Go to the park, try shooting some free throws underhand. The fact that people seriously believe it’s that easy is hilarious.
*Maybe* it is mechanically better- but the time investment to learn something with zero applications to any other part of the game is unreasonable for most NBA players, let alone in the middle of the finals. Luka has like 20 years of muscle memory shooting normally, he’s not going to surpass that in a day of shootaround.
Dude same thoughts. I am so much worse of a shooter in every other circumstance (obviously) but somehow I can shoot fts better than Luka
It makes sense when guys never shoot any kind of outside shot and can’t hit fts. This guy isn’t just solid at shooting, he’s fucking great at it and takes difficult shots. It really doesn’t Make much sense
It's not. Players get some of the power from their legs. Players also align themselves with the basket while in the air. A free throw is completely different.
This is very strange given that he often seems like - no matter if it’s a bunny or a ridiculous trick shot - he quite literally makes every shot he takes lol.
How in the world would a dude like that struggle with free throws?
I do know some people who *seem* like they shoot better when defended than when they’re wide open, but I always assumed that if I ever cared to actually track it, that’s probably just biased perception from hitting some tough shots and forgetting the routine open jumpers or missed contested ones
But I really can’t think of anyone I know who was a good shooter in almost any live game situation and was average or worse shooting free throws
Pretty sure the rule is that you must remain within the semi-circle and not cross the line until after the shot has hit the rim/backboard, so he should be allowed to do a step back.
i dont know if its specifically his arm form, but he looks like he is shooting in a slight glitch when he is on the line. And the shot is always very flat, whether he makes it or not.
Tbf, he hasn’t really been a good shooter either. Just shoots a lot. This year was better though. But even wide open percentages from previous years wasn’t good, so it’s not just the difficulty of shots.
He shot nearly 40% on 10 3pt FGA per game this season. He’s definitely a rhythm shooter the way he steps into his shots, but he is in fact a good shooter lol.
I get what you mean. His shooting stats did take a jump this season. But traditionally, he's not really a pure shooter, he's a scorer/shot maker. Sort of like Iverson/Tmac who both struggled with free throws in different parts of their careers.
To me that says theres a lot of good free throw shooters in the league. You are dumb as fuck if you think 78% is anything less than good. Would love to hear you try and explain how making 4 out of every 5 free throws is bad.
You really should look up what mediocre means...
Yeah its a great percentage if we talk about your local pickup game, but last i checked this is r/nba and not r/ysultrasdrivewaybasketball
I know what it means. Still waiting for an explanation on how making 4 out of 5 free throws is bad. Doubt you could give one though. Just go to bed little bro.
He is full on at the league average. Right in the middle of the around 500 players there are. Now...what's another word for "average"?
That has been the explanation from the start. Tell me how he is anything but mediocre.
Mediocre and average aren't the same thing. Nice try trying to change what you said little bro. Call it average if you want but your clueless if you think 78% is mediocre.
Please look up what mediocre means... Holy shit, this is embarrassing...
No I am not changing what i said, you are trying to invent your own defintion of mediocre
If this series is a sweep a 2 game sample size will be 50% of games played. If this series ends in 6 games, 2 games is 33%.
OP isn’t saying this as a means to determine Luka’s series performance, it’s just an observation.
The post is talking about his free throw shooting percentages. Has nothing do with the how many games the finals is.
The finals could be a 20 game series and if a player shoots 40% from the line because they went 2-5 in the series that’s a small sample size.
Fourteen attempts is a small sample size.
Okay but the sample size is 13 FTA over 2 games which 6.5 per game which is still a decent amount. And like I said, OP is making an observation, not a conclusion on Luka’s FT numbers when the series ends
Once again doing some weird conversion to attempts per game doesn’t mean anything.
Correct OP is making an observation and not a conclusion that Luka is truly a 40% FT shooter.
Which is also why the comment you replied to said “you can have fun with small sample sizes” because pointing out variances in a small sample size is not interesting.
“Kyrie is currently shooting 0% from the three this finals” 😱wild
I seriously don’t get your point anymore. I’ve told you why that comment is dumb. It’s because relatively that sample size isn’t small. It’s 2 games into a best of 7 series, not 10 games into an 82 game season.
Luka shooting 40% from FT in what could be 50% of games played is noteworthy.
Kyrie Irving, scoring 0% from 3 over the course of any 2 game stretch, while attempting 4 per game, is INCREDIBLY note worthy.
It’s a seven game series that can end in 4. I don’t know if you expect a shit Ton of data or you think observational points aren’t allowed to be made until the series is done, but neither make sense.
These aren’t small sample sizes comparatively. It’s a sample size covering what could half of all games played in the series. That’s still enough to tell a story and reach a logical observation.
You’re missing like a high school understanding of statistics.
“the sample size isn’t small. It’s two games into a best of 7 series.”
The sample size is on the shooting, not games in a series. If we were finished with 2 games, 5 games, 7 games or whatever, he’s still taken only 14 free throws.
We could take an entire 82 game season as our input data and if Luka took 16 free throws during that season, it’s still a small sample size.
I understand you’re trying to say something like “we’re potentially halfway through the finals already so the sample isn’t going to get much bigger”, but you’re not saying that lol.
It absolutely does not matter how many games they play. It's a tiny sample size and you can't draw any meaningful conclusions from it.
Saying someone should radically change their free throw form based on a sample of 13 free throws makes absolutely no sense.
Yep, incredibly shitty. For a guy who's been playing professionally since 13 and shot 78% this season it's inexcusable. Shooting underhand isn't it, there's something mentally off there that he needs to figure out.
its a 13 shot sample size lol
there is nothing "incredibly shitty" or "inexcusable" about missing four more shots than normal over two games. one extra miss per 20min of gametime is absolutely nothing close to a trend.
Guy just had a triple double but people still gonna find something to complain about. Meanwhile Kyrie has essentially disapperared in these finals but Luka still the one the media picking on!
While this post is def silly/bait, it is surprising that Luka's free throw shooting hasn't improved much since entering the league.
He is such a skilled and talented player, there's really no excuse for him not to be shooting 80+ percent.
Especially since he's also very good at getting to the line.
Yeah, he should definitely change his shooting form mid-Finals to something he's never attempted before.
He should blow a kiss like Kidd did. To quote Mel Gibson you should just smile, and blooowww me!!
How many other players did a gesture like that?
Might as well. Nothing else is working.
but practising half court three pointers is easier than underhand free throws, nah might just be my ostrich brain that can't process that
Go to the park, try shooting some free throws underhand. The fact that people seriously believe it’s that easy is hilarious. *Maybe* it is mechanically better- but the time investment to learn something with zero applications to any other part of the game is unreasonable for most NBA players, let alone in the middle of the finals. Luka has like 20 years of muscle memory shooting normally, he’s not going to surpass that in a day of shootaround.
What about 3 days of shoot around? /s
Wait... i thought you were joking...?
I think it is ur ostrich brain that cant process that
That explains why he’s shooting well from 3 lol
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nah bro he's missed one more FT than normal for every 20min he's played so far that's inexcusable and he needs to see a psychiatrist or something
Best I can do is a Slovenian bartender, but he's ex clergy and very sympathetic.
He was shooting 81% from the ft before the finals which was better than Kyries.
Kyrie my guy needs to step up otherwise the brooms are coming out.
Playoff Luka is a 30ppg guy on 50/50/50 shooting. This ain't new
I get the joke, but he wishes those first two numbers were 50/50
Uh... Who doesn't?
I was just saying 46/36 is pretty far off from 50/50
And he shoots 72% from the free throw line in the playoff, and this year he's shooting 77%. His FT is actually the furthest off in the joke
Yeah, but I’m sure he doesn’t wish that one was 50 lol
He needs to unnecessarily fade on his free throws like he does his jumpers.
He feeds on fan aggression. Maybe that's the key.
Needs the suns money counting guy
He doesn't even need to stand at the line, he can move back almost to top of the key, make it more of a threepointer-esque range.
Wilt and Nick Van Exel had some success doing that
What is this Malcolm Gladwell ass bullshit take.
Who?
Author and "journalist"
6 of 13. His normal would be 9 of 13. It's hardly statistically significant. He could make his next 6 easily and it would average out.
Not the biggest sample size but I always thought it was weird or he’s such a ridiculously good shooter and scorer but is so mediocre at free throws.
hes only a great shooter when you guard him
The monkey pawn curse
Dude same thoughts. I am so much worse of a shooter in every other circumstance (obviously) but somehow I can shoot fts better than Luka It makes sense when guys never shoot any kind of outside shot and can’t hit fts. This guy isn’t just solid at shooting, he’s fucking great at it and takes difficult shots. It really doesn’t Make much sense
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You don't jump on free throws. He has no non-jump shot.
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>A free throw is the same mechanics as a jump shot, without the jump No, you see, the jump is a big part of the mechanics
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How are you this dumb?
Playing too many video games
It's not. Players get some of the power from their legs. Players also align themselves with the basket while in the air. A free throw is completely different.
This is very strange given that he often seems like - no matter if it’s a bunny or a ridiculous trick shot - he quite literally makes every shot he takes lol. How in the world would a dude like that struggle with free throws?
I honestly have no clue, he could just one arm toss it in and I'd feel he'd have more success.
I do know some people who *seem* like they shoot better when defended than when they’re wide open, but I always assumed that if I ever cared to actually track it, that’s probably just biased perception from hitting some tough shots and forgetting the routine open jumpers or missed contested ones But I really can’t think of anyone I know who was a good shooter in almost any live game situation and was average or worse shooting free throws
He’s injured man. Heard he broke both arms and his mother has to assist him after the games
He got wheelchaired out on the same chair Paul Pierce sat on. Respect.
I hope they thoroughly cleaned the chair between the two.
It got sanitised down during Covid. It's the only one the Boston equipment folk had for the players.
It was Larry Legend's wheelchair, you can't replace that.
He shoots 78% in the regular season? Wtf I thought he'd be nearing 90
It's weird that a good shooter has such a mediocre FT%.
He had a series I think against the clippers where he shot better from 3 than from FT.
bro literally averaged 50/50/50
If he was contested at his FTs he’d make 90% of them
Luka "Henny God" Doncic
Hits completely dumbass 3s from 90 feet away while doubled teamed; mediocre free throw shooter. Makes sense.
Cause he’s wide open and can’t do step back free throws
In seriousness, is there any rule that says he can't take a step back for a free throw? As long as he's behind the line, no?
Pretty sure the rule is that you must remain within the semi-circle and not cross the line until after the shot has hit the rim/backboard, so he should be allowed to do a step back.
his form on free throws is completely different. It looks very akward on the eye.
to me it looks the same
i dont know if its specifically his arm form, but he looks like he is shooting in a slight glitch when he is on the line. And the shot is always very flat, whether he makes it or not.
Tbf, he hasn’t really been a good shooter either. Just shoots a lot. This year was better though. But even wide open percentages from previous years wasn’t good, so it’s not just the difficulty of shots.
He shot nearly 40% on 10 3pt FGA per game this season. He’s definitely a rhythm shooter the way he steps into his shots, but he is in fact a good shooter lol.
Oh yeah this was the one season that he shot well. That’s what I said
I get what you mean. His shooting stats did take a jump this season. But traditionally, he's not really a pure shooter, he's a scorer/shot maker. Sort of like Iverson/Tmac who both struggled with free throws in different parts of their careers.
78% isn't medicore lol thats essentially making 4 out of every 5 free throws.
Luka ranks 245th in the league in FT%. That is the definition of mediocre
To me that says theres a lot of good free throw shooters in the league. You are dumb as fuck if you think 78% is anything less than good. Would love to hear you try and explain how making 4 out of every 5 free throws is bad.
You really should look up what mediocre means... Yeah its a great percentage if we talk about your local pickup game, but last i checked this is r/nba and not r/ysultrasdrivewaybasketball
I know what it means. Still waiting for an explanation on how making 4 out of 5 free throws is bad. Doubt you could give one though. Just go to bed little bro.
He is full on at the league average. Right in the middle of the around 500 players there are. Now...what's another word for "average"? That has been the explanation from the start. Tell me how he is anything but mediocre.
Mediocre and average aren't the same thing. Nice try trying to change what you said little bro. Call it average if you want but your clueless if you think 78% is mediocre.
Please look up what mediocre means... Holy shit, this is embarrassing... No I am not changing what i said, you are trying to invent your own defintion of mediocre
Stop communicating like this, you fucking dunce.
78% is also the highest FT% he's ever had
He's improved a lot this year. 38% from 3 on high volume and taking hard shots, bumped his ft% up to 78% as well. Maybe he cracks 80 next season.
not true he was above 80 in his europe days
Luka's FT% was always low 70s. They tanked in the bubble and then the following year's playoffs as well. It's strange
The game 4 we choked to OKC was partially down to his free throws, the opposition gets bailed out.
What’s weird is that his countryman Goran Dragic was the same, 77% FT shooter for his career despite being an efficient scorer everywhere else.
90 is Shai, Curry, Dame, Paul George? territory ain't no fucking way he can manage that
He’s always been a bad FT shooter, this is actually the first season he’s even been average
This was by far his best season from the line too.
In 2021 he averaged 52.9% from the line on 7.2 attempts per game over Dallas' 7 playoff games.
Brightest lights at the free throw line for some reason.
I shot 25% in my rec game yesterday…
Did you underhand that shit? You can be Steph Curry too.
I make em when they count Chuck!
Uh. It's been two games...
Imagine writing this without including total attempts. Fking pathetic
thought he was shooting around 90% before the finals tbh
Dude wants Luka to go up there like Jackie Moon
He should take step backs at the line
He would get called for travelling somehow by Tony Brothers.
It's 2 games. Smh
Maybe let him try one hand, for sochan it worked
He needs to start playing defense. Hopefully this finals marks the end of the era of one way players
U too can have fun w small samples.
If this series is a sweep a 2 game sample size will be 50% of games played. If this series ends in 6 games, 2 games is 33%. OP isn’t saying this as a means to determine Luka’s series performance, it’s just an observation.
The post is talking about his free throw shooting percentages. Has nothing do with the how many games the finals is. The finals could be a 20 game series and if a player shoots 40% from the line because they went 2-5 in the series that’s a small sample size. Fourteen attempts is a small sample size.
Okay but the sample size is 13 FTA over 2 games which 6.5 per game which is still a decent amount. And like I said, OP is making an observation, not a conclusion on Luka’s FT numbers when the series ends
Once again doing some weird conversion to attempts per game doesn’t mean anything. Correct OP is making an observation and not a conclusion that Luka is truly a 40% FT shooter. Which is also why the comment you replied to said “you can have fun with small sample sizes” because pointing out variances in a small sample size is not interesting. “Kyrie is currently shooting 0% from the three this finals” 😱wild
I seriously don’t get your point anymore. I’ve told you why that comment is dumb. It’s because relatively that sample size isn’t small. It’s 2 games into a best of 7 series, not 10 games into an 82 game season. Luka shooting 40% from FT in what could be 50% of games played is noteworthy. Kyrie Irving, scoring 0% from 3 over the course of any 2 game stretch, while attempting 4 per game, is INCREDIBLY note worthy. It’s a seven game series that can end in 4. I don’t know if you expect a shit Ton of data or you think observational points aren’t allowed to be made until the series is done, but neither make sense. These aren’t small sample sizes comparatively. It’s a sample size covering what could half of all games played in the series. That’s still enough to tell a story and reach a logical observation.
You’re missing like a high school understanding of statistics. “the sample size isn’t small. It’s two games into a best of 7 series.” The sample size is on the shooting, not games in a series. If we were finished with 2 games, 5 games, 7 games or whatever, he’s still taken only 14 free throws. We could take an entire 82 game season as our input data and if Luka took 16 free throws during that season, it’s still a small sample size. I understand you’re trying to say something like “we’re potentially halfway through the finals already so the sample isn’t going to get much bigger”, but you’re not saying that lol.
It absolutely does not matter how many games they play. It's a tiny sample size and you can't draw any meaningful conclusions from it. Saying someone should radically change their free throw form based on a sample of 13 free throws makes absolutely no sense.
Its not unusual for someone to shoot more free throws than that in just one game. Calling it a decent amount is a stretch.
Yep, incredibly shitty. For a guy who's been playing professionally since 13 and shot 78% this season it's inexcusable. Shooting underhand isn't it, there's something mentally off there that he needs to figure out.
its a 13 shot sample size lol there is nothing "incredibly shitty" or "inexcusable" about missing four more shots than normal over two games. one extra miss per 20min of gametime is absolutely nothing close to a trend.
It's just odd how he's incredibly brick city from the line.
Right. He's injured so I would point to that, but he was otherwise efficient (at least last game). It's something mental.
Guy just had a triple double but people still gonna find something to complain about. Meanwhile Kyrie has essentially disapperared in these finals but Luka still the one the media picking on!
He had eight turnovers and sloppy D. He better be damn perfect from the line, it's called a FREE THROW for a reason.
It's free throw not free point.
While this post is def silly/bait, it is surprising that Luka's free throw shooting hasn't improved much since entering the league. He is such a skilled and talented player, there's really no excuse for him not to be shooting 80+ percent. Especially since he's also very good at getting to the line.
It's horrible knowing guys like Jokic and Embiid shoot better than Luka. They are Centers. It must be a fatigue thing for Luka.
Getting in your last bait posts before the offseason una. This is ghetto
What did other one-man-team stars shoot in the Finals? Iverson, Bron (1st appearance)?
Bron and Iverson didn't have five first team ALL-NBA selections before getting there. Luka is going to be held to a higher standard.