Why hasn't Jalen Green gone to the free throw line yet?

His FTA are really low, not as big a dip as Harden but still significant.

It really feels like the league is going after guards not named Ja and Steph.

 

People think he will get to the line based on his skill set. The question is WHY isn’t he? Is it because he is so frail that he avoids contact or is he just contact adverse?

Regardless, he isn’t off to a good NBA start. He is in production no more than a spot up shooter that isn’t terribly efficient and only looks good if he hits open 3’s.

 

Thought I'd run over to NBA.com and find out how many other players playing at least 2 games, averaging at least 15 mins/game and 5 FGA/game have shot 0 FT's to this point. Surprisingly Jalen does have company, but still :

https://go.nba.com/wcm4

 

No one is expecting a high free throw rate from him right now, that’s a strawman. There’s a Grand Canyon sized gap between having a high free throw rate and not getting to the line 1 time in 4 games which is outright ridiculous.

 

Regarding Jalen Green only taking 2.3 fta in the G-League, how are they logging free throw attempts over there?

they have that rule where u only take 1 free throw when you’re fouled, and it counts for all the points…like if u were fouled on a 3, u would take just 1 free throw, and if u make it, u get 3 points

So if Jalen were to get fouled on a 3, is it not just logging 1 free throw attempt instead of 3 artificially lowering free throw attempt numbers? Same for getting fouled on a 2 point shot as well with just 1 free throw attempt worth 2 points instead of 2 free throw attempts worth 1 point each

so 2 free throws a game in the G-League could really be like 4-5 free throw attempts a game

somebody please correct me if I’m wrong

 

I would say you are right. His FTA/G number was suppressed by the rule. Hard to tell by how much exactly without going through the play by play if it’s even available.

https://www.nba.com/news/g-league-experiment-free-throw-rule-official-release

 

I don't know how its possible with todays hand check rules for a guard to go multiple games and not go to the line at least once.

 

Pretty much this.

 

It is NBA Jalen doesn't get benefit of the doubt because he falls from every contact, most of the layups on pro level are with this contact it just doesn't show on stronger players. Im skinny too and when I play amateur leagues the weaker I am the less calls I got, once I was able to go into defender and make him move too they started callin it. It will be the same with Jalen and it will open his whole game, it is hard to play if you are not able to penetrate and its your biggest strength

 

There was one obvious no-call that I can remember. Maybe a few others.

Green is mostly a jump shooter, and his drives are pretty weak. I’m not sure it’s all that unusual for such a player to not attempt a free throw in a span of 4 games.

 

I think that was only for one year.
Check this pbp last year, clearly they were shooting multiple FTs

https://gleague.nba.com/games/20210210/SCWGLI/

 

Hard to get FT's when you take a bunch of step back 3's and his drives to the basket are more crafty/acrobatic attempts trying to go around bigs.

 

from the PBP of a random game I chose

https://stats.gleague.nba.com/game/2022000097/playbyplay/

at 1:27 mark of 1st quarter, Jalen Green is fouled, shoots 1 free throw, and makes it for 2 points

and here is video evidence from a different game of Jalen Green getting fouled, shooting 1 free throw, and getting rewarded 2 points at the 10 second mark

 

My issue with the no calls; if they're going to be no/little calls. Let it be both ways, be consistent.

Imagine what Tate/Garuba/Nawaba are allowed to do if it was both ways.

Last night against Mavs, on Doncic, did they let tic tack contacts slide? This Ref Rookie don't get call mentality needs to go. If NBA is supposed to be modernized, has to be fair and let go of the old ways.

 

No one is saying Jalen should be drawing fouls like Harden, but if you watched the past 4 games Jalen got clobbered a lot on his drives. Refs are not missing calls, they are intentionally not blowing their whistles

 

Ah, I see. Looks like the 4thQ end of game, they revert to regular FTs. Game PBPs seem to open at the 4thQ, so that’s what I was seeing.

must be like a last 3minute thing or something, where we see regular FTs.

 

last 2 minutes of 4th and all of OT is when they went back to regular free throw attempts

 

Jalen has to continue to play. FTAs will come. He just needs to continue to learn how to play through calls.

Plus, he needs gain about 15-20 lbs before he starts driving consistently or he'll be hurt alot.

 

Officiating might be a factor.

It might also have to do with his style. His drive to the basket is too soft. Not sure if it's because of his build or simply how he plays. He needs to go harder rather than try to finesse his way when he's that close to the hoop.

 

A little bit of both IMO. Jalen seems to like to play like Kobe where he is looking to avoid contact and score whereas when you watch Luka play ... he likes to draw the defender in and bump off of them and force ref to make a call (like Harden.)