I noticed it (and have been posting it) from the start of his 2nd year, not his 3rd. His clutch shooting got much less frequent in the 2nd year, and disappeared in the 3rd. In his 2nd year, posters thought I was weird, but fortunately, everyone now acknowledges my heroic solitary fight against homers.
In the summer after the rookie year, we read that the coaches were showing him tapes of his embarrassing rookie year defense. Early in his 2nd year, I started speculating that there was a connection between his efforts on defense and offense.
It's still a conspiracy theory (i.e. I have no evidence), but it's the theory that makes the most sense. Nice to see all you followers join my bandwagon. Welcome! Have a seat in the back, the straw is soft.