Rondo makes a critical adjustment
Posted: Thu Apr 9, 2009 4:47 pm
The adjustment is at the free throw line. I was watching him last night, and he has stopped rolling his hand over the ball before he brings it up to shoot. His previous method would force his right elbow to fly out, and would also lead to a weird rhythm on his shot.
In last night's game he was setting the ball close to his body, and properly setting his wrist angle before going into hios stroke. This keeps his elbow in line, and also makes for a much more compact and manageable stroke. The result being that he actually looked GOOD at the line last night. More than that, he seemed very keen on getting there. No fear. On the free throw that his missed late in the game, I could see that he momentarily lost focus and got caught between his old way and his new way. His yelled out a loud curse when he shot it... because he is actually expecting them to go in now.
Rajon has been much better at the line as of late (in the mid 70's in March and April), but this is a very recent change. Something he has obviously used some of the recent down time to work on with the coaches. The result being that he has taken 20 free throws over the last 2 games, and has knocked down 16 of them.
This is a big thing for the kid. If he can continue to refine that stroke, it is going to make him a very hard player to guard. He is so quick and shifty that if he is actually looking to draw contact and get to the line, he will be able to do so against most defenders. It will also make him better able to run the offense at the end of games. I don't want him turning into a human battering ram, but upping his free throws attempts per game to around 6, and shooting them at 80% would be a direct add to our offense, as ooposed to simply taking shots away from someone else. Just in time for the playoffs too.
In last night's game he was setting the ball close to his body, and properly setting his wrist angle before going into hios stroke. This keeps his elbow in line, and also makes for a much more compact and manageable stroke. The result being that he actually looked GOOD at the line last night. More than that, he seemed very keen on getting there. No fear. On the free throw that his missed late in the game, I could see that he momentarily lost focus and got caught between his old way and his new way. His yelled out a loud curse when he shot it... because he is actually expecting them to go in now.
Rajon has been much better at the line as of late (in the mid 70's in March and April), but this is a very recent change. Something he has obviously used some of the recent down time to work on with the coaches. The result being that he has taken 20 free throws over the last 2 games, and has knocked down 16 of them.
This is a big thing for the kid. If he can continue to refine that stroke, it is going to make him a very hard player to guard. He is so quick and shifty that if he is actually looking to draw contact and get to the line, he will be able to do so against most defenders. It will also make him better able to run the offense at the end of games. I don't want him turning into a human battering ram, but upping his free throws attempts per game to around 6, and shooting them at 80% would be a direct add to our offense, as ooposed to simply taking shots away from someone else. Just in time for the playoffs too.