I need to make a thread on this. His FTs isn't funny anymore. Ego-be-damned. Everybody knows Rockets will win more if he shoots at least 60% his FTs...
I think Howard would have more success trying to bank them end. He has no real touch so he would probably clank underhanded free throws too. Its mainly mental with him though because reports keep saying he rarely misses in practice.
He is too proud to do it. I think he should: 1. Shoot the first free throw underhanded. 2. If #1 doesn't go in regularly (he can't master it), chuck the SECOND free throws as hard as he can at the rim with a baseball throw and have the team go all-out and try to get the offensive rebound. There will not be enough reaction time for the defense to get into the lane and box out, leaving the Rockets with close to a 50% chance at getting the offensive rebound. This would have the added bonus of making free throws highly entertaining.
If we accept the coaching reports as true, Howard makes 70% of his FT in practice. Then the problem is solely mental. Whether you change his shooting form or not, it's not the source of the problem.
Actually, we don't care how he shoots his FTs. Underhanded, side-handed, back-handed, or any-handed, as long as he shoots 60% of it. Most of our loses could have been averted if he shoots better. Rockets can and will feed him in the low post if he got his free throws. Heck, he bothered to train with Olajuwon on his post-offense but never really tried to practice his FTs. This is one of the most basic thing in basketball. The best things in life are free... Why not take it?
It's not mental, it's laziness. As a hobby I shot until I made 200 free throws every morning at 7AM for about 6 weeks. The key to consistency is to learn what your body is doing, how many discrete segments the motion can be subdivided into, and being able to account for all those sub-motions. If you practice enough, you simply require a "pre-flight checklist" and a practice swing to get your FT ready. That's the only way to detach your shooting performance from uncontrollable stimuli, IMHO. As I see it, apparently DH hasn't been willing to either (1) create a subdivided FT motion or (2) can't bring himself to remember a freaking list for the 9-10th year of his NBA career...
He should just bank them in. He has no touch at all and banking them in he has a larger margin for error.
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He just needs to practice with a FT coach. Seriously, don't make it harder than that. Practice, Practice and more practice. Shaq had a career FT% of 52.7. He shot anywhere from 49% to 62% and made key free throws when it counted here and there. That's all DH has to do. Anything more than that is gravy.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...es-80-percent-free-throws-002057899--nba.html Trust me, he practices. He is just that mentally weak.
I FOUND IT! The GLARING weakness that I'm seeing is that Dwight does not even look at the basket until his shot loading motion is already well underway. His overall form isn't terrible, although he could stand to lock that shoulder and elbow in a little more. D12 suffers from looking up entirely too late and shooting too early (as once he finally does look up that shot's on its way). One must spy that peach basket for you can't hit what you can't see. The best free throw shooters may look down or away momentarily before their shot, but you better believe they once again lock eyes with the target before their shot goes into motion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIu2eZQV6q4
you're maybe onto something. He needs to look at the basket longer. He keeps looking down taking his sweet time.
Its easy to stand in one spot all day making free throws in practice. But in an actual game you will be a lot more winded from constantly running up and down the court. And the bigs get winded more easily, which explains why most are poor free throwers.
