[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

8 out of 10 is the absolute worst a guy in the pro's should shoot from the line.

I mean look at Shaq! He's an embarrasment! How hard could it be to PRACTICE the free throw when you play BASKETBALL for a LIVING!

Just wanted to add that a lot of free throw shooting is not practice but it's mental. Remember Nick Anderson? He was a somewhat aggresive player and shot his fair share of free-throws. While he was never to be confused with Steve Nash, he was a consistent shooter at around the 70% range. Then came the 1995 NBA Finals. He went to the line late in the game with Orlando leading and missed four straight free-throws. His team ended up losing in overtime. The next year, he did close to his norm from the line but then early in the 1997 season, he had a chance to win another game from the line. He missed again. He said from that moment, he was terrified to go to the line. His stats showed it. His play showed it. He lost all of his aggressiveness because he didn't want to get fouled and have to go to the line. It was mental torture for him. Check out his numbers and how they changed.

First seven seasons:
He shot on average of one ft every 8.85 minutes and was at 69.5% career

Next season:
He shot on average of one ft every 23.01 minutes and was at 40.4%

During his first seven seasons, he shot a high of 74.1% and a low of 66.7%, with three seasons over 70%. After that, he shot 40.4, 63.8, 61.1, and 48.7%.

Shaq is another example. He's never been great but I had a friend that played with him and he told me that they charted his ft's in practice and he shot over 65% one year and over 70% another year. Yet in those same two seasons, he shot 55 and 53% in real games.

I'd be willing to bet that a big part of James' problems are mental. He knows the criticism of that part of his game. You put so much pressure on yourself to silence it that sometimes you do yourself more harm than good. Then when you miss a pressure one, you start thinking "here we go again."