[ESPN]Drowning in a sea of bricks: Why NBA bigs struggle at the line -- and always will

I haven't read the article yet, but don't big men shoot FTs at a high clip in practice? I heard Chuck Hayes, Dwight, and even Shaq hit a decent clip in practice. Something just goes wrong when they're in a real game. Allen Iverson must have had a good point.

 

In 2012, Mike D'Antoni had had enough of the Lakers' free throw woes.

So he had the team shoot them in practice exclusively, and had staff keep track of everyone's makes and misses.

Then he compared them to actual game statistics.



It's not the hands.

 

Those fans sitting behind the glass really do make a difference.

 

This article is spot on.

I could foresee Onuaku getting some play on Sportcenter with the granny shot, and positive press. Fans will admire him for doing whatever it takes to win, even if he looks "silly" doing it. If he shoots 60% or better underhanded, look for other bigs to copy. If you can reduce the inconsistent releases the article identifies in the unholy triumvirate (Howard, Jordan and Drummond) with this shot, they should all give it a try. Imagine the press Howard would get shooting 60% underhanded for a season?

 

Should have made them run first. It's not nerves. That's honestly insane. Are you telling me every single person on the Lakers not named Kobe or Steve has confidence issues?

 

Oh man, if only one of the dozens of coaches who have tried to help Dwight had thought of that.

Your own fans ****ting on you day and night is like your family coming to your job and yelling what a POS you are. Good luck performing the same, unless you're a worthless member of society!

There's another common trait that perhaps went unmentioned in the article. Most people who are terrible FT shooters tend to be nicer guys, better community members than everyone else. That's the flip side of giving a **** what people think. How can you in the same breath call a human lazy or mentally weak when that person voluntarily and for free puts in MORE effort than everyone else in the community and subjects himself to meeting, seeing and helping people with tragic life situations. Where did all those mentally strong FT shooters go when they have free time to visit a cancer ward? Oh right, they just want to clock their nba community minutes and go home.

Right because you think making a FT requires more mental strength than anything Dwight would do.

But instead of changing the way WE approach it so that WE can get the best of both worlds (good community member + consistent FT shooter) we'd rather keep being ****ty until the person becomes one or the other.

 

And he discovered that whether in practice or games, Dwight is the worst FT shooter on the Lakers. What a find!

 

IMO perimeter players are better ft shooters, because their ft shot is the same motion as their regular shot with less knee bend & lift.

How many times have you heard comments like "take to the rim hard, big fella". That's what they practice. You can't do that at the foul line. Since their livelyhood comes from being a man underneath, that's what they practice most.

 

Dwight also had by far the biggest drop from practice to game of any player that had a significant number of in-game attempts.

 

How on Earth are you reaching this conclusion? Poor free throw shooters are nicer guys? Do you have a reference for that?

Just doing a really quick check, the last player to win the NBA's citizenship award (that usually goes to "nice guys") and shoot under 60% from the free throw line was Chris Dudley in 1996. And that list includes at least 13 guys 6'9" or taller.

 

On the chalkboard above, Kobe only dropped 6% practice to games. Nice guy Dwight dropped 32%

 

And nice guy Nash dropped only 5%.

 

Haha, that's hilarious. To fix your FTs don't practice them.

For some reason it reminds me of Bill Russell and how he wouldn't touch a basketball at all in the offseason. He'd just show up on the first day of camp and he'd go from there. Eleven championships later and he's one of the greatest to play the game.