Oh, he does live at the free throw line. But, that doesn't mean doesn't score in a variety of other ways also. I wish he got to the line even more.
I think what people mean when they say he "lives at the free throw line" is not that he gets the majority of his points from free throws, but rather that he gets more points from the free throw line than other players. It's sort of like legal stat-padding in their eyes because he tricks ref/players and draws fouls, rather than play basketball (their opinion, not mine). With that in mind, I think it's probably more helpful to ask the question, what percentage of his total points come the line, and how does that compare to other players? If you do that, the list shakes out like this Spoiler: Original Content! Player % of Points scored at Free Throw Line 1 J. Embiid 28.90% 2 J. Harden 28.38% 3 D. Lillard 25.35% 4 A. Davis 25.00% 5 Giannis A. 24.18% 6 K. Durant 23.85% 7 D. DeRozan 23.11% 8 B. Griffin 22.91% 9 K. Leonard 22.21% 10 Z. Lavine 22.10% 11 K Walker 20.80% 12 D. Booker 20.08% 13 K. Towns 19.16% 14 L. James 18.88% 15 P. George 18.23% 16 J. Wall 18.14% 17 B. Beal 16.08% 18 T. Harris 14.88% 19 S. Curry 14.10% 20 K. Irving 12.20% 21 N. Vucevic 11.60% 22 C McCollum 9.10% 23 Klay T. 8.17% Numbers derived by using free throw points from list on first page and comparing to current league averages from ESPN. So yeah, Harden definitely has a healthy number of points from the line, but he doesn't have the most.
The thing that worries me though is someone, like a Pachulia, will step into his landing zone and cause him to injure his ankle and potentially take him out of the game. But not a lot is going to be discussed about that.
It's almost like all the players who have the ball in their hands a lot and are aggressive get the most foul calls. How strange. There just might be a correlation.
If over a quarter of your points come at the line - yer living at the line... not saying that it's a bad thing... As other posters have mentioned he's crafty and unstoppable... and a master of drawing the foul.... He leads the league in ft attempts every year... over 27% of his pts are from the line this year - over 28% last year... thats an inoridinate amount... if guys didnt have to foul him, it wouldnt be the case... but it is what it is...
I think that is the major point If he was not getting fouled......what would his points per game be??? People foul rather than be cooked Rocket River
Exactly. At that point his shooting numbers go way up because the threat of even being fouled is off the table, he will just score at will. Get whacked play after play takes it toll.
