Why do we seem to give Ben a pass on free throws but not Dre?

[ImHeisenberg]

If Ben played in today's game, he would be hacked like Drummond- no question.

Even so, he was still about 10-20% better free throw shooter than Drummond during his peak years.

Ben played during the literal "hack-a-Shaq" era. They clearly hacked back then. Just not him.

I'm not assuming, I watched the Pistons when he played here.

He would get hacked, but it was not as blatant and stat driven as today's game was, so there wasn't any trash like what we saw teams doing to Drummond last season.

[BadMofoPimp]

Answer: Because, Ben ain't playing today and Drummond is.

[hoophabit]

Answer: Because, Ben ain't playing today and Drummond is.

I had this same thought. Remember many occasions back in the day thinking Ben's really good at so many things, but he's going to lose the Pistons this game because he can't hit a FT. They're the good old days now though!

[BadMofoPimp]

Answer: Because, Ben ain't playing today and Drummond is.

I had this same thought. Remember many occasions back in the day thinking Ben's really good at so many things, but he's going to lose the Pistons this game because he can't hit a FT. They're the good old days now though!

There were some epic arguments back in the day. Some people here would say the Pistons could never win a ship with Ben at Center because he wouldn't be able to play in the 4th quarter due to hacking.

[DeKroit]

One's one of the greatest defenders in NBA history and the other isn't. One despite his offensive woes actually helped his team's offense while other is trying to grasp the offensive load.

[cochiseuofm]

There are multiple reasons:

1. Big Ben was the best defender in the NBA and the Pistons were able to leave Big Ben in games even if teams were intentionally fouling him, Andre is an overall liability when he is getting intentionally fouled and has to be pulled out of the game.

2. Big Ben wasn't nearly as involved in the offense and only took 3-4 FTs a game on average, Andre Drummond takes twice that.

3. Big Ben was a member of one of the best teams in the NBA for a long stretch of time and a big part of a title team. Andre Drummond has, thus far, only been on one playoff team and thus people are looking for ways for him to help the Pistons take the next step.

Also Big Ben was criticized a bit for his bad free throw percentage. It just never got to the point Andre has reached because of the three things above.