Do we have a free throw coach on this team?

[Vertical Limit]

Goal should be 90%. Free throws are gimmes, they need to work on that till their muscles memorizes it. Forget practicing anything else as you all already do good at everything else, just practice free throws. Hundreds of them.

[salqaddoumi]

The ONLY reason I even wanted Chauncey this offseason was for his late game FT shooting alone. It sounds crazy to want a guy for a seemingly small aspect of the game but it's so huge for this team.

[toodles23]

Sucks? How about inexcusable from a PROFESSIONAL stand point. I remember a time when they were FREE points.. Hence free throws, go figure!

14 missed in the game.. 8 for Lebron. Between that and not boxing out, maybe get back to the basics??

FT% hasn't really changed at all over the last 40 years. 75% is completely typical.

Lebron and Wade are career 75% FT shooters and have been in the league 9 years, they're not going to change now. There are going to be games where they shoot them poorly.

[Heat_team02]

If so, fire him.

If not, hire one.

Also I'll use this thread to keep track of games we lost based on absolutely atrocious FT shooting.

Hawks @ Heat - January 2nd
Heat go 19-28 from the FT line - 67.9%. They lose by 8.

Heat @ Warriors - January 10th
Heat go 26-40 from the FT line - 65%. They lose in OT

Heat @ Clippers - January 11th
Heat go 20-34 from the FT line - 58%. They lose in OT.
Notably awful - LeBron James going 9-17 from the charity stripe.

Need to keep tabs on at what points in the game the free throws are being missed. Are they being missed in the 2nd half when they were already worn out from being overplayed earlier? Are they being missed by players who have already spent too many minutes on the floor & are winded? If so, then it's on the coach.

[Chosen01]

Wtf happened to Wade? He was a near 80% ft shooter in like 06 then got to 81% from the line in 07,I was excited because I thought he would only get better as his career went on but instead he's gotten worse

[toodles23]

Wtf happened to Wade? He was a near 80% ft shooter in like 06 then got to 81% from the line in 07,I was excited because I thought he would only get better as his career went on but instead he's gotten worse

His FT shooting has never been the same after the shoulder injury. His jumper hasn't really been the same either, aside from '09.

[CeCeySay]

I think rhythm shooters who are scorers like Wade & Bron aren't typically good FT shooters. Wade's FT shot looks extremely flat like the beginning of last year. He eventually got an arc on it during the middle of the year. I just wished when guys say they work on their game, they consider FT's a part of their game. Maybe it's too boring for them to work on.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.095848,-73.163309

[Chosen01]

Look how Wade shoots his FTs in 06, a lot more arc in his shot compared to now...starting at :54

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiF1PO036ng[/youtube]

[seusboy]

I have read these forums for years and am so passionate about this topic that I finally signed up just to chime in. Well here it goes... First off, I am no coach nor do I pretend to be but even with my high school level playing experience I can tell you exactly what is wrong with Wade's free throw shooting. It all starts from his foot positioning. I can swear there was a 4-5 year span in his career where his left foot kept moving further and further back and its no coincidence that his free-throw shooting % dropped every year. It is now at the point where he is closer to being in a track stance then a free-throw stance. He needs to set his feet so that they are both lined up at the free-throw line or at worst have one foot (in his case, his left foot) slightly back, and by slightly I mean like 6 inches off the line (not 2 feet like it is now). Once he gets his feet lined up correctly, he then need to practice shooting free-throws with some type of net in-between him and the basket that will block any shot he shoots without the proper arc as it is very obvious that his free throw shot and even his regular shot is often waaaaay to flat (that is actually why he is good at backboard shots because these are typically shot with less arc). Btw, I really only took the time to write this up because I am praying that some way, somehow, someone will read this and it will get back to Wade. If that does happen please tell him to not take my word for it but go look at everyone who shoots free-throws +90% and see if any of them stand the way he does. I am quite sure the answer will be NO.
On a side note, LeBron has very similar mechanic/foot positioning issues that are correctable but not quite as obvious as Wade’s. BTW, the fact that the Miami Heat coaches have allowed Wade's stance and subsequent free-throw % to regress is absurd and has probably reduced his PPG average by like 2 points and even worse costs us wins! Sorry if this was long, I am just really sick of having to scream at the TV every time he lines up at the line.

[Mahoney]

So much gloom and doom, while it's simply 3 bad free-throw shooting games. We're consistently a 75-80% shooting team, and we tend to get to the line a lot. When we're not converting, and shooting an abysmal 50-60%, we tend to lose.

It's no rocket science, nor is it any reason to blow it all up. More emphasis on FT's for a short while so the guys get confident again, and we're on to a 10 game streak.

[ndnow]

This was always the problem with promoting Spo. He was our shooting coach now he has no time to do it.