RealGM

FTs are an essential part of the game, but I think FT shooting has become way too much. The NBA Finals 2006 was a FT shooting contest between Dirk (52 FTs) and Wade (97!!), and in the Finals 2008 both teams rarely shot less than 30. IMHO this is too much, it just worsens the flow of a game and discourages honest defense.

Compare it to the Bulls-Jazz Finals 1998, the battle of two post up titans, namely Jordan and Malone. Both teams struggled to make 20 FT attempts; in Game 6, the entire Bulls squad shot just 19 FTs (MJ 15), and the Jazz 25 (Malone 11). With Sixers-LA 2001, Shaq/Kobe/rest of team cracked 33 FTs only once. I'll repeat it, we are dealing with PRIME SHAQ, who broke Mutombo into two. Don't give me the argument that bball was worse then, Bulls, Jazz and LA would flat out destroy any of the teams mentioned above.

So, how many FTs/game is OK? I think 20 per team is more than enough for today. If teams with Jordan/Pippen, Malone/Stockton and Shaq/Kobe could hardly 30, then nobody else should, and bball was better back then. I also think that it would improve the flow of the game and reward tough defense. Thoughts?

Getting to the line is an essential part of basketball. If you're looking for more of a fast-paced you should watch something like hockey or football. Good teams get to the line and make their free throws. To me, the more free throws, the better as long as the refs make good calls.

Blame Stern.

These new rules allow the likes of Wade, LeBron, Kobe and others to get to the line more often than they would've post-hand check rules.

Flash3 wrote:Blame Stern.

These new rules allow the likes of Wade, LeBron, Kobe and others to get to the line more often than they would've post-hand check rules.

That's also true. It would be nice if we could get more physical play without hearing whistles every 5 seconds. The soft players will inevitably get hurt so protecting them is not helping anyways.

Realgm D-Whistle FT Theorem

if X = Wade's FT/game
and Y = ok FT/game
then Y < X