Love and free throws!

[millersdad]

Love has a very awkward stance at the free throw line which l believe leads to his poor percentage on free throw shots. He points his right foot correctly toward the basket but his left foot is perpendicular pointing to the left. The correct stance is having both feet point toward the basket. This is one of those areas where it is the coaching staff's responsibility to notice this and correct it. I believe that Miller is a great coach but sometimes he misses the little stuff . I would be that if Love changes his stance at the free throw line his percentage would increase at least 20 percent!

[jhrelax]

Millersdad,

Love's % in league play is hovering around 75%. Is has nothing to do with the stance, but more of a confidence issue. Love will end up being a solid free throw shooter over his tenure @ X.

[Mr. Neutral]

I don't know about that. Love's FT shooting has been much improved, as has most of the team's.
I think we'd gotten so used to our guys making their FT's that it seems unusual when they miss them. Burrell, Lavender and others have all missed FT's in recent close games, so maybe the players are feeling a little bit of the expectations of being highly ranked.

[XU84]

A 20% increase if he changes his foot position? Not likely. Love has improved tremendously since the start of the year. I also don't think Miller 'misses the little stuff'. If anything, I'd say the opposite. He's covered all of his bases with this team. Did you really think they would in the top 15 after losing Doellman, Cage, and Cole?

[lazarus]

Where his left foot points is irrelevant. Many great free throw shooters line their right foot up with the center of the hoop with their left pointing askew. It aligns the right foot, knee, and elbow. Love may not be perfect, but his problems are not with alignment, they come from lack of practice, and repitition. Shooting extra throws isn't the answer, shooting them right is. When he misses they are flat. He has the same problem all inconsistant FT shooters have, no legs in the shot. He just flips it up there.

[jhrelax]

Mr. Neutral,

Always the pessimist.... Love is 23/31 from the line since the Bonnie game. According to my calculation that is approx. 74%.....

[picknroll]

The bigger concern is his overall play. He's in a scoring funk (probably due to a lack of touches) and he is making dumb fouls by being out of position. We need him to effectively eat space in the middle to keep the perimeter options open.

[joetitan]

Frankly Millersdad there is very little in your post which is accurate. First, Jason's left foot points perpendicular but the right foot also points left at about 45" angle. In contrast to your theory that such stance leads to poor results, it is exactly the stance he has been properly coached to take which has lead and continues to lead to better shooting.

Like many inside players Jason had trouble foul shooting b/c of poor balance and his large body would shift weight as he shot FTs. The stance with feet angled substantially stabilizes his body allowing for rythmic shooting motion. He no longer falls to either side or backward as he shoots. This principled technique is similar to the Sato jumping off of both feet.

As other posters noted Jason has gained confidence with the approach and FTs % has risen nicely.

[XU84]

Tha last comment is worth talking about. Love has been in a scoring funk and needless foul streak lately. We need more from him down the stretch.

[Mr. Neutral]

<<Mr. Neutral,
Always the pessimist.... Love is 23/31 from the line since the Bonnie game. According to my calculation that is approx. 74%.....>>

Read my post again; I was defending Love, not criticizing him.

For the season, Love's shooting .619 at the FT line, 8th on the team for guys with over 12 attempts.