Cavs Free Throw Shooting

[Kouki]

Hahaha, easily one of your worst posts of all time.

Points are points are points. You won't be in a position to win a game if you don't score enough points leading up to the end of the game...

Well yeah, but its terribly inaccurate to point to a missed free throw in the first quarter when its a one point loss, which announcers do from time to time.

 

[Rainman]

I don't believe your "it multiplies the difficulty quotient to a million" bs.

Players should definitely be able to shoot 70%+, with a lot more shooting 80 and 90 than currently are.

Why can't you do it?

 

["Boobie" Gibson]

I take it you didn't watch the last two games .vs. Memphis and Miami where they played like they didn't give a crap for 3+ quarters allowing us to score with ease, and then just erased it all in the final minutes of the 4th?

All points are not equal in the NBA. You're just being naive to think otherwise.

I watched the game against Memphis but that's beside the point. There would be no lead to start the 4th had we not shot (and made) a certain amount of FTs, so I think your point is moot. To get in the situation where you can be competitive in the final minutes of a game, a team needs to make shots and FTs in the first three quarters. If they do not, there is no game in the 4th quarter anyways, hence, points are points.

Why can't you do it?

Because I'm not getting paid millions to go out and practice my game. Waste of a post.

 

[mds]

Free throw shooting is more like playing golf. All you have to do is reproduce something you've practiced a million times, yet it is very challenging. It has a LOT to do with your ability to focus. This is much easier said than done. Everything else in sports is a reaction, free throws are just you're mental baggage, preparation, and the hoop. It is a huge mind fuck. That is why the guys who shoot the best are the best shooters, with the best form, and who can also nail a high pressured 3 pointer.

What would you guys think of TT shooting underhand? People always talk about how Shaq should have done that but he was too cool to try. Should Tristan break the mold, shoot underhand, and get up to 70%?

 

[Cratylus]

... or I made 9 out of 10 in HS ball. :chuckles:

When you raise your FT shooting % from 65% your junior year to over 91% your senior year then you can lecture me about free throw shooting. Until then, I stand behind my original statement.

If you had any idea how hard I worked on this aspect of my game for the 8 months in between seasons then you'd understand the point I was trying to make. Every weekend... EVERY weekend I would shoot between 1000 and 1200 FTs. Three or four nights during the week I would work for 2 hours on it. I would shoot 25, do a round of suicides, then shoot 25 more. Rinse and repeat. That way I would develop consistency of shooting for when I was rested and when I was fatigued.

As somebody who most assuredly worked on this infinitely more than you did, I can tell you with 100% certainty that muscle memory is key. You can make jokes about it or belittle it all you want, but the fact remains that once I trained my muscles to go through a routine, it became almost second nature. It took guidance from my coach and a LOT of work on my part. So don't tell me that it can't be done, that one can't work and train to become a consistent 80% shooter, especially a professional player. Fact is, many don't become good FT shooters because they don't place a priority on it.

 

[Rich]

What's interesting is that Varejao is having his best FT shooting season of his career, yet the team still struggles at the line.

 

[The Oi]

When you raise your FT shooting % from 65% your junior year to over 91% your senior year then you can lecture me about free throw shooting. Until then, I stand behind my original statement.

If you had any idea how hard I worked on this aspect of my game for the 8 months in between seasons then you'd understand the point I was trying to make. Every weekend... EVERY weekend I would shoot between 1000 and 1200 FTs. Three or four nights during the week I would work for 2 hours on it. I would shoot 25, do a round of suicides, then shoot 25 more. Rinse and repeat. That way I would develop consistency of shooting for when I was rested and when I was fatigued.

As somebody who most assuredly worked on this infinitely more than you did, I can tell you with 100% certainty that muscle memory is key. You can make jokes about it or belittle it all you want, but the fact remains that once I trained my muscles to go through a routine, it became almost second nature. It took guidance from my coach and a LOT of work on my part. So don't tell me that it can't be done, that one can't work and train to become a consistent 80% shooter, especially a professional player. Fact is, many don't become good FT shooters because they don't place a priority on it.

I can back this guy up. Used to watch him in HS. Jon Diebler had to go through Cratylus to break all his shooting records.






No but seriously...

Yeah, but the thing about your game that I noticed was that they'd bring you in for only the last 2-3 minutes during blowouts and you'd leap into people and get 6-7 sympathy free throws per game. Whenever you played pick-up ball you'd always hit your free throw, become captain, pick a team full of unathletic white guys and then never hit a shot the rest of the game.

In high school they called Cratylus "The Closer."

 

[Cratylus]

Yeah, but the thing about your game that I noticed was that they'd bring you in for only the last 2-3 minutes during blowouts and you'd leap into people and get 6-7 sympathy free throws per game. Whenever you played pick-up ball you'd always hit your free throw, become captain, pick a team full of unathletic white guys and then never hit a shot the rest of the game.

In high school they called Cratylus "The Closer."

Jigo, I thought we had an agreement that you weren't going to bring that up. As you requested in exchange for your silence, I special ordered that copy of Horse & Dildo: an Existential Examination of Man/Beast Love Techniques and had it sent to your PO Box so nobody could trace it to you.

I thought you had more honor than this.

 

[The Oi]

Jigo, I thought we had an agreement that you weren't going to bring that up. As you requested in exchange for your silence, I special ordered that copy of Horse & Dildo: an Existential Examination of Man/Beast Love Techniques and had it sent to your PO Box so nobody could trace it to you.

I thought you had more honor than this.

I edited my post.

 

[Cratylus]

I edited my post.

LMAO!

In all seriousness, I was a pretty decent player in high school. 14.3 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 91.3% FT%... not bad for a 6'1" shooting guard. I was offered an athletic scholarship to play at an NAIA school but I decided to accept an academic scholarship to a different school instead.

 

[Cavatt]

I watched the game against Memphis but that's beside the point. There would be no lead to start the 4th had we not shot (and made) a certain amount of FTs, so I think your point is moot. To get in the situation where you can be competitive in the final minutes of a game, a team needs to make shots and FTs in the first three quarters. If they do not, there is no game in the 4th quarter anyways, hence, points are points.



Because I'm not getting paid millions to go out and practice my game. Waste of a post.

Nope. Our team is a perfect example of why points in the 4th are worth more than points in the 1st. By the time the 4th rolls around you have a good idea how many you need to win, and how many you are able to hold your opponent to. Ever wonder why teams get up big and lose their lead? It's because teams lock down on D and make points harder to score in the 4th. Because it is harder to score, there is a premium on those last quarter points. The Grizz and Heat are better at getting those, so they won. Teams like those will close the gap whether it is 7 or 20.

 

[The Oi]

LMAO!

In all seriousness, I was a pretty decent player in high school. 14.3 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 91.3% FT%... not bad for a 6'1" shooting guard. I was offered an athletic scholarship to play at an NAIA school but I decided to accept an academic scholarship to a different school instead.

What the hell were your bigs doing while their 6'1 guard was putting up pts/rebs double-doubles????

I bet these were Rajon Rondo/Jason Kidd fast-break rebounds...

 

["Boobie" Gibson]

Nope. Our team is a perfect example of why points in the 4th are worth more than points in the 1st. By the time the 4th rolls around you have a good idea how many you need to win, and how many you are able to hold your opponent to. Ever wonder why teams get up big and lose their lead? It's because teams lock down on D and make points harder to score in the 4th. Because it is harder to score, there is a premium on those last quarter points. The Grizz and Heat are better at getting those, so they won. Teams like those will close the gap whether it is 7 or 20.

Stop it. Do you realize how silly you sound?

If a team is going to "lock down on D" and make points harder to score in the 4th, then you just do the same thing. It will be equally hard for both teams to score.

 

[Jon]

It's a silly argument trying to define how imperative free throws actually are because each contest tells a different story. No one is really right or wrong here. Sometimes they're important, sometimes they're not.

I'd still rather have a team that shoots them fairly well than the alternative.

I don't think it's silly, I think it's a complex issue, but a lot of fans just see "free" points being wasted and go on a tirade.

 

[Jon]

I watched the game against Memphis but that's beside the point. There would be no lead to start the 4th had we not shot (and made) a certain amount of FTs, so I think your point is moot. To get in the situation where you can be competitive in the final minutes of a game, a team needs to make shots and FTs in the first three quarters. If they do not, there is no game in the 4th quarter anyways, hence, points are points.

Not really. If we shot for shit from the free throw line, perhaps we score 5 less points, so we only have a 2 point lead going in to the 4th ... and then Memphis stomps us. The only thing that matters is being able to exert your will when it counts.

If both teams could do that equally and never coasted in stretches that the other team coasted and refs always made the right call ... then it wouldn't matter, but they're human so it does.