For Free Throws, 50 Years of Practice Is No Help

[Nick Theodorakis]

For Free Throws, 50 Years of Practice Is No Help

CEDAR CITY, Utah — Basketball in the United States has changed in myriad ways over the decades, from flat-footed set shots to dunks, from crotch-hugging uniforms to baggy knee-length shorts, from the dominance of American players to the recent infusion of international stars.

But one thing has remained remarkably constant: the rate at which players make free throws
. . . .

It is usually news when an otherwise-strong team loses a game due to poor performance at the free throw line, so many casual observers, such as myself, often assume that free throw accuracy has been in decline, when actually it is not.

Nick

[Altered Statesman]

I played basketball for 7-8 years and I'd say I was always around the 70-80 percent mark and if I picked up a basketball today, would probably be around the same. We used to practice them alot as a team and wern't allowed to leave training until we hit 7 or 8 out of 10. Like the article suggests, the team I played for wasn't that succesful in the win colum but man could we hit a free throw haha. Practice does help, like with most things but as the article also says it is hard to recreate the pressure of a game in the gym.

I had my own procedure to relax myself before a shot in a game which was, spin the ball in my hands, bounce it twice, breathe out, then shoot. I suppose it helped with muscle memory as well.

Wasn't there an old guy from a while back (not a player, maybe a coach) that could hit 100 from 100 free throws or even 1000 or something crazy like that? I remember seeing videos of him as a kid.

Found him, well I think it's him but he is shooting 3's in the vid.

[Johnny Slick]

Looking at this from an evolutionary standpoint, a kid who spends an hour playing basketball against other kids and learning how to break his opponent down and defend against the drive is going to help his team out a lot more than a kid who spends an hour a day shooting jump shots by himself. For one thing, a kid who can drive to the basket can create his own offense without his coach having to draw up plays specifically for him, whereas the other kid would have to come off of screens to be effective. For another, the kid with actual basketball playing experience has learned the skills to be effective on both ends of the court instead of just the one.

Of course, the reality is that some kids spend a lot more than just an hour on the basketball courts. But the point still stands. Judging the overall level of basketball prowess by free throw percentage isn't necessarily accurate because there are a lot of other factors involved.