gotta take the bad with the good and you seriously think that he doesn't know what he has to work on? He's playing like a beast at the mo.

Brett Maher of OneHD said he heard Simpson still wasn't fully fit yet.
'Is he calling his own subs' I think Isaac said that.

Simpson is brilliant. I love his hustle, defence, chasing and 2nd efforts. Mature head on his shoulders and reads the game well.

No doubt he knows his free throws are awful and will sort it one day. You have to take good with the bad.

You have to learn to make weaknesses strengths just like Jordan did.

He'll develop in time

Right now he is scoring 20ppg...his freethrows arent a huge issue to me, while he is continually scoring and causing the other team to foul him. It will take time for him to develop a freethrow and when it comes its just bonus points...handy but meh I'm happy with him.

Needs a sesh with Brett and Dr Ng

Never going to be a great free shooter. Always had issues there.

Watched a lot of Simpson in college since I follow the Saint Mary's Gaels. The guy wasn't as accomplished on offence then but was always an incredibly gifted defender and rebounder.
The sort of player every team needs because at a minimum he always bring defence and hustle and has a good personailty and attitude.

How many players, at this point in their careers, have been able to significantly improve their FT shooting? With all the money available to him and his clubs, Shaq was never able to.

As has been said, he'd know it's a problem and would work on it. As fans, we may as well forget about it and consider his game as a whole. He's good enough despite it.

Guys above the 210cm mark have issues often due to visual perspective, Chamberlain and others are/were "almost" shooting down to the ring - yes I know they are not as they (generally) could not touch the ring on tip toes - but it can seem that way to their neurology. Its VERY difficult to correct.

Simpson is not tall enough to have that problem, he could well improve significantly over the next 3 or so years.

To experience it your self, stand on the foul line and you will "see" a verticle gap between the front and back of the rim.

Step straight back to the top of the circle and you will have much the same visual line a person 4-6" taller than you will have. The "gap" then becomes significantly smaller, and depth perception can change.

When doing "shot doctor" diagnostics , a well-versed coach will almost always get the shooter to check exactly where on the ring/basket they are looking/focusing on when doing foul shots. Changing their visual "lock" from the front to the back ( or vis-versa) will very often change the "aRC" of their shot.

With very tall shooters they can often not "see" the difference.

Thus endeth the pontification !
cheers

Hi Issac

Shaq's problem was also that his hands were just soooo large , and he was so immensely strong - that the ball was essentially weightless for him, and very hard to release in the "normal" or "best practice" foul shooting techniques.

Go get a tennis ball ( or a table tennis ball if you are an U/16 or a size 3 basketball if you have large hands) and try to shoot it by rolling it off your middle 3 fingers and also giving it backspin and a "wrist flop" - it ain't easy.

FWIW I'm not a advocate of the "he'll improve his FT shooting" theory.

If he were 17-19 years of age or raw as, then perhaps it might hold more weight, but Simpson has played at a Div 1 NCAA college and has done time previously as a professional player.

It is clear the mechanics of his action are flawed, no arc, doesn't bend his knees etc, etc. These are the simple components yet a conversion rate of less than 50% suggests there is significant work required.


Sure, he might improve marginally but I think it will be one of those things that's part of his game and fans need to take what they're given.

Very old, not sure your theory on being over 210cm holds water, Yao was a career 83% free throw shooter and pretty much the league's tallest ever. Dirk is also over 210cm and shoots over 87% from the stripe. My (hardly groundbreaking) theory is that taller players are able to compete and dominate on account of their size, and if they have the ability to shoot then that's a massive bonus whereas shorter players have so many more players at their height competing for their position which results in only elite shooters making it to the top (with a few exceptions).

2 hours with me and I would have him shooting 70%

The hands thing is a valid point, but this can be combatted by a solid technique.
His technique and the mechanics behind it is so ridiculously flawed that the hand size thing only adds to it, isn't even close to the reason for it.
He holds the ball above his head and shoots outwards not with an arc. A lucky bounce is pretty much the only chance he has of making it when he shoots so flat.
It needs a complete overhaul. Change his release point, maybe from in front of the face or even from the shoulder (even in a stupid left handed arc thing that Crosswell does would be an improvement). Increasing the knee bend may force him to use more of an arc. Hell underarm is worth a try... What he's doing clearly doesn't work, he can either just accept he will never be good or he can try anything to fix it (coaches should have a say in this too).
Julius Hodge had the same issue with his shot, sure he might fluke one every now and then, but luck should just be a factor to your shooting percentage, not the main ingredient.
Pretty well every other aspect of his game is extremely impressive. I'd hate for other teams to employ the hack a Shaq strategy with him.

Overall, he is one of the best imports we have seen over the last 4 seasons. We have had plenty of good players but Diamon gets inside and rebounds really well.

One of the unusual things I have seen on the odd occassion is him bringing the ball out of defence. For a tall, thats extraordinary. Normally carried out by the guard.

Never been a major import fan but Diamon Simpson has changed that (in my mind).

Slightly off the subject, that first quarter layup by Diamon when Creek passed the ball backwards with Diamon picking it up and laying it in was sublime. Seriously, watching the replay and thinking about it, gives me goose bumps. What a play, albeit a bit lucky

Simpson in my mind is the best import we have had for a while,sixers should consider signing him at season end,hes done well at both ends scoring and rebounding and only 24,once a whole new season and get know the league and players he will get better,i like this guy,he can play and his shooting pc is good,dont worry about free throws atm he will improve over time.

A theory cant be debunked just because it isnt correct in every situation.

I was about to post Wilt Chamberlain's career FT% to disprove that not all tall guys shoot a bad clip

just found out Wilts career FT % IS 51%, wow.

What would he have scored if he hit more FT's?