Why Do Basketball Players Miss Free Throws?

[Purple Reign]

Today we saw young Darius Washington, a freshman from Memphis miss two of three free throws with no time remaining to secure a loss in the Conference USA Championship for his Memphis Tigers. You had to feel for the young man. He was absolutely crushed. BUT.....

Shooting a free throw should be automatic at the highest levels of basketball. Shouldn't it? I mean it is as easy a thing in sports to do as hitting a baseball is the hardest. So why do we see more basketball players missing more clutch free throws. Free throws that it seems like were made more often back in the day. We as Kings fans should relate. I mean our team was denied a spot in the NBA Finals because they missed 14 free throws. Mike Bibby has missed more free throws this year than probably the last three years combines. The San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat are the two best teams in the league. But they are 26th and 30th respectively, with the Heat shooting an atroucious .675 percent.

Is it that the players today are not as mentally tough?
Is it theat today's player is under greater pressure than generations past?
Is it that players today can not shoot as well?
Is it that players do not practice their free throws enough?

I am puzzled?

 

[BullKing]

They don't put enough practice into it. A lot of players on all levels lack basic basketball fundamentals. That's because everyone wants to do fancy moves, dunks, fadeaways, etc. Most Euros are good shooters because they spent time practicing fundamentals, rather than dunking etc..

 

[Mad D]

Is it that the players today are not as mentally tough?
Is it theat today's player is under greater pressure than generations past?
Is it that players today can not shoot as well?
Is it that players do not practice their free throws enough?

its a little bit of everything

 

[HndsmCelt]

Entire books have been written on the subject.

 

[xrzn]

I think it's a mix of many things. Mentality, pressure, fatigue, health, body condition, a lot of things make it hard for players to shoot free throws.

 

[QueensFan]

Couple of things.
1.) Players could definitely stand to practice more free throws
2.) Some players just aren't that great of shooters. See: Shaq. He hasn't made his living shooting from that range. I think this applies in general to the league's worst freethrow shooters.

But Darius Washington? Come on! The guy's legs were SHOT at the end of the game and the end of the season. It was the most pressure this freshman has ever felt in his life. If a man had never missed a free throw in his life, that was the time he'd do it. You can't blame that on practice. That's just human imperfection.

 

[4cwebb]

Shooting a free throw should be automatic at the highest levels of basketball. Shouldn't it? I mean it is as easy a thing in sports to do as hitting a baseball is the hardest.

I'd agree that it's probably the easiest thing to do in sports, but last I checked, not one player at any level of basketball anywhere has hit 100% of his free throws for an entire season. The best shooters often times can only hit 9 out of 10 on average.

 

[Gargamel]

Couple of things.
1.) Players could definitely stand to practice more free throws
2.) Some players just aren't that great of shooters. See: Shaq. He hasn't made his living shooting from that range. I think this applies in general to the league's worst freethrow shooters.

But Darius Washington? Come on! The guy's legs were SHOT at the end of the game and the end of the season. It was the most pressure this freshman has ever felt in his life. If a man had never missed a free throw in his life, that was the time he'd do it. You can't blame that on practice. That's just human imperfection.

Something along these lines. Need decent technique and practice to hit them. When you're shooting game tying or game-winning free throws, need ballz.

 

[Kev.in]

It's because free throws are not easy to shoot. They shouldn't be automatic and they never will be. Nothing in sports is "automatic".

 

[Variant]

If you practice your FT over and over again, you don't really even think about it. Your mechanics are the same every time, and you shoot a very high %.

In a high pressure situation though, you start thinking about things... and that's when your mechanics change suddenly as you try and make sure you do everything right.

 

[iheartBrad]

i wish i knew the answer

 

[KP]

Nobody's perfect.

 

[BobbyJ_for3!]

it puzzles me as well, purple reign....

as an extension on that, as well as the shaq thing is this:
Some star players in the league, Shaq at the top of this list, average a very high number of free throws. Last time I checked Shaq averaged more free throws per game than Wilt, and I'm pretty sure Shaq is at something like 11.8. What I wonder is, since he makes about 4 of those 12, why doesn't he spend a lot of time in the offseason to improve the way he shoots and just practice shooting the FT ALOT?...If he tried hard enough, he could at least double his free throws made per game. He would average at least 4 points more a game... and maybe more

in his dream world, eh would average 10 of 12, so overall he would be at 33 PPG and would lead the league... i laugh at him since he doesnt try at all

and i laugh even more because he says he makes them when they count...ya since a free throw with 10 minutes left in the first quarter is only worth half a point, while one with 2 minutes left in the game is worht 13....HAH

 

[Fillmoe]

1 word. pressure

 

[Twix]

Nobody's perfect.

Word. They're human.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

I don't think it's mental. I don't think it's lack of practice either. I think it's physical, as you go through the game and your muscles get worn down, your movements become more imprecise. When you suddenly stop the action, adrenaline drains away and your muscles start complaining.

 

[Mad D]

When you suddenly stop the action, adrenaline drains away and your muscles start complaining.

and it makes your arms feel like jelly, you can suddenly feel the weight of your brain weighing down your head, and your chest feels like its going to implode.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

and it makes your arms feel like jelly, you can suddenly feel the weight of your brain weighing down your head, and your chest feels like its going to implode.

Exactly!

If you gave me a week with a basketball, hoop, and nothing better to do, I could be a 90% freethrow shooter if not better. But it'd take me quite a lot more work to shoot those after sprinting up and down the court while being shoved around and trying to avoid running into people for 40 minutes.

 

[uolj]

It's not easy. It's not automatic. It's a 15 ft set shot.

Just because someone averages a certain percentage on their free throws doesn't mean they will match that percentage in a particular situation, especially towards the end of a game when they are mentally and physically exhausted.

There are only a few people who can concentrate and follow their normal routine with the game on the line, and most of those guys are super stars. Even clutch players/teams miss free throws in pressure situations (the 2000 Lakers missed a bunch of free throws in game 7 of the WCF, but people think the Kings were big chokers for doing the same thing two years later).

Without looking at stats, I don't think things have gotten worse. Was there a time "back in the day" when this didn't happen? I doubt it.

I think it's just perception that things are different now, and that making a free throw should be easy, but in reality, it is a difficult thing to do, always has been, especially at the end of a tough game, and with tons of pressure on your shoulders, when you have so many other facets of the game you have to work on as well.

 

[El Duque]

It's the juice.

 

[Rowdyone]

I think the conditioning aspect has as much to do with it as anything but then how do you account for someone like Rick Barry? He used the underhand method and, I believe, has one of the highest FTA on record. I think the key is a soft toss with plenty of arc to it allowing it to settle into the hoop if slightly off target. Many of todays players shoot too hard and, since some like Shaq, are so tall they almost shoot parrellel unless they exagerate the shot to get more are. Also, with big hands and strong bodies the ball must feel like a nerf ball does to us.

 

[VF21]

Today we saw young Darius Washington, a freshman from Memphis miss two of three free throws with no time remaining to secure a loss in the Conference USA Championship for his Memphis Tigers. You had to feel for the young man. He was absolutely crushed. BUT.....

The kid had probably NEVER faced a pressure situation like that before in his life. It happens...

 

[Gargamel]

The kid had probably NEVER faced a pressure situation like that before in his life. It happens...

I liked all the false chest-pounding bravado he did up until his first miss. After that, his body language changed and he bricked the next one badly.

 

[Superman]

It boils down to two things, I think: 1) a lack of concentration, and 2) fatigue.

By concentration, I mean on the shot you're getting ready to take, not on the situation or how many you've missed or made or your current streak or anything like that. Concentrate on keeping your elbow in, flicking your wrist and using your legs.

And fatigue can come into play late in a game when you're tired and it takes everything you have just to get your arms up over your head. But that's when conditioning comes into play.

 

[Superman]

Exactly!

If you gave me a week with a basketball, hoop, and nothing better to do, I could be a 90% freethrow shooter if not better. But it'd take me quite a lot more work to shoot those after sprinting up and down the court while being shoved around and trying to avoid running into people for 40 minutes.

A workout I used to do -- and it's pretty common, or at least should be -- is to run sprints or practice your full court pressure defense up and down the court several times over and over, and then shoot five free throws. Then you do it again. After 10 minutes of that, you're winded, you're tired, your arms are heavy, you're legs are rigid, and nothing is easy. You're too tired to stand and don't have the energy to sit.

The advantage of doing that workout is that you improve your stamina and you get practice at the line in unfavorable circumstances. People make the mistake of practicing free throws as a warmup only. You have to shoot them when you're dog tired in order to actually improve your percentage, because then you're teaching your muscles the proper movements and responses, and then it begins to become a little more automatic.