indicates that this is an “exceptionally high percentage” but attributes that percentage to shots taken from positions closer to the basket – that is, easier shots. To strengthen this argument, additional information is required that points to the fact that Smith did, indeed, achieve his high shooting percentage as a result of taking easier shots (closer to the basket). Alternatively, information showing that Smith is no better than other players when shooting from the risky, far away locations (more than 20 feet from the basket) would serve the same purpose; if that were true, then Smith's superior overall shooting percentage would necessarily result from a higher rate of making easier shots.

(A) CORRECT. According to this choice, Smith's percentage on risky (more than 20 feet from the basket) shots is no better than that achieved by other players from the same distance. If this statement is true, then the only possible source of Smith's higher overall percentage is a superior contribution from easier shots. This choice therefore strengthens the argument.

(B) This option presents the fact that Smith's team could not afford to set up many easier shots. If this is true, then it works against the assumption that the majority of Smith's shots were easy; therefore, on balance, it weakens the argument.

(C) This choice suggests that Smith did not, in fact, preferentially shoot easy shots from close to the basket; in fact, it indicates the opposite. If Smith took very few of his team's close shots, then the claim that his shooting percentage is based largely on such shots is implausible. Therefore, this option weakens the argument.

(D) This choice suggests that Smith did not, in fact, preferentially shoot easy shots from close to the basket; in fact, it indicates the opposite. If Smith had few opportunities to take close shots, then the claim that his shooting percentage is based largely on such shots is implausible. Therefore, this option weakens the argument.

(E) The argument is not concerned with comparing Smith’s performance to that of his teammates. Rather, the argument attempts to explain why Smith’s performance was so high. This option is out of scope.

arushi118 · Answer

If the shooting range for shots taken from more than 20 feet was no higher than the other players, but overall the shooting range was exceptional -> this strenthens the fact that the shooting percentage of shots taken from near the basket is high.
Hence option A looks correct.

Smith, a basketball player, successfully made 80% of the shots that he

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Smith, a basketball player, successfully made 80% of the shots that he

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