Drummond Sets NBA Record with 23 Missed Free Throws

[NovU]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2609 ... vs-rockets

Despite connecting on just 13 of 36 attempts at the charity stripe, the 22-year-old scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the road victory that helped the Pistons improve to 23-19.

- Stephen Curry missed 22 free throws this year.

- Last game Drummond shot .500 free throws was back on Dec 22nd versus Heat for 4 for 8.

- Last time he shot higher than .500 free throws was back on Nov 23rd versus Bucks for 3 for 4.

[Andrew]

Some records, you definitely don't want to have.

[NovU]

Welp, that's this era's elite bigs. First Dwight came close then DeAndre tied the record, now Andre breaks it.

It's also funny because it came against Dwight's Rockets. They're usually on the receiving end of hack-a-shaq strategy.

[Andrew]

I'd say it's bigs through the ages, not just this era. If this strategy had been popular 20 years, I bet Chris Dudley would have chased that record too.

[NovU]

Teams throughout ages have employed that tactic whenever dominant big with FT flaw was on the floor, as evidently with Wilt and Shaq.

Teams don't necessarily send Dudley to the line all that much unless situation calls for it. He's just not an elite big that brings same impact as Drum, Dwight, or DeAndre. Let him play, taking him out out of the game is just not as enticing.



I thought having to shoot 30 free throws would get you into a groove and make more free throws. But it's not the case with Drummond. That is just disgusting. I don't think that's league's problem but player's own.

[Andrew]

The current approach to hacking players without the ball wasn't quite as popular back in the day. It turned some heads when Don Nelson employed the tactic against Dennis Rodman in a game during the 1998 season, and Bubba Wells subsequently became the quickest player to foul out of a game.

[NovU]

That's the thing. Players like Drum and DeAndre are so dominant but flawed that you can take them out of the game. Rodman was a much better free throw shooter so may not worked so well and discouraged teams from doing it as often.

[Andrew]

Rodman's a 58% free throw shooter on his career, and was just under that clip during his time with the Bulls. That's better than the likes of DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond, but he was still an unreliable foul shooter (at best) in his own right. Nelson was applying the same principle there.

[benji]

Another dominating record setting performance by Andre!

[Andrew]

And the win, too.

[NovU]

There is no real advantage to foul near 60% free throw shooter as that'd turn into semi decent ORtg especially in his era of basketball.

Drummond is turning out to be historically flawed that there are means to risk getting into early foul trouble to take him out of the game. If anyone was that dominant and bad at the same time(including Rodman), teams would resorted to fouling in any age more often.

[Andrew]

The principle was the same, even if the effectiveness potentially wasn't. If nothing else, Nelson probably figured it was preferable to trying to defend a team that had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on it.

In any event, the tactic wasn't really in vogue. I expect it would be used against Chris Dudley if he were playing today. Ben Wallace too, though he got hit with it back in the day as it was.

[NovU]

There's less perk in employing Hacking tactic against players like Ben or Dudley. They also dealt being sent to the line purposely themselves.

Part of the reason teams employing more Hack-a-Shitplayer is because the league is better offensively now days than before. We've come from era when teams struggled to put up 70 points a night. Now days teams go for 100 easy. Pace is faster but also offensive efficiency got better so sending 50% free throw shooter is a better tactic today than yesterday. Trend is natural especially with elite bigs like DeAndre in 4+1 era where 5 is the only real big on the court.

[Andrew]

They used to go for 100 fairly easily in the 80s and 90s, too. The pace did slow towards the end of the decade, though.

[NovU]

I didn't mean that literally but average score per game has significantly risen over the decades. Ofc 80s was whole new era.

You put Shaq, Drummond, DeAndre, Whiteside, Dwight in 80s era, the teams probably would have employed hacking strategy. Who wouldn't exploit their weakness and play them entirely honest unless teams were all dumb.

[Andrew]

Possibly. I don't know if it would've been an accepted approach/philosophy, though. Attitudes about that stuff changes over time. Take Wilt's 100 point game, for example. With all the force-feeding late in the game to get him the record, passing up open shots and such, it probably would've been judged a little more harshly in the post-merger era.

[stereoxide]

I like how the Rockets brought in KJ McDaniels in the 3rd quarter just to foul Andre.

[Stress Fracture]

Wondering how long the game went.

[air gordon]

The principle was the same, even if the effectiveness potentially wasn't. If nothing else, Nelson probably figured it was preferable to trying to defend a team that had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on it.

In any event, the tactic wasn't really in vogue. I expect it would be used against Chris Dudley if he were playing today. Ben Wallace too, though he got hit with it back in the day as it was.

IIRC Nelson initially instituted the "hacking" strategy on Rodman in order to get the ball out of the Bulls efficient scorers hands/ try to disrupt the Bulls offensive flow. digging deeper, Rodman was shooting under 40% from the line at the time. obviously it backfired but many years later, the strategy has evolved and is still being used

[I Hate Mondays]

Classic Van Gundy, blaming Adam Silver for not making anything about the Hack-a-person strategy and therefore Drummond's new record.

[NovU]

Worst in free throw business!

phpBB [video]

Best in business experts weigh in their opinions!

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

The principle was the same, even if the effectiveness potentially wasn't. If nothing else, Nelson probably figured it was preferable to trying to defend a team that had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on it.

In any event, the tactic wasn't really in vogue. I expect it would be used against Chris Dudley if he were playing today. Ben Wallace too, though he got hit with it back in the day as it was.

IIRC Nelson initially instituted the "hacking" strategy on Rodman in order to get the ball out of the Bulls efficient scorers hands/ try to disrupt the Bulls offensive flow. digging deeper, Rodman was shooting under 40% from the line at the time. obviously it backfired but many years later, the strategy has evolved and is still being used

Indeed. And hey, while it may not have won the game, at least it got Bubba Wells in the record books!

[air gordon]

just went over the video and latest nlsc podcast. i normally don't like the loudmouth style of these 2 (that's steven a & skip )but that was a good discussion

does the league have to step in and make a rule change due to 4 players being absolutely dreadful at a fundamental skill? i don't see it likely for fans to stop going to games because of the hacking strategy. skip did cite tv ratings did NOT see a dip.

we've seen a championship pedigree coach employ the strategy. the same coach disdains it as much as he hates the 3pt shot but he still uses it

and what constitutes play as aesthetically pleasing? ball movement? iso play? slow pace? fast pace? do fans like to see a team like gsw & rockets shoot an inordinate amount of 3pt shots? do fans like analytics and advanced stats playing a bigger role in the game?

play defense better? yes. taking the penalty for the hacking strategy can be a good option too. in the end, learn how to make the freebies and the strategy was negated.

[Andrew]

True, what people consider exciting basketball is going to vary from fan to fan. I'm guessing that for most people though, that's not free throw shootouts. I mean, when there's a bunch of unintentional fouls and the game devolves into a free throw shootout, we usually call that game sloppy and sluggish. To do it intentionally is to go out of your way to play that brand of basketball. I'm not a fan when teams can employ that strategy so easily, when a player doesn't have the ball and is 90 feet from the basket. I mean, if it's such a legitimate strategy, why don't we eliminate fouling out so that teams can do it as much as they like?

Having said that, despite my personal distaste for it and belief that it's ugly basketball, we are only talking about a few players, and the fact that it's not affecting ratings is proof that it's not a dire problem that's killing the league. To say it's completely ruining the game is certainly a stretch; it's just a few players and with foul limits, you've got to pick your spots. I think it brings a supposedly free-flowing sport to a grinding halt, but it's only happening in some specific circumstances, so there are probably other cheap tactics that should be addressed first.

[air gordon]

Legitimate strategy? Ask Pop after he used it in a playoff game and won haha

Free flowing game? How about the cavs offensive strategy of consistently iso-ing James in the post during last years finals?!

Compare these to constantly attacking brooks and mcbuckets on defense, I'll say hacking is outside the box thinking haha