Why do the Rockets let Dwight flick his free throws?

IMHO it is a mental issue. Dwight is actually a very good shooter. He can shoot the 3 ball without problems. The difference is that in a game situation you don't have enough time to think. On the line he feels the audience. Actually I don't care. If his every trip to the line results in one bucket, the team is doing good. It is representative of 50% 2pt field goal shooting (without a possibility of a TO). Hacking Dwight is a serious miscalculation by the opposing team. I'm not worried at all.

 

Uh...Yao had good free throw form?

The way Yao held the ball when he shot at the free throw line wasn't exactly conventional.

Marcus Camby...now that dude has some weird form, but it works.

 

We know for a fact Dwight's strength isn't an issue.

Why? Because supposedly, he's awesome in practice.

It's all in his head.

He does seem to flick the ball.

His form likely changes between practice and games due to being a head case.

 

Very true.

Yao's form wasn't fluid or conventional, but it worked.

 

Almost every player shoots better in practice, but there's a larger discrepancy for Dwight. There was a thread about it earlier this season. It was from his Laker days. Most the players had 10-20% difference awhile Dwight had 40%. He clearly has something going on upstairs.

 

People speculate about Dwight having a go to move offensively and what not but personally if Dwight really wanted to improve he would look to increasing his FT%. He could hire the Red Rowdies or whatever and attempt to mimic game time situations. That being said when he's got it going, he definitely looks a lot more focused and more confident.

Maybe he should shoot like Pau Gasol and barely use his guiding hand at all. Imagine if Dwight could improve his FT% like Asik did..

 

The glide takes place when you shoot through your body and not just from your arms or wrist. The flick comes just from the wrist or the arm.

When a player is so big as Dwight Howard is, the muscle memory factory can be a tricky one when shooting the way somebody like Aaron Brooks does for example. At the end of the day, his shot needs changing, but it's about finding what works more than fundamentals because fundamentals get thrown out the window at that size.

 

He needs to start playing a lot of beer pong. That will teach him to develop that wrist flick even more and do it under pressure circumstances (especially if they're betting on it).

I'm not joking. In college, a lot of the basketball players started playing beer pong with us at the fraternity house and their shots started to fall a lot more because of the muscle memory in the wrist flick follow through and the pressure they were under having a 100 frat guys yelling in their face as they threw the ping pong ball.

 

It's so much the height, but the strength too. It's like you preaching fundamentals when shooting a pea into a cup.

 

Never understood about this problem in the NBA. You get paid millions and you can't spend some of that to fix your weakness???

 

i'm confused, is OP saying the rockets should control how a player decides to shoot his own shots?

 

The "hands too big" thing is such a crock. It's all about form and muscle memory. Sports Science put Hulk gloves on Vujacic and he still went 8/10 while blindfolded.

 

Agreed. Hand size and arm strength are physical characteristics that don't change between practice and games. Theoretically, IF these characteristics truly restricted a player, they would almost NEVER be able to shoot well regardless of variables such as game or practice.

 

Wrong

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I disagree completely. Good FT shooters don't "guide" the ball in; they concentrate on their mechanics instead. Just find a motion that works, then repeat it every time. No guiding necessary. Dwight shoots 80% in practice, then gets in the game and focuses less on mechanics and more on whether or not he'll make the shot.