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how terrible Paul has been from the free throw line as of late. I just did some quick math and it was actually a little better than I had orginally thought, but as of March 1st he is shooting 59-83 from the strip. That is a mere 71%. His percentage has dropped 3 points in a month. With the exception of Ray, Paul and KG I feel we are not a very good free throw shooting team on the whole. Eddie shoots like 88% but lets be real he only gets to the line on a defensive 3 call. Baby isnt too bad, but we need to become a little more consistent from the charity strip going into the playoffs. I am hoping Paul begins to get his stroke back because we are going to need him to go to the rack a lot in the playoffs and get to the line. Let's get back on track tonight at Phillips.

We do seem to be a rather poor FT shooting team...Rondo and Perk are **** God-awful. Powe is good, though, along with Ray, Paul, KG, Eddie...

What a change from the teams I grew up watching in the 1980s/90s, where even Robert Parish shot in the low to mid 80s...

I was talkin to a friend last night about this, how horrid FT shooting is these days. Watching the Memphis/Mizzou game and the UConn/purdue game and the FT shooting in those two games were ridiculous.

When I was playing in high school, my FT% was 90%. Today, without even being warmed up, I could walk in a gym in some sandals and make 80% of my free throws.

I don't get why FT shooting is so difficult, especially for people who earn a living playing basketball.

usually: Tired player=missed free throws.

MaxwellSmart wrote:usually: Tired player=missed free throws.

Guys didn't get tired pre-2000?

I agree with insatiableone. Everyone gets tired...its not that. I can understand being winded and missing a couple of FTs, but to have a 40-65% FT percentage is pretty bad if you're a professional or college player. Anything 70% and higher is acceptable, especially for a big guy 70% can be great, but even KG shoots 84% at the FT line this season and has always been a great FT shooter for a 7 footer. I'm just agreeing that the quality of FT shooting now, in every level of play, is pathetic.

Like I said, when I was in high school, I made 90% of FTs, and I played all 32 minutes every game, but that didn't affect me. I know this is me talking about playing in high school, BUT the FT line is just as far away in middle school as it is in the NBA. If I could make 90% playin in high school and not being a pro, then shouldnt the pros be able to do a little better than the 50-60% some of these guys are shooting?

Agreed, even when I played pickup/intramural/rec league ball after my school playing days were over, my FT shooting is pretty damn good, probably in the mid 70s/low 80s...

Even big guys, for the most part, shot in the 70s up to and including the early to mid-90s...it seems like overall there has been a huge drop-off league-wide in FT% and it's weird. For every guy who shoots 90%+ like Reggie Miller or Ray or Rip Hamilton (who are now regarded as aberrations for shooting that high!) you have guys like LeBron, Rondo, Perk, Shaq, Howard, Ben Wallace, etc who are between 40-60%...

Duncan is a horrid FT shooter too. Really, the only guy who I can see having a good enough excuse is Shaq b/c he has enormous hands, so it'd be like a normal person shooting a women's softball as a free throw, but he still should be better. As for LeBron and Duncan especially, they should be way better considering they can (sometimes) make jumpshots, so they should be decent at FTs.

I dont get it and I dont buy the fact that these players really work extra hard to become better FT shooters, If you practice free throws long enough then it just becomes 2nd nature to make a FT. It should juse be a routine, but you know the Ben Wallace, LeBron, and Howard don't put much time into their FTs b/c if they really did, then they'd be a lot better. Instead, they're all worried about dunking and trick shots from half court.

Yeah I forgot about Duncan, too...

Well when you spend more time during warm-ups and practice doing 360 degree reverse tomahawk windmill between the back reverse jams instead of FTs, what do you expect? FTs aren't sexy and you never know when you'll have that wide-open fast break...FTs don't get you on SportsCenter!

Is it really that different than it's ever been? What are the leaguewide numbers year to year?

Remember Russell and Wilt were pretty bad,...


Looks like the league average was steadily 72-73 pct in the 60s...improved to 75 in the mid 70s...76 in the 80s...back down to 73-74 in the 90s...and back up to 75-76 pct this decade. Last year the league average was .755.

So, in truth, percentages dipped a bit in the late 90's, but right now free throw shooting is as good as it has ever been, similar to the highs in the late 80s. Perhaps there is greater disparity these days though - Ray Allen is shooting like 94 pct and that's not even good enough to lead the league. In the old days 90 pct would usually get you the FT title.

But I had a feeling this was all just some "it was better in the good old days" belly aching.

Thanks for crunching the numbers...

It certainly SEEMS like FT shooting is worse than ever...

Looking at the splits, Pierce has about 1 FT miss/game more in March than he would have had if he'd kept up the blistering percentage he shot the prior 3 months. But November was just as bad as March.

Fencer reregistered wrote:Looking at the splits, Pierce has about 1 FT miss/game more in March than he would have had if he'd kept up the blistering percentage he shot the prior 3 months. But November was just as bad as March.

I feel like overall, though, Pierce has been damn solid from the line...he was never one I worried about..

I know Pierce is a great shooter, but sometimes I can feel when he's going to miss a FT. I don't worry about PP, but I'd rather have Ray or Eddie up there in clutch situations.

I did notice Pierce seemed to change his FT delivery a few years back...and it's been overall for the better...

MyInsatiableOne wrote:I did notice Pierce seemed to change his FT delivery a few years back...and it's been overall for the better...

Yeah, he did. I love his new stance.

lol, i take it none of you know that the league is on pace to set a new high for ft%. It is the exact opposite of what you're saying.

MyInsatiableOne wrote:We do seem to be a rather poor FT shooting team...Rondo and Perk are **** God-awful. Powe is good, though, along with Ray, Paul, KG, Eddie...

What a change from the teams I grew up watching in the 1980s/90s, where even Robert Parish shot in the low to mid 80s...

1985/86 Celtics shot .794, which was second in the league, which averaged .756. Move that teams stats to this year, they'd be 6'th.

Parrish shot .731 that season. His best season was .772, and he finished his career with an average of .721.`

Unfortunately we keep thinking that everything was better in the good old days, but unfortunately we`re often guilty of having selective memory on these things. I`m guilty of it too.

I wish our current team was better at the line, they`re middle of the pack, it would seem to be an area where they could improve a couple of points a game, which would really help some games.