Shaq still has his FT shooting touch

ThomasFremont

PurpleThrobber

Shaq would have been better off trying to bounce free throws in.

greenblood

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

Doogles

greenblood said:

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

When your hands are that big, the ball probably felt like a golfball to him. You pretty much have zero touch at that point and are praying on a flick.

dnc

Doogles said:

greenblood said:

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

When your hands are that big, the ball probably felt like a golfball to him. You pretty much have zero touch at that point and are praying on a flick.

And yet, beautiful touch with an actual golfball.

Fire_Marshall_Bill

Doogles said:

greenblood said:

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

When your hands are that big, the ball probably felt like a golfball to him. You pretty much have zero touch at that point and are praying on a flick.

I went ahead and looked up the career FT % of Kareem, Olajuwon, and Ewing. They were between 71 and 74 %.

To throw a white dude in there I looked up Rik Smits. He was 77 %.

In conclusion, Shaq should have shot free throws better. It was painful to watch.

allpurpleallgold

greenblood said:

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

Most of them do practice. But it's often mental. There's always stories about Dwight Howard making all his free throws in practice. With Shaq though I remember a story about how he couldn't bend his shooting wrist all the way back because he broke it when he was young.

NeGgaPlEaSe

Fire_Marshall_Bill said:

Doogles said:

greenblood said:

I never understood how as a pro you can suck so bad at free throws. Couldn't a player shoot 100-200 a day and eventually just get it? But I guess with hackashaq at full force he was shooting 20-30 a night so if he didn't improve any then, he was just hopeless.

When your hands are that big, the ball probably felt like a golfball to him. You pretty much have zero touch at that point and are praying on a flick.

I went ahead and looked up the career FT % of Kareem, Olajuwon, and Ewing. They were between 71 and 74 %.

To throw a white dude in there I looked up Rik Smits. He was 77 %.

In conclusion, Shaq should have shot free throws better. It was painful to watch.

What was Wilt's percentage? One of the greatest centers of all time and the record holder for most free throws missed in a single season with 578 shots missed. He beat his previous record of 528 missed free throws he set in the 1961-1962 season.

Dennis Rodman .584
Chris Dudley .458
Shaq .528
Ben Walace .418