A free throw is like swinging a golf club. It's physically very easy, but can be an impossible skill for some. For others, it comes naturally. It's easy to criticize big guys for not practicing their free throws because you might assume they're just reliant on their size to keep them in the league. But what about someone like Rajon Rondo? He's a reported gym rat who has spent years working on his jumper. He took thousands per day during the offseason. It's still broken and his free throw shooting has dropped to 50%. It's not for lack of effort.
if u notice, howard most of the misses the first one and makes the second. probably sign of not enough practice that he needs a practice shot to get into rhythm.
This swinging a golf club metaphor doesn't work. The people you are talking about swing a golf club maybe once a week (unlikely). We are talking about professional basketball players. Their workplace is the court. If everybody had the time available to swing golf clubs that these bball players have to play basketball, everybody would be able to swing a golf club. And bringing up one exception to the rule in Rondo doesn't prove anything.
It's akin to practicing putting, chipping, and driving. Three different swings. The big man practices puts all days long. That is what they do. Then you ask them to go out and practice chipping. You may be a good putter, but the swing is entirely different for a chip shot.. This is partly about hand size, but I think it's more about height. All the shots they take are at a completely different angle and with their back to the basket. Then you send them out to take a chip shot. The angle is so different than what they are used to.
Interesting video. Heinsohn is full of it. By his logic, Wilt could have just backed up to half court to shoot his free throws and he'd be 80%. Also, the other suggestion he made goes against all logic from free throw experts/coaches, too. Removing the rest of the motion throughout the body, limiting the stroke to only the elbows out, limits the margin for error. Seems like the bigger problem, like Caesar mentions, is in the hands. No backspin makes it more like beer pong that basketball. The other thing I noticed about that video was an underhand miss that Wilt rebounded and put back, but was whistled off for crossing the line to quickly. Got me thinking, though: Is there a rule that prevents a shooter from bouncing it off the glass really hard, directly back to himself? The only relevant violation I see states that the shooter can't cross the plane until it hits the rim or backboard. These big guys are so strong, surely they could slam that **** off the backboard so hard that it could go right back to them. Am I missing something? http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_10.html http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_9.html
I don't buy the argument that large hands are a disadvantage for shooting. In college my roommate and I became very good at shooting a tiny Nerf basketball through a plastic hoop. I think it comes down to a combination of natural ability and practice. People have differing levels of hand-eye coordination, ability to judge distance, ability to repeat a motion with preciseness, etc. It goes without saying that the less natural ability you have, the more practice you need.
The issue with free throws is that they are meant to be a punishment to the team breaking the rules in some way to gain undeserved advantage and compensation to the other team. Viewed from this perspective, the league HAS to make sure that getting to shoot free throws is in fact a reward to the fouled team. If you can foul people intentionally for the purpose of gaining advantage yourself, then the current free throw rules are clearly not fulfilling their intended purpose. Free throw competions due to intentional fouling are not acceptable and in fact they prove that the rule is broken and needs to be fixed.
I think Rick Barry or someone has mentioned that the team shooting FT's should have the next possession, regardless of missing or making the shot.
I can't remember where i saw it but there's vid of Curry struggling to shoot a small ball. Were talking about a guy who can palm basketballs with 2 fingers. That has to have a negative effect on spin and release. Probably shoots with the whole hand and fingers instead of letting it roll off the index finger.
I say the "big hands" and "tall angle" excuses are BS. 1. Tall guys can be good FT shooters. Examples: Dirk, Yao, Sikma 2. Big hands should help, not hinder, shooting control. I can shoot a small toy ball from a fixed distance the same accuracy as shooting a real basketball from the FT line after some practice. Also, those excuses don't explain the much higher accuracy those guys shoot in practice. It's all mental.
Well one thing the poor free throw shooting big men have in common is poor mechanics. Actually if you really look at it, Dwight shoots a lot like Wilt except Wilt would lean in and to the left for some reason. Can you not be forced from an early age to change your entire mechanics? How are players like Dwight or even a Shawn Marion ever allowed to continue the way they shoot. I remember Curry talking about he used to shoot completely different and his dad forced him to change his shot in order to get it off quicker and it took him a while to get it, but eventually it led to him being the GOAT shooter he now is. I don't understand why Del can be credited for basically making Steph the shooter he is today, but couldn't do it for Seth.
There's simply no excuse. They are lazy and want the league to fix the problem by changing the rules. Just like you can't play if you commit 6 fouls in a game, you shouldn't be allowed to play if you can't hit 1 out of 2 from the line. LOL. If this is the solution then James Harden will win about 5 MVP's in a row and there would be a total proliferation of flopping around the league. Because getting 2 free throws plus the basketball is akin to getting 2 free throws and a turnover from the opponent. Every ball handler in the league will be forcing the ball to the hole and then flopping all over the place because even if they only get half the calls that's enough to offset any turnovers from uncalled contact. It's crazy to come up with all these hairball solutions for the hacking problem. The answer is staring us in the face. HONOR THE GAME. Learn to shoot your free throws efficiently. If we're gonna make teams honor the game by outlawing hacking then outlaw sub 50% free throw shooting. What's next? Penalizing a team for wrapping up a big man who's got the basketball at the rim? You know it's been a standard basketball play for decades to make a player shoot 2 free throws instead of giving them a dunk if you can wrap them up before they get the throw down? Isn't a dunk more pleasing to watch than 2 free throws? So now we eliminate that? Then what? Hey, I know. Free throws are boring altogether. Let's just eliminate them altogether. If a player is fouled in the act of shooting, just give him 2 or 3 points. If the foul is a non-shooting foul and the team is in the bonus just give them a point and let them play on with the shot clock reset. Because free throws are a stoppage of play and everybody knows back and forth and up and down continuous action is way more entertaining. It never ends. If free throws are so bad for the game because guys miss them then either don't let guys play that miss them all the time or eliminate free throws altogether. A team and player should not be rewarded with extra shots or the basketball just because they are a poor free throw shooter that we don't want to see shoot. (Nobody in the NBA outside of Houston wants to see James Harden going to the line 10+ times a game either. And they'd love to eliminate all his freebies. You want that? DWade? Others? Just give them the points?) The whole argument is a joke. Either make your free throws or let's treat everyone equally and nobody shoot free throws, just give them points and play on.
Most poor free throw shooters are bad due to mental reasons, combined with the fact that they don't care enough to get better. Hands, height, technique have little to do with it. I can accept poor mechanics as a reason if the player is a rookie or a 2nd-year player, but a veteran who's been in the league for awhile? Nope...it's due to the area between their ears.
I almost wish they'd get rid of free throws. Usually, free throws are a main reason ppl who don't like the game say they don't like the game. It messes up the rhythm of the game. No one pays for tickets to see someone hit a free throw.
I've heard of this medical phenomena. When you shoot underhanded, you run the risk of losing your testicles with every shot attempt.
