For the 2016 season, using inputs from the average team, that field goal percentage is about 32.4%. This means that if a player only increased his 2-pointer field goal attempts with even just a field goal percentage of 33, his PER would increase, all other things being equal. Let’s take an example: say, oh I don’t know, Brook Lopez had decided to take 400 more midrange shots last season, because he’s funny like that, and we’ll assume this didn’t affect his free throw totals. We’ll also assume his team’s ratio of assists to field goals also didn’t change. Out of those 400, he made 140 for a field goal percentage on those shots of 35. What would happen to his PER?
Running through the numbers, his PER would increase slightly from 21.7 to 22.2. I know that’s not much, but there’s no penalty either for some awful efficiency. His true shooting percentage would fall from 56.2 percent to 51.3 percent, and his team would have almost certainly lost more games. Of course, it’s better to be efficient; if he had made 60 percent of those shots, his PER would be 27.3.