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Anyone notice Drummond's new free throw form? It kind of looks like Deandre Jordan's form a bit. He sticks that ball out in front of him extended and flicks it with his wrists. His % is definitely going to go way up this year if he keeps it up and will help a ton in getting wins.

I think this new form is definitely going to help him. Maybe even get him to that 60 range which should stop the stupid hacking and help him be a 20 ppg player.

I was not able to watch the first preseason game, but when I checked out the stats on ESPN at half time, it said that Drummond was 3/4 from 3! When I saw that, I literally lost my ****.

Then I found out they were free throws....but still!!!

I'm confident in Andre's new stroke but I'm less confident in his ability mentally to stay focused and calm during regular season games especially when he misses a couple in a row.

I think he started off good last year too, I mean I've seen him swish shots on free throws before, I'm not sure his form was really the problem. Maybe it is, but I doubt we see a great improvement from him, as his issues were mental, if he does that would be great. His free throws I believe are a core problem with his entire game, he gets docile once he starts missing them.

Maybe travelling through Africa this off-season put things in perspective for him and seeing the small boy eating a stick for a meal makes him realize the silliness of the pressure he put on himself and he felt taking free throws. I mean in the grand scheme, you're getting paid $20M a year to play a game, if you make or miss the shot or if you air ball it and look silly it doesn't mean **** really.

Kilo wrote:Maybe travelling through Africa this off-season put things in perspective for him and seeing the small boy eating a stick for a meal makes him realize the silliness of the pressure he put on himself and he felt taking free throws. I mean in the grand scheme, you're getting paid $20M a year to play a game, if you make or miss the shot or if you air ball it and look silly it doesn't mean **** really.

LOL...eating a stick for a meal. Nice.

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Honestly, that's not good form. I'm not sure it really matters though. "Good Form" is mostly about a form that lets you get your shot up quickly and at a high enough point that it doesn't get blocked. If you are standing alone at the line, you can toss it up granny style and shoot a great percentage.

Will it help Dre? Who knows. He hasn't shown the ability/desire to actually use the same form for more than a couple shots in a row. He's just all over the map in terms of how he's holding the ball, where his elbow is, his overall balance, and even where he's standing at the line. Any decent shooter is going to do the opposite - same position, same motion - every time, over and over and over. Even if it isn't the prettiest of shots, it needs to be the same every time. eg Tayshaun Prince had one ugly shot with his elbow all sticking out. It looked exactly the same every time he stepped to the line though and he was a pretty consistent free throw shooter because of that.

Caution is warranted, and hope makes life bearable. Let's see...

Good form is the one where it goes through the ring. Yeah, it's really a 'stress management' issue.

Go Pistons!

If his % improves consistently, teams will just stop guarding him outside of 2 feet and let him continue to brick those shot-puts.

flow wrote:If his % improves consistently, teams will just stop guarding him outside of 2 feet and let him continue to brick those shot-puts.

If he gains confidence in his FTs perhaps he'll become more aggressive around the hoop and actually use those remarkable athletic gifts? It's a giant if, but it would make a huge difference in his effectiveness.

I thought this was the gamethread title for tonight and thought it was brilliant.

Its about all these preseason games are good for.

On topic, if Andre improves(I am decidedly not sold)it certainly isn't going to be by the % points we have seen in preseason. That would be an historic improvement if my thinking is correct. Sub 40% to 60%+? I don't think so.

No way. No way IN HELL.

We'll see come season time but atm he doesn't seem to be hanging his head walking to the line like usual. (winning or losing)

dre's FT total this preseason: 16/20 (80%).


if he can shoot even 60%, which i think is definitely possible, it would be a huge boost for the team and probably his confidence in general.



besides his change in form the biggest thing i've noticed is when his shots hit the rim they bounce softly like the classic saying "shooter's touch", before they would hit the rim and ricochet to the three point line lol

whitehops wrote:dre's FT total this preseason: 16/20 (80%).


if he can shoot even 60%, which i think is definitely possible, it would be a huge boost for the team and probably his confidence in general.



besides his change in form the biggest thing i've noticed is when his shots hit the rim they bounce softly like the classic saying "shooter's touch", before they would hit the rim and ricochet to the three point line lol

I noticed this too. His touch is great.

If Drummond gains confidence he’s gonna use
That huge ass of his to bully people and go
Up throygh contact.

Can't see him being a sub 50% FT shooter with this new shooting style and confidence he has. He's finally found a way to put a bit of a soft touch on them.

I would be happy with Dwight Howard level 60% FT shooting.

BadMofoPimp wrote:I would be happy with Dwight Howard level 60% FT shooting.

It would be such a world of difference if we didn't have to worry about the other team just sending him to the line to get him off the floor anytime he gets going.

That bad FT shooting is just killing every other part of the game. But a aggressive Drummond whos not afraid of hacking would put some pretty crazy stats. Not to mention teams just killing our momentum in games with hacking BS.

Hopefully he can sustain a decent level of success at the line. Heck, even 60% would be a massive improvement.

We've seen him start off hot from the line in past seasons, so I'm not going to place expectations too high. But, in the extremely and unreliably small sample size, he's been terrific. The follow up question is- if he's been so successful at the line, why has he still continued to play passively down low?