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

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by TheresTheDagger, Jul 21, 2016.

  1. TheresTheDagger

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  2. francis 4 prez

    francis 4 prez Contributing Member

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    interesting read. not sure how you work past something like the yips. but i think the article made a good point. why do we have to wait for there to be no bad free throw shooters to not have to suffer through "hack-a-whoever", when there have always been bad free throw shooters. just get rid of the rule.

    also, i had never seen that ernie els clip of the missed puts. that was brutal.
     
  3. TheresTheDagger

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    Because of the recent evolving "strategy" coaches have employed with the Hack a Shaq (and the increased willingness to employ it...in contrast to the gentleman's agreement previously in place not to do it) it seems NBA talent evaluation has to also evolve to give " player confidence" higher emphasis.

    By confidence, I mean the ability of a player to shut out criticism and just do the job...in this case make free throws. In other words, does the player have a strong mental makeup that is minimally distracted by negative performances and criticism? I've also heard this referred to as "having a short memory".

    It's interesting in that on a recent episode of "Any Given Wednesday", Aaron Rodgers spoke about this ability (that he feels he has) in an interview with Bill Simmons. It apparently has more impact than we thought previously. Certainly more than I thought it did.
     
  4. RV6

    RV6 Contributing Member

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    What's weird to me is that Dwight is usually silly and does plenty of things that people don't like or get...you'd think he couldn't care less about missng a free throw in a game.

    My guess is that as he became more and more disliked around the league and by fans, it only made him care more about not missing and being dissed even more in a basketball context. Remember, he shot almost 70% as a rookie.

    Also..he takes a while to shoot. He should hurry up before he thinks too much.
     
    #4 RV6, Jul 21, 2016
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2016
  5. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    Tell that to Yao Ming, Lebron or Ryan Anderson, how come these big guys can shoot fts at a decent clip and others can't? Yao's even significantly taller than Shaq or Dwight why doesn't his height prevent him from shooting fts? And what's Rondo's excuse dude doesn't even hit 6'5?

    The hack an X only works if the player can't shoot fts above 50%, Shaq made it popular but honestly if it worked on him every time how come he's a 4 time champion? Since Shaq actually shot above 50% the Hack a Shaq was actually ineffective on him, Spurs tried it and it still resulted in a 3 peat for the Lakers.

    Also, there is a negative correlation between your ft capability and the amount of fts you take, guys like De Andre and Rajon Rondo take way less fts than the best ft shooters like Curry, Harden, Lebron, KD etc. So when people like in the video blame "hack an X" for slowing the game down and preventing all these highlight dunks or whatever, they are just talking out of their ass because really the ones "slowing the game down" are people like Harden, Curry or Lebron who fish for fouls and encourage contact every time they take a shot. For all the drama caused by Hack an X if you actually count the number of fts you'll see the effect of "slowing the game down" done by big men getting fouled is minimal. People don't blink when Harden or KD takes 15 fts a game but the moment DJ gets fouled they groan and complain about how slow the game is wtf.
     
  6. Roxnostalgia

    Roxnostalgia Contributing Member

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    I imagine when somebody posts an article such as this, they expect you to read it before commenting.
     
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  7. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    Why are Euro bigs more likely to shoot better at the line than American bigs? Yao was a very good FT shooter as well? I think it is the training they get when they are young.
     
  8. Jayzers_100

    Jayzers_100 Member

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    Shaw saying that he would "rather shoot zero percent form the line than shoot underhand" just shows that he's a ****ing immature child posing as a grown man. So you would rather sacrifice your team's chance of success instead of the potential risk of looking silly? you were making millions of dollars to play basketball yet you didn't want to pull out all the stops to improve your game? Ungrateful and selfish mentality
     
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  9. Jayzers_100

    Jayzers_100 Member

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  10. TheresTheDagger

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    THIS^^^
     
  11. Kim

    Kim Contributing Member

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    That is a factor that is noted in the article. It's a good read talking about the multiple reasons as to why NBA bigs suck at this in general.
     
  12. rm365

    rm365 Contributing Member

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    It was an interesting article but I think it lacked substance.

    I believe the fact is Yao and whoever else, they practiced free throws more than Drummond, Howard or Shaq.

    The article makes a lot of excuses. Fear of humiliation, etc
     
  13. Kim

    Kim Contributing Member

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    Yes, there were multiple reasons, and a lot of substance in the article, lol. Big men didn't grow up practicing FT's bc it wasn't an emphasized skill. Then it presented the trajectory differences and the impacts of velocity. This means that big men have a smaller margin of error when it comes to shooting and bounces around the rim. Then the article analyzes the mental factors that effect a player who is bad at that skill and the psychological effects of being in the spotlight. So yes, Yao, Dirk, and many other big men grew up shooting better, are more skilled at that aspect, and can handle the pressure better.

    The biggest takeaway is that the Rockets will have the only underhand free throw shooter in the NBA next season. Now that's something I'm looking forward to seeing.
     
  14. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    Patrick Ewing, Kareem, David Robinson, Moses Malone, the Dream, Yao, etc. Many top centers had free throw percentage above 70%. Hack a what ever doesn't even work if you shoot above 60%.
     
  15. RV6

    RV6 Contributing Member

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    Bro did you even read..
     
  16. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    I knew the big hand excuse was BS. (And no, the big NBA men holding a basketball is not like us holding a tennis ball. I don't know why that bull keeps getting repeated.)

    The most interesting point in the article to me is that most poor FT shooters are big men because if you couldn't shoot and were NOT BIG, you wouldn't be able to make a living in the NBA in the first place.
     
  17. MorningZippo

    MorningZippo Member

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    This study is extremely suspect.

    Why did he only study 2 shooters for arc? if you put 5 NBA players that are 6'0 and made them shoot free throws, even then the arc would be different.

    It's honestly exactly what most people thought. Big men just aren't that good at basketball, lol.
     
  18. Dankstronaut

    Dankstronaut Way, way out here.
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    If you can hit 75% in practice you can hit 75% in the game. If the lights and people talkin can do you in that bad you are mentally below the game. Funny how that's a common statement about Dwight.

    Yao shot with a little flicka da wrist and sank it all day long, from anywhere. Dwight catapults it from his elbow, that's why he remains in such poor control of aim and for a man his size and power my goodness, how is he supposed to ease up enough to get a proper loft or any "touch" on his shot like that? He doesn't, that's how.
     
  19. white_dragon

    white_dragon Member

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    Exactly. The biggest thing I got out of the article was that since there's more options of people that are relatively shorter, they have to differentiate themselves to make it into the NBA, and one way to do that is to have the mental makeup to avoid "the yips", and be able to perform on the NBA stage. People that are taller present a smaller population, and so you'll end up with a higher amount of people that have a valuable skill in the NBA (by virtue of their height), but aren't able to avoid messing up under pressure. People that are shorter that have that problem are weeded out since there's more options. A higher percentage of big men still make it in since there are less of them available.
     
  20. mfastx

    mfastx Member
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    Great article, with some great hard evidence brought to the table on the topic, which I haven't seen before.
     

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