He is now zero for nine at the free throw line... When do you think he will make his first NBA free throw? He dunks like a mad man but he can't shoot a free throw or even a shot around the basket. He needs Calvin Murphy to help him...
How about this whole freaking team works on their FTs. How many games have we lost this year, because we got to the line enough, but just did not convert. I'd say about 3-5 games. This will be another HUGE problem in the play-offs. Make em or go home..
He shot 60% with the Vipers. It's no doubt something he needs to work on, but he's not catastrophe bad like he has shown so far. He was insanely nervous in all of his games before last night. I would ignore everything we saw from him prior. If you watched his d-league games, he's much more competent finishing than he's shown, he's also a better (although still bad) FT shooter.
Actually his form and mechanics from the line are not that bad. He just needs some maturity and practice. He will end up a better percentage than D12 when all said and done.
Wilt Chamberlain used to do that by throwing the ball off the backboard, then grabbing the rebound and slamming it. They had to change the rules to stop him.
Nick Johnson has thrown up some ugly clankers from the FT line too. I've wondered in the past if our front office places less importance on FT shooting than others.
Here we go again. I feel like people are watching this guy and not seeing the full picture based on his specific failures in extremely small sample sizes. I saw the way he moved and was blown away immediately. His speed and agility is crazy for a center and he covers ground like a guard. Did you see how he came out and trapped the ball handler last night? Looked like what KG used to do. You should have been able to see that he wasn't limited in talent, but by his nerves and opportunity. He could rebound, he could catch, he could dunk, and he could block shots. Everything else was and is a work in progress. From the line, his stroke and touch isn't that bad. He won't be a Joey Dorsey or DeAndre Jordan from the free throw line when it's all said and done. Last night was the first time he has actually gotten real minutes. Chill...
if he can slam with authority like he did last night, I doubt too many will be in his way to take that level of abuse. I've seen too many big guys try to lay it in instead of slamming it in and miss badly. He'll get there with time. It was his first opportunity for real minutes all year. He'll gain confidence if he is allowed to play.
While I think the Rockets organization needs to push FT shooting more, the blame goes way earlier. For example, Dorsey shot 42% FT in his four years at Memphis. How the @#$%^ does someone go through four years of college basketball shooting 40%?!? I don't care how strong he is... or how large his hands are, or whatever the lame excuse as to why he failed to shoot even half his FTs successfully. His college coaches, and before that, his high school and AAU coaches simply failed him. Embarrassing. So its not just the points left off the scoreboard (and last night... the team making just 4 of the 13 FTs they missed would have won the game). But its clear opposing coaches will deploy "hacka-" strategies, meaning he can't play in any game that is close.
This is a bigger concern. I expect a raw big man like Capela to suck at the FT line especially when he's nervous. But Nick is a combo guard and should be a lot better at FTs. I expect in either case, it's nerves.
dorsey, capela, smith and howard need to have a ft contest after every practice all will put 5% of their salary in the pot and winner take all
200 3's a day right? Tack on 200 free throws and everyone will be gravy. I'm at least a little amused by the fact that so many guys are just athletic enough to stick around the pro ranks but you can go to any court right now and find handfuls of people that can shoot and dribble better than like, quite a few pro ballers.
Free throw shooting is so important in this league. If I were the opposing coach, I'd put in my 3rd string center the minute I saw him check in and if he got the ball on the roll I'd put him on the FT line until he proved he could shoot adequately. I think if there were 2 possessions where he rolled and went to the line and went 0 for 4 in that scenario that McHale would pull him as long as the game was undecided.
All these decades of watching NBA basketball and I still can't believe no one gets Rick Barry to teach them how to do granny free throws. Seriously! Our bigs are already so self-conscious and pathetic on the free-throw line... Couldn't hurt.
Concern for Capela's FT shooting is misplaced at this point. I doubt he gets any meaningful minutes in the playoffs -- more like zero if Jones and Motiejunas are healthy. It's the FT's of the other bigs who will play that are of concern. Bill Worrell and Matt Bullard keep mentioning that Josh Smith is supposed to make 200 3's at practice. If the same rule was applied to free-throws, the deficient players would either improve or get the necessary help to improve. Otherwise they'd never get to leave practice. The probably sad reality is that habits die hard. The Rockets of the whole season -- high turnovers and poor free-throw shooting -- are the Rockets that will show up in the playoffs. If so, they'll either struggle or get eliminated, or both... maybe even in the first round. Raise your hand if you think these two weak areas will suddenly disappear for the playoffs. If they make a concentrated effort, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. It IS possible, just highly unlikely.
