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i do not believe "but he makes them in practice" 

 

i agree completely with skip.   this a project to fix in the summer.   ford has ignored for 3 summers.   time to give hasan the time he needs to fix this coming summer. 

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I can't speak to what always goes on in practice, but I was able to see about 15 minutes of one practice and French's free throws did not replicate a game situation at all. He shot like 15 straight free throws and it wasn't after a game situation (i.e. not after a full sprint, not after physical contact, etc). He got into a groove around the 5th free throw and then hit like 6 straight. Unfortunately, in a real game, you don't get 5 consecutive tries to get into a groove.

I honestly believe French could probably go and make 60 or 70 out of 100 free throws if he shot them in like 20 free throw increments. But that doesn't do you any good in terms of translating to a game. Like I said, maybe the 15 mins of one practice I saw was an outlier, but I am not convinced that he is practicing in a way that replicates itself to a game situation. I can see the argument that French needs to shoot free throws that way in practice to get his mechanics down but that isn't working either. He just might not be a good free throw shooter. I'm not sure it needs to be debated much more. Sometimes people aren't good at simple things.

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31 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I can't speak to what always goes on in practice, but I was able to see about 15 minutes of one practice and French's free throws did not replicate a game situation at all. He shot like 15 straight free throws and it wasn't after a game situation (i.e. not after a full sprint, not after physical contact, etc). He got into a groove around the 5th free throw and then hit like 6 straight. Unfortunately, in a real game, you don't get 5 consecutive tries to get into a groove.

I honestly believe French could probably go and make 60 or 70 out of 100 free throws if he shot them in like 20 free throw increments. But that doesn't do you any good in terms of translating to a game. Like I said, maybe the 15 mins of one practice I saw was an outlier, but I am not convinced that he is practicing in a way that replicates itself to a game situation. I can see the argument that French needs to shoot free throws that way in practice to get his mechanics down but that isn't working either. He just might not be a good free throw shooter. I'm not sure it needs to be debated much more. Sometimes people aren't good at simple things.

Broken record here, but this why I'm a strong advocate for French shooting underhanded even if it will never happen.  Clearly his overhand FTs aren't working and are so bad that fouling him nearly every time is a reasonable strategy.  His overhand form during games is all over the place and he can't repeat it.  Trying new overhand FT stuff in practice at this point seems to just be adding to his problem of not being able to keep the consistent form during games.  I can't imagine the problem being worse with underhanded FTs.  Theoretically underhanded form is easier to maintain.  Even if he only hits 50% underhanded that's still a big improvement and should be done IMO.

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35 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I can't speak to what always goes on in practice, but I was able to see about 15 minutes of one practice and French's free throws did not replicate a game situation at all. He shot like 15 straight free throws and it wasn't after a game situation (i.e. not after a full sprint, not after physical contact, etc). He got into a groove around the 5th free throw and then hit like 6 straight. Unfortunately, in a real game, you don't get 5 consecutive tries to get into a groove.

I honestly believe French could probably go and make 60 or 70 out of 100 free throws if he shot them in like 20 free throw increments. But that doesn't do you any good in terms of translating to a game. Like I said, maybe the 15 mins of one practice I saw was an outlier, but I am not convinced that he is practicing in a way that replicates itself to a game situation. I can see the argument that French needs to shoot free throws that way in practice to get his mechanics down but that isn't working either. He just might not be a good free throw shooter. I'm not sure it needs to be debated much more. Sometimes people aren't good at simple things.

He does need to spend time shooting free throws to develop his muscle memory, but he also needs to simulate game conditions, as well.  I'm not any kind of coach or player-development expert, but what I think he should do (this summer) is:

  1. warm up;
  2. shoot a bunch of free throws (20, 50, 100) with the focus of "perfecting" and memorizing his technique and routine;
  3. simulate game free-throw shooting conditions by interspersing two (and only two) free throws among other drills and activities that involve exertion (one-on-one, "suicides," etc.) about 10-15 times.

He'll need a workout partner, and there should be an incentive — some kind of competition.  He should "win" or "lose" something, depending on how many of the 20-30 game-simulated free throws he hits (the prelude stretch when all he does he shoot FTs don't count).

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8 minutes ago, NH said:

Has anyone else joined me in the "Has should actually shoot right-handed, he just doesn't know it yet" camp?

I don't know about that, but I do think the coach or assistant who should be helping him with his form should be left-handed.  It's difficult for a right-handed person to replicate what a left-handed person should be doing.  I've tried shooting free throws with my left hand, and it's not quite the same, mechanically, as shooting with my right hand.

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There are hundreds of college basketball players who have shot below 50% from the line but only a tiny percentage have managed to significantly improve their free throw percentage.  If there was a reliable way for fixing free throw failure, it would have been invented by now.  When you're recruiting horrid free throw shooters, you have to ask yourself, "is he worth it?" In French's case, the answer has been a resounding yes.

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1 minute ago, 3star_recruit said:

There are hundreds of college basketball players who have shot below 50% from the line but only a tiny percentage have managed to significantly improve their free throw percentage.  If there was a reliable way for fixing free throw failure, it would have been invented by now.  When you're recruiting horrid free throw shooters, you have to ask yourself, "is he worth it?" In French's case, the answer has been a resounding yes.

sad but true it seems. definitely worth it. assume he's already figuring who best to foul him. Hack-a-shaq hurts more now than before the 3 pointer.

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I'd advise him to shoot jump shots before trying underhand or his off hand.

3star is mostly right, though. There's no magic bullet here.

The two more realistic things I'd hope for is for him to be able to clear his head and be more consistent. There are plenty of unorthodox or even ugly FT forms that work. It's just about consistency.

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10 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I'd advise him to shoot jump shots before trying underhand or his off hand.

3star is mostly right, though. There's no magic bullet here.

The two more realistic things I'd hope for is for him to be able to clear his head and be more consistent. There are plenty of unorthodox or even ugly FT forms that work. It's just about consistency.

A sports psychologist is likely the best bet to enhance his %age at this point.  Heck, just finding someone to help Has with breathing techniques and to block out the other distractions would probably help a lot. 

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3 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i do not believe "but he makes them in practice" 

 

i agree completely with skip.   this a project to fix in the summer.   ford has ignored for 3 summers.   time to give hasan the time he needs to fix this coming summer. 

You honestly think Travis has ignored French’s free throw shooting?   Just because the guy has’t gotten better doesn’t mean they haven’t worked on it.  Some people just struggle with certain things.   I haven’t been in their coaching sessions so I could be wrong.  But I would bet money they haven’t ignored the problem.   

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I don’t think HF has a jump shot - all we see are baby hooks & pushes close to the hoop.  I’m surprised he hasn’t developed a short jump shot to bank in from a few feet- he goes straight for the rim & the refs don’t call a lot of the contact he absorbs.

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4 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i do not believe "but he makes them in practice" 

 

i agree completely with skip.   this a project to fix in the summer.   ford has ignored for 3 summers.   time to give hasan the time he needs to fix this coming summer. 

So according to your logic, your buddy Martin must be doing a great job teaching free throw shooting. They just set the NCAA record.

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5 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i do not believe "but he makes them in practice" 

 

i agree completely with skip.   this a project to fix in the summer.   ford has ignored for 3 summers.   time to give hasan the time he needs to fix this coming summer. 

I'm not saying Ford has ignored it. I have no idea what has or hasn't been done. 

Part of me says I've taught kids to shoot from ages 10-20 with a very good success rate. I look at French shoot a f/t and think give me an hour a day for 4-6 weeks and I can't believe I can't get him to shoot 65-70%. Then I say to myself Travis Ford hasn't been able to help him (and I'm sure they've put in a lot of work) so how could I. 

IF he had a good, consistent form/technique, I'd think he needs more than I can give. But his form and technique are terrible and inconsistent so I can't shake the feeling that I (or any good shooting coach) can help him. I have some idea's that I think would help. I'd either have success or get ***** slapped back into reality 

 

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20 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i do not believe "but he makes them in practice" 

 

i agree completely with skip.   this a project to fix in the summer.   ford has ignored for 3 summers.   time to give hasan the time he needs to fix this coming summer. 

In pre-game, I watched Has’ make 8 in a row, mostly swishes. Saw him shoot about 20 total in that stretch and he made about 70% with no airballs or missed rims. Prior to that, I also wasn’t buying the “he makes them in practice” line but I saw enough to say it’s probably true.

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