Can a player pretend to be injured so as not to shoot free throws?

the other team would get to choose who shoots the free throw. so there is your trade-off

 

IIRC, the opposing coach gets to pick the free throw shooter from the ohter team so it's unlikely to be that beneficial anyway to the KIngs, they'd just find the next worst guy cold off the bench and put him in. But in theory I guess it could happen

 

I believe the rule is you have to choose a player currently on the bench (representing the players substitution). thats at least how I have always seen it play out in games.

Sam can you offer any additional insight?

 

Well, it would be worth doing if there was an appreciable gap between him and your next best shooter and he made the FT's, and you didn't get caught, but I imagine Emperor Stern, if he found out, would banish you to his dungeon to be tormented by Adam Silver in a gimp costume.

 

I've seen it before in college, but the injured player's coach chose who took the free throws. They've changed the rule since.

 

I can't think of a plausible situation in which this would really give you better odds.

The other team is going to choose your worst (or next worse) free throw shooter off the bench, and there's a good chance he's going to be cold. That's a risk in and of itself.

Plus, if the free throws are vital enough that you feel the need to employ this strategy, then one must assume that the game has some chance of going into overtime. So, what happens if you fake the injury and then you can't use your player (who I assume you value since he was on the court in a late game situation) in overtime?

 

regardless of the rule, the game is pretty much already iced with Kings up by 2 and the 1.3 seconds left. Hayes would miss on purpose.

Think about it: If the Kings are behind, they take Chuck out of the game and replace him with a shooter, when on offense.

If Chuck is in the game, it is for a defensive stop. Free throws are not awarded on a charge. How does Chuck actually go to the line in a defensive stop scenario. Only way I can think of is if he gets the defensive rebound and can't call a timeout immediately or pass it.

bottomline: There is a very small chance that Chuck ever goes to the line to clinch a game. You sub him out when on the offensive side and he can't really go to the line as a defensive stopper.

 

Last year, don't remember who we were playing, but I know I was at the game. Up 2 in the last minute of the game, Chuck misses both freethrows that would have essentially iced the game.

I won't forget that game because the idiotic Rockets fans were screaming and clapping when Chuck was shooting freethrows, they got louder as he went into motion...

 

You say "last minute." OP as talking last possession. You certainly would not want to fake an injury with multiple possessions left, because you would want Hayes on the court as a defensive stopper if needed.

The OP described a last possession where you don't mind taking Hayes out of the game. Plus, he said 1.3 seconds left. With 1.3 seconds left, intentionally missing his second FT is a viable alternative for Chuck versus faking an injury.

If the game you are talking about was last possession, then he must have either gotten a rebound and fouled immediately, or Adelman was forced to leave him on the court for an offensive possession due to no timeouts -- and through some drastic mistake, the team passed him the ball when ahead by 2, or he did a good job of getting an offensive rebound? Was it the last possession? If not, then I still contend it would be rare for Hayes to go to the line on a last possession, as I defined in previous post.

 

Yea but it would be frowned upon and be a b*tch move overall so no one will respect you or the coach and that means a lot.

 

It's all about winning.... Look at the Patriots, I think everyone has forgotten about spygate because they've been winning

 

Somebody from the bench. And I'm pretty sure the "injured" player is out for the game. So, even if he's your worst free throw shooter, you lose him and you had him in the game for some reason, and the other coach picks your second worst free throw shooter to shoot for him.

 

Well... this rule would be beneficial to the sub-40% free throw shooters like Dwight Howard lol.
Even if there were a cold guy shooting 50%, I'd take him over Dwight.

 

Right, and if the substitute only makes 1 FT (a reasonable possibility) and the other team actually hits their three, you lost the starter for OT.

 

I believe the "injured" player also isn't allowed to return to the game no?

 

If this was end-game. Like two clutch shots to tie or win the game.
Then it really wouldn't matter.