Heat’s Leonard is now the best in NBA history in this distinction

A six-pack of Heat notes on a Tuesday:

▪ If the Heat’s Meyers Leonard had a business card, it would state, in its simplest form, “veteran NBA center.”

But it could also include something far more impressive: “best three-point shooting 7-footer in NBA history, at least statistically.”

Dirk Nowitzki, of course, is by far the most accomplished three-point shooting 7-footer in NBA history, his 1,982 triples ranking 11th on the all-time list. In fact, he’s the only 7-footer to rank in the top 50 of three-pointers made.

But no 7-footer, during an NBA career, has shot a higher percentage on threes than Leonard.

Minnesota’s Karl Anthony Towns is slightly better, statistically, than Leonard, but Towns is now listed by the NBA — and the Wolves — as 6-foot-11 after previously being listed as a 7-footer.

For their career, Towns has shot 39.8 percent on threes, which is 52th all time. Leonard has shot 39.04 percent, which is 73rd and best ever among players now listed as 7-footers.

And Leonard’s accuracy on threes since the start of last season has been remarkable: 64 for 138 (46.4 percent), including 51.9 percent this season (14 for 27, after missing five of his past six).

Is it neat to see himself leading the league in that category?

“I simply care because it helps me perform well and it helps our team,” he said. “When people say Meyers shoots a higher percentage than [former Portland teammates Damian Lillard or CJ] McCollom, that’s because I take easier shots than they do. Now I’m able to knock them down when I get them, most times. But it’s also degree of difficulty.”

So how did Leonard go from a player who shot 3 for 13 on threes in 109 games over his first two seasons to a player knocking them down at a rate seldom seen for a true big man?

Lots of repetition, combined with a realization.

Leonard said he was always a skilled perimeter shooter — going back to his days in high school in Robinson, Illinois, and college at Illinois — but he realized that part of his game needed to be accentuated after his playing time diminished in his second season in Portland, 2013-14.

“I fell behind in the rotation [that season] and I wondered to myself, I’m looking around the league, I understand where the league is going,” he said. “I’m big when it comes to studying film and understanding how to impact the game. The obvious solution was well, if you could shoot the rock, you’re going to be on the floor. I always knew I had the shooting touch, but then it became threes before and after practice, threes at night at the gym, then during the summer, Monday through Friday, five, six times a week, I’m getting up 500-plus threes a day in the summer.

“It became: How can I continue to evolve as a player?... It became a part of who I am because I wanted to evolve as a player and I wanted to play. Then, everyone is like, “Meyers can really shoot the ball.’”

He led the league among centers in three-point shooting two of the past three seasons, though lacking enough shots to qualify last season by the NBA’s standards.

What sweet-shooting NBA big men intrigued or inspired him along the way?

Initially, it was Nowitzki. “Even in the last few years, you see guys like [Kristaps] Porzingis and [Pau and Marc] Gasols and Brook Lopez and different guys that can space the floor. It’s interesting because bigs just have it wired in their brain to go help in the paint. So whenever you have the ability to space the floor, it really just opens things up, especially when you’re on a scouting report.

“If you watch the film, people stay pretty darn close to me now.”

Has that changed?

“Oh God, it’s changed,” he said.

Four 6-10 or 6-11 players rank ahead of Leonard on the NBA’s all-time three-point percentage list: Steve Novak (eighth), Matt Bonner (17th), Davis Bertans (28th), Towns and Danny Ferry (65th).

Honing his skill “is a lot about repetition, but sometimes it can be overkill,” Leonard said. “Sometimes people are like you have to get up 1000 shots. That’s not true all the time. Getting up a ton of jump shots when you’re not doing things the right way is so bad. I did that when I was younger.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra always encourages him to shoot when open. “I always want our best three-point shooter to get looks,” he said. “He’s doing so many winning things. He’s coaching on defense. He helps us with all these ball movement things.”

NOTABLE

▪ Magic Johnson, to WFOR-CBS 4 on the Heat: “This team is awesome. They can shoot, they can play defense. That’s Erik’s staples.”

▪ Spoelstra said many of the Heat turnovers are resulting from careless passes in traffic. “We simply cannot tolerate that many in our offense,” he said. Miami’s 19.1 turnovers per game lead the league.

▪ Beyond Justise Winslow, it will be interesting to see how Spoelstra reincorporates Derrick Jones Jr. into the rotation. Among all NBA players who have defended at least 20 shots this season, Jones is holding opponents to the eighth-lowest shooting percentage (33.3 percent, 8 for 24).

▪ Butler stands ninth in that category, holding the player he’s defending to 34.3 percent shooting (46 for 134).

▪ When Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn and Leonard play with Duncan Robinson, those five have outscored teams by 43 points in 132 minutes.

When those four play with Tyler Herro instead of Robinson, those five have outscored teams by 22 points in just 21 minutes.