Isaac
Years ago

Simmons breaks NBA single-quarter FTA record

Forgot to post this yesterday, but when Washington employed hack-a-Ben in the fourth quarter, Ben Simmons' 24 free throw attempts ranked as the most by a single player in any single quarter of a game. Not the best record to achieve, but with the win and first 30 point game, I don't know if he'd be crying about it.

He finished with 31 points, 18 rebounds and 4 assists, plus the win, but went 12/24 FT in the fourth to push out his personal total. He was 8/16 FG and 15/29 FT overall. I think the game record is Dwight's 39 FTA. Ben's 29 FTA ranks 7th all time for attempts.

It's even made the ABC site.

Top ten games by FTA:

1.	Dwight Howard	39	2013-03-12	LAL
 	Dwight Howard	39	2012-01-12	ORL
3.	Andre Drummond	36	2016-01-20	DET
4.	DeAndre Jordan	34	2015-11-30	LAC
5.	Shaq. O'Neal	31	1999-11-19	LAL
 	Adrian Dantley	31	1983-11-25	UTA
7.	Ben Simmons	29	2017-11-29	PHI
 	Adrian Dantley	29	1984-01-04	UTA
9.	DeAndre Jordan	28	2015-02-19	LAC
 	LeBron James	28	2006-03-12	CLE

Meanwhile, in today's game, Simmons had 15/6/7 and 5 steals in a road loss to Boston. A meagre but respectable 3/4 FT!

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D2
Years ago

Been meaning to ask this question, and here's as good a place as any.
Why do some big guys suck at FTs?

And why isn't something done about it?

I would have thought that teaching somebody to shoot consistently from a fixed position, would be easier than most tasks?
(I guess I'm wrong, but why?)

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Anonymous
Years ago

It's quite simple.

Bigger players have bigger hands, so the ball is smaller in their hands, which makes it harder to shoot.

Imagine, as an average person, trying to shoot free throws with a smaller sized children's basketball. Your FA % would go down.

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Anonymous
Years ago

FT % not FA % it should read above.

Also Isaac how do we quote stats like you did above with the FT%. Syntax is ?

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Anonymous
Years ago

Free throws attempt stats - using (put . in as otherwise it doesn't post as text)

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Anonymous
Years ago

Syntax is code & /code? or something else?

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Isaac
Years ago

(It's not a reliable option so I'd rather you didn't. I only did it in that case because I knew it would fit and that I could edit it if it didn't.)

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Yinka Dare
Years ago

Lonzo ball and Fultz are pretty average free throw shooters in the nba

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Freethrows
Years ago

Free throws are a repeatable, mechanical action. It's not at all hard to teach someone to shoot free throws at a good percentage, and there is no reason someone who is fit enough to play pro ball should not be able to hit at least 80% of free throws at practice, and shooting below 70% in a game should result in pay penalties.

Once you teach someone the physics of how shooting a basketball works, and the basic mechanical features of the shot, in relation to the biomechanics of the human body, it's not hard to turn someone into a good free throw shooter.

When I coached basketball, I taught experienced players, kids and adult beginners how to shoot the ball from the line (and a basic jump shot), and I always loved to see the look of amazement on people's faces when they realised how easy it is.

I haven't seen Simmons' action, but I'm willing to bet it's a big part of his problem.

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Anonymous
Years ago

https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/936380056548642817

Nice view of his free throw form.

Pretty clear he is shooting with his wrong hand.

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Anonymous
Years ago

https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA/status/936270584106946560

Different angle although looks pretty natural.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Simmons is good on FTs as his LSU stint can tell. He's just having too much in his mind adjusting with his league status

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Freethrows
Years ago

So, does he shoot left or right handed? His left handed ft shot is terrible. There is no way he will ever be a consistent ft shooter with that action.

Thanks for the links, anon 9925/96.

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AKA
Years ago

One thing I have noticed in his free throw form is that there is no squat or drive from his legs. It's all arms, which with his poor form, will never become consistent enough to deter teams from purposefully sending him to the FT line.

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Freethrows
Years ago

AKA, you're right. Free throws should always start with the legs, but you've got to have your feet in the right position, even before that.

Making free throws easy is largely about getting your elbow under your hand for the release of the ball. Anatomically, the best way to do that is to stand at an angle to the line, so that if you load the ball properly in your hands, your elbow is directly under the ball, and your forearm and wrist release in a straight line to the basket as you shoot.

All you have to do then is push up from the floor, all the way through to releasing your elbow and wrist, spinning the ball backward, so that it has the best ball flight to the hoop, and splashing it at an angle of just under 45 degrees.

Simples.

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Fool
Years ago

You make it sound so simples

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UseTaHoop
Years ago

Freethrows knows what he's on about. I can tell by his name.

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Hoops

Simmons breaks NBA single-quarter FTA record

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