Ok, I'm obsessed with this issue. Whatever, but I was just look at our stats this year. First, our FT shooting isn't all that terrible. Here is our roster, sorted by FT percentage:
tl;dr (a copy and paste from the end of this--if you don't have time to read it all):
The teams that shoot free throws well have their guards shooting a higher percentage of their free throws than the teams who don't. You can look through other teams that shoot well from the line, and you'll find much of the same thing. We don't need to improve how we shoot FTs as much as who shoots them. It isn't a shooting thing. It is a strategy and decision-making thing.
And if you DO want a more thorough look, please continue:
It doesn't look terrible as you go down the list. New Williams, TSD and Bryce Brown will improve with more FTs. But the total percentage just isn't great at all. I assumed that was because our "bad" free throws shooters were taking more. And I was correct.
About half of our free throws come from our starting PF and C. And 73.5% of our FTs have been taken by our three regular post players and TJ Dunans, who is just a bad FT shooter and apparently has never been taught form shooting. Now, again, you have guys like New Williams, TSD and Bryce Brown who have bad free throw shooting percentages, but that's likely just due to a small sample size. Those guys, especially Brown, will be reliable shooters. And their numbers don't impact the overall percentage too much. What does is that, as many big men, our big guys (and TJ Dunans) don't shoot well from the line.
Lets compare with Ole Miss, who shot FTs well as a team last year, and continues to do that, leading the SEC with 74.5%. Guess who their leading FT shooter (well, among people with more than 9 minutes a game) and FT attempter is? The same guy. Stefan Moody, a guard:
Moody is shooting 31% of his FTs on his own. The next two FT attempt leaders are Saiz and Newby, both of who shoot worse than 67% from the line. And they've both shot fewer FTs than either Bowers or Harris. Those two guys only shoot 31% of all Ole Miss FTs combined, where Harris and Bowers shoot half of ours. Add in Spencer, our other true post guy, and it is 62%.
What's my point? It isn't that we are a "bad" free throw shooting team, or need to learn better form. The problem is that our bigs are the ones getting to the line. Our guards, aside from Dunans (who is a bad FT shooter) don't often cut to the basket and try to draw fouls. We need our bigs to be shooting a lower percentage of our FTs. Simple as that. If we do that, our FT percentage as a team will improve. How do we do that aside from our guards drawing more fouls:
1) I know I already said this generally, but Canty specifically needs to penetrate more. He's a great, confident FT shooter and needs to draw fouls and get to the line. Lang doesn't really have that kind of game. Brown might. New Williams can. But Canty especially. He has to make sure he has the ball when we get in the bonus too.
2) Bowers doesn't need to bring the ball up court. Remember him intentionally holding the ball late in the Coastal Carolina game, waiting for CC to foul him? He needs to get the ball to Canty and Lang to bring the ball up court, especially late in the game and when we are in the bonus. Harris...I kind of like Harris bringing the ball up court. And he's been a reliable FT shooter until the last game. Bowers has been better shooting FTs this year, but he should never intentionally put himself on the line when he can get the ball to a guard. No excuse.
3) Our bigs have to take better shots. Again, looking at Bowers. He will often take shots he knows he can't make, specifically to get to the line. His FT numbers have been better, but I bet they decline back to below 60%. Horace Spencer doesn't really have moves. He just got to the basket. Hard to criticize him too much since he is a true freshman. Hopefully all that will continue to improve.
4) HIT LAYUPS!!! As "free" as free throws are, layups and short shots are still easier. If Bowers, Spencer and Harris are fouled, but can finish, that is two points, and only one chance to shoot a FT. Better to get 2 points and one missed FT on a trip and one point and one miss, right?
We have starting guards, aside from Dunans (he really does need to work on it and improve---I guess he's never had decent coaching on shooting form) who are good FT shooters and bigs who are not. Just like ever other team. There are only rare big men who are money from the line (wasn't that big dude, Stainbrook, a good FT shooter for Xavier last year?). The teams that shoot free throws well have their guards shooting a higher percentage of their free throws than the teams who don't.
You can look through other teams that shoot well from the line, and you'll find much of the same thing. We don't need to improve how we shoot FTs as much as who shoots them. It isn't a shooting thing. It is a strategy and decision-making thing.
tl;dr (a copy and paste from the end of this--if you don't have time to read it all):
The teams that shoot free throws well have their guards shooting a higher percentage of their free throws than the teams who don't. You can look through other teams that shoot well from the line, and you'll find much of the same thing. We don't need to improve how we shoot FTs as much as who shoots them. It isn't a shooting thing. It is a strategy and decision-making thing.
And if you DO want a more thorough look, please continue:
It doesn't look terrible as you go down the list. New Williams, TSD and Bryce Brown will improve with more FTs. But the total percentage just isn't great at all. I assumed that was because our "bad" free throws shooters were taking more. And I was correct.
About half of our free throws come from our starting PF and C. And 73.5% of our FTs have been taken by our three regular post players and TJ Dunans, who is just a bad FT shooter and apparently has never been taught form shooting. Now, again, you have guys like New Williams, TSD and Bryce Brown who have bad free throw shooting percentages, but that's likely just due to a small sample size. Those guys, especially Brown, will be reliable shooters. And their numbers don't impact the overall percentage too much. What does is that, as many big men, our big guys (and TJ Dunans) don't shoot well from the line.
Lets compare with Ole Miss, who shot FTs well as a team last year, and continues to do that, leading the SEC with 74.5%. Guess who their leading FT shooter (well, among people with more than 9 minutes a game) and FT attempter is? The same guy. Stefan Moody, a guard:
Moody is shooting 31% of his FTs on his own. The next two FT attempt leaders are Saiz and Newby, both of who shoot worse than 67% from the line. And they've both shot fewer FTs than either Bowers or Harris. Those two guys only shoot 31% of all Ole Miss FTs combined, where Harris and Bowers shoot half of ours. Add in Spencer, our other true post guy, and it is 62%.
What's my point? It isn't that we are a "bad" free throw shooting team, or need to learn better form. The problem is that our bigs are the ones getting to the line. Our guards, aside from Dunans (who is a bad FT shooter) don't often cut to the basket and try to draw fouls. We need our bigs to be shooting a lower percentage of our FTs. Simple as that. If we do that, our FT percentage as a team will improve. How do we do that aside from our guards drawing more fouls:
1) I know I already said this generally, but Canty specifically needs to penetrate more. He's a great, confident FT shooter and needs to draw fouls and get to the line. Lang doesn't really have that kind of game. Brown might. New Williams can. But Canty especially. He has to make sure he has the ball when we get in the bonus too.
2) Bowers doesn't need to bring the ball up court. Remember him intentionally holding the ball late in the Coastal Carolina game, waiting for CC to foul him? He needs to get the ball to Canty and Lang to bring the ball up court, especially late in the game and when we are in the bonus. Harris...I kind of like Harris bringing the ball up court. And he's been a reliable FT shooter until the last game. Bowers has been better shooting FTs this year, but he should never intentionally put himself on the line when he can get the ball to a guard. No excuse.
3) Our bigs have to take better shots. Again, looking at Bowers. He will often take shots he knows he can't make, specifically to get to the line. His FT numbers have been better, but I bet they decline back to below 60%. Horace Spencer doesn't really have moves. He just got to the basket. Hard to criticize him too much since he is a true freshman. Hopefully all that will continue to improve.
4) HIT LAYUPS!!! As "free" as free throws are, layups and short shots are still easier. If Bowers, Spencer and Harris are fouled, but can finish, that is two points, and only one chance to shoot a FT. Better to get 2 points and one missed FT on a trip and one point and one miss, right?
We have starting guards, aside from Dunans (he really does need to work on it and improve---I guess he's never had decent coaching on shooting form) who are good FT shooters and bigs who are not. Just like ever other team. There are only rare big men who are money from the line (wasn't that big dude, Stainbrook, a good FT shooter for Xavier last year?). The teams that shoot free throws well have their guards shooting a higher percentage of their free throws than the teams who don't.
You can look through other teams that shoot well from the line, and you'll find much of the same thing. We don't need to improve how we shoot FTs as much as who shoots them. It isn't a shooting thing. It is a strategy and decision-making thing.
