Why can't anyone hit free throws?

[celts55]

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but shooting 60% and missing 18 free throws as a team, makes me crazy. I know it only pre-season, but I still think it starts bad habits. Don't they practice hitting them?
I also couldn't help but notice that Cleveland only shot 58%, so perhaps it's a league wide situation. All I know is, as many games are decided by a few points, hitting free throws could win a team quite a few games over the course of a season.
Thank you for letting me vent.

[Reggie's Ghost]

Agreed, it's odd.  I've noticed also that if I'm in just shooting around in a gym, I can hit my free throws no problem, but when I'm playing in a league game, I seem to shoot like 50%.  I have no idea why, a friend told me to practice free throws by running sprints first to simulate game play.

Either way, this is the oldest-school attitude out there about winning with the little things, and I dig it.  I do believe it's something that must improve.

[celts55]

I guess I am old school. When I was a kid there was always tons of guys at the court after school. The first 5 to hit their free thows played. If you couldn't hit a free throw you could sit there for hours and never play. That was real pressure.

[Reggie's Ghost]

I guess I am old school. When I was a kid there was always tons of guys at the court after school. The first 5 to hit their free thows played. If you couldn't hit a free throw you could sit there for hours and never play. That was real pressure.

Hahaha fantastic...

[Reyquila]

Since the Bird era, I have been very frustrated by the poor foul shooting of the Celtics. The worst offenders of the ones Ive seen for at least 2 years is BBD: PP can get on a roll and make a lot in a row; then he loses it ; KG is pretty good, Tony can make a bundle of them in a row, then he becomes inconsistent. Powe can get in a groove; then he loses it for a while. ray Allen is almost automatic, then last year with the game tied with no time left and he misses BOTH and then of course, we lose in overtime. Rondo can make a few, but also very inconsistent. Perk is less than 50% effective. All in all, the Celtics lose are not a good foul shooting team. Reason; lack of discipline. What else can you blame?

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

2 season's ago somebody started a thread called "Son, I want to talk to you about free throws". The content of that thread was excellent.

I agree Paul can get hot and make a whole bunch in a row.

KG is consistent, but loses his consistency at the end of the game (fatigue?).

Ray Ray sometimes goes 0-2 during a trip to the stripe, which is puzzling.

The man that really needs to step up and shoot 80%+ this season is Tony Allen.

Thoughts?

[cordobes]

It's a myth that FT shooting averages have been declining in the NBA. In fact, there are more excellent FT shooters than ever.

I doubt it's about lack of discipline and practice, shooting ft is very mental. Lots of NBA players who are average FTers on game situations can shoot and make  lots of consecutive free-throws in practice. It's not easy to correct FT mechanics, because the angle and speed of release to each player is unique. Also, your athleticism is conditioned to make the regular shooting (the "muscle memory" thing), which makes harder to correct the FT mechanics. This is even more serious with big guys, who are not used to use their legs to shoot. This is also the reason why is more difficult to improve FT% at a later age, you've already acquired bad muscular habits. Bird used to shot 200 FT every morning before going to school. Had he started doing that only in college, he'd never be as good as he was. But essentially, is a mental thing for the most part.

To some extent, there's also a genetic factor. It's more difficult to model your shooting mechanics when you have long arms and big hands, one of the reasons why many post players (or Rondo) struggle making FTs.

But yeah, some teams have improved substantially their collective FT% after hiring some coaches who are specialists on the issue. I don't know if the C's have a FT coach, I don't think so.