Ringer: No, the Lakers’ Massive Free Throw Advantage Isn’t a Conspiracy

[meekrab]

What is Chicago's free throw disparity?

Both last year and this year, basically even. Less than 1 per game difference, despite having supposedly notorious foul merchant DeMar DeRozan.

The Bulls do routinely get last 2 minute reports saying that the refs lost them a game, though.

[jkvonny]

The FTs were pprreeettyyy even tonite.

Pacers vs Lakers.

[Max Headrom]

All that ref help and still been a play in team the last couple of years...lol They'd be completely out the playoffs without the free throws

[ItsDanger]

Usually anomalies are investigated within companies. In this case? Nothing to see here!

[NBA4Lyfe]

bought off by klutch sports

[Evenacus]

We could open a bit of guessing game to see how big a FT differential is going to be in tonight's game against Brooklyn? I say they need some help so they will get +20 more then the Nets

[NZB2323]

Only one plausible explanation for this:

How has Lebron had such great longevity? Could it be that he’s an alien?

[ChipotleWest]

Only one plausible explanation for this:

How has Lebron had such great longevity? Could it be that he’s an alien?

Perhaps aliens made the juice he's on.

[jkvonny]

We could open a bit of guessing game to see how big a FT differential is going to be in tonight's game against Brooklyn? I say they need some help so they will get +20 more then the Nets

Nets crushed them on the road the last time they played. Even tho the Lakers had twice as many FTs.
We'll see what happens.

[Ein Sof]

Undisputed is already saying if Lebron wins the title this year he's the GOAT. If it happens I'm going to believe it's a conspiracy due to the obvious ref bias sorry. It even makes me wonder if the Lakers are trying to remain a play in team so this happens, it's just too suspicious to me.

Watch on YouTube

Man I almost thought you guys wouldn't be able to come up with some dumb excuse for why a LeBron ring doesn't matter.

Carry on.

[The Master]

I think it starts with LeBron and AD who were never foulers to begin with long before they were Lakers players. Then the drop coverage.

I don't know if anyone has posted it:

Darvin Ham for years worked with M. Budenholzer, so once I checked out opponents' FT attempts (as both have played similar schemes defensively as head coaches and like I said, worked together for years prior) in larger sample of all the teams they coached:

Per 100 possession Opps FTA:

2014: Hawks #25
2015: Hawks #29
2016: Hawks #26
2017: Hawks #27
2018: Hawks #21 (tanking year)
2019: Bucks #30 (#5 a year earlier)
2020: Bucks #26
2021: Bucks #30
2022: Bucks #29
2023: Bucks #29, Lakers #30 (#9 a year earlier)
2024: Lakers #30

So we have 12-season sample of teams coached by Bud-Ham duo, or individually, of their teams being 11 out of 12 times in top6 in the lowest number of FTA by opponents, 4 times at the bottom, most of the seasons in bottom 2. The only moment they worked together as head coaches in the league, their teams ... were respectively #29 and #30 in FTA / 100 possessions by opponents.

The only exception is 2018's Hawks season, when they were rebuilding and tanking.

Bucks are 21. this season in the number of FTA of opponents/100 possessions (from 29-30 for years before). Hawks were in bottom 5 in FTA of opponents before Budenholzer, yes, but when he left, they went from #21 to #2 and #1 without him, Lakers were #18, #24 and #9 with Vogel, so there's also a correlation with/without Budenholzer and/or Ham and teams' peformance in FTA by opponents category. Obviously, not everything of aforementioned stuff can be solely explained by coaching itself, but indeed there's a strong correlation.

[pipfan]

I watched two Bulls/Lakers games last year, and I know I'm a homer but they were the two games where I clearly thought we got hosed. I am happy to admit when we seem to get the advantage, and overall I think the refs have improved over the last few years.

But I do remember those two games seemed unfair to me. Of course, this is just my biased observation, but I thought it was clear