Dwight Howard may be the best Center in the NBA, claiming that title for a few years now. It doesn’t make him perfect, as the Orlando Magic franchise man plummeted to new lows this season with his free throw shooting, seeing 50% from the bottom. He’s still not the worst in the league.
All the guys who are on this list are Centers. We only let guys who visit the line at least twice a game and shoot below 50% can join the list. Most of them are just getting worse as times goes by for some reason, instead of managing to improve this terrible aspect of their game.
Brendan Haywood, 46.2%
Haywood has never been mistaken for Mark Price, but the 10 year veteran, who won the NBA title with the Mavs last season isn’t supposed to be this bad. His career number is 59.2%, and generally, while he was a Washington Wizards players for nearly a decade his shooting was over 60%, even a 73.5% in 2007-2008. This season he’s doing a bit better than in 2010-2011, when he shot 36.2% from the line and was terrible in the postseason as well (46.5%).
Bismack Biyombo, 47.7%
Image: Source
Biyombo, like Haywood, doesn’t get to the line too often, only twice a game. But he’s not likely to hit even one of those shots on some nights. The Congolese rookie, who’s had a few double double nights since entering the league, has had his share of 2-6 and 1-4 nights from the line.
Dwight Howard, 48.4%
Hiring free throw experts hasn’t helped the best center in the league get a grip, or simply improve when he goes to the line. He’s at 58.8% for his career, hovering around those numbers till this season. In 2011-2012? Howard goes to the line 10.6 times a game, but rarely makes more than 5 of those shots. He had one incredible night earlier this season, visiting the line 39 times, making 21 of those shots against the Golden State Warriors. Unlike the previous two, the Magic are losing valuable points in buckets when Howard goes to the line.
JaVale McGee, 48.8%
The most surprising number involving McGee’s free throw shooting is the fact that he hardly makes any trip to the line, averaging 2.9 attempts a game. Lets hope his 28.6% since playing for the Nuggets won’t stay this low for long. He’s 59.4% during his short career, another example of a center who starts out with decent numbers from the line and plummets for no explainable reason.
Blake Griffin, Jordan’s teammate, is worth mentioning here. He gets to the line 7 times a night, but is making only 54.8% of his shots this season, compared to the 64% he shot last season. Another aspect in which Griffin’s numbers have dropped this season.
DeAndre Jordan, 49.5%
Image: Source
Like McGee, Jordan is an athletic freak who hasn’t really honed his offensive skills yet, relying too much on his athleticism to pull him through games. Unlike the rest of the gang so far, Jordan’s sub-50% numbers are actually an improvement this season. He shot under 40% during his first two seasons in the league, moving up to 45.2% in 2010-2011, and just scraping the 50% ceiling this season.
One response to “The Worst Free Throw Shooters in the NBA”
[…] Sources: sportige, ESPN, wsj, lakerstopbuzz, nba, gilbertology, basket-infos, midwestsportsfans, sports illustrated, […]