Drummond free throws

[ChrisSmith]

He looks awful at the line. He's already missing free throws, so why not just completely revamp what he is doing and have him start with good fundamentals, even if it doesn't pay immediate dividends?

Right now he is falling forward and has a bit of hitch in his shot.

 

[61cygni]

Definitely needs to be addressed. I'm assuming they're already working on it, but AD isn't comfortable enough with his new shooting technique yet to use it in a game.

 

[ChrisSmith]

Definitely needs to be addressed. I'm assuming they're already working on it, but AD isn't comfortable enough with his new shooting technique yet to use it in a game.

That's kind of my point. Forget being comfortable with what you have when you are 1 for 8 AND it's bad form. If he was at least 4/8 with bad form, maybe you say stick with it. But he's young, he's potentially got 20 years of basketball ahead of him - might as well start today with proper form and start practicing it.

 

[Prezidint]

He shoots a set-shot from his chin.
It's the same way he shoots from the floor.

Somebody cue up a video of the Fundamental guy from the Spurs and let's make him watch it with the Clockwork Orange eye-opener things.

 

[nym410]

Shaq's one armed FT attempt thinks Drummond's form is awful.

 

[high-post]

That's kind of my point. Forget being comfortable with what you have when you are 1 for 8 AND it's bad form. If he was at least 4/8 with bad form, maybe you say stick with it. But he's young, he's potentially got 20 years of basketball ahead of him - might as well start today with proper form and start practicing it.

+ ∞
And who knows, maybe if he starts doing something completely different (and sticks with that new and different technique) he'll have a good free throw. There's basically no reason to stick with what he's doing now. Definition of insanity and all that.

 

[jibsey]

End of games we may have to watch out for Hack A Shack.

 

[Scot-e]

He sucks- however I think he will get it together at some point before March roles around.

 

[Rico444]

Gonna be hard for teams to hack a Shaq in college, with only 5 fouls to give.

 

[jleves]

There was an article a little while ago that he grew really fast and lost the eye hand coordination in his arms. He's working on learning how to deal with his longer arms. Give it two months before you worry too much about it. He's never going to be an 80% shooter, but he may be able to develop into 70-75% which will be fine. Revisit this in Februrary.

 

[ChrisSmith]

There was an article a little while ago that he grew really fast and lost the eye hand coordination in his arms. He's working on learning how to deal with his longer arms. Give it two months before you worry too much about it. He's never going to be an 80% shooter, but he may be able to develop into 70-75% which will be fine. Revisit this in Februrary.

It's not an issue of results or immediacy. The fact is he reinforced bad habits 8 times tonight. I'm confident results will follow eventually if he starts using proper fundamentals, but right now there is no indication that he is.

 

[UCHuskies08]

It's not an issue of results or immediacy. The fact is he reinforced bad habits 8 times tonight. I'm confident results will follow eventually if he starts using proper fundamentals, but right now there is no indication that he is.

Maybe you should submit a resume for a position on the coaching staff. They just took Kevin Freeman, why wouldn't they take UConn legend Chris Smith?

 

[TheChamps990411]

seeing AD at the line makes me cringe. its really really bad.

 

[jibsey]

Gonna be hard for teams to hack a Shaq in college, with only 5 fouls to give.

No we will be in the double bonus with say 1 minute to go, they put in scrubs to just foul him. Technically they could do this over and over to make up a deficit. He can't be on the floor unless the game is put away.

 

[ChrisSmith]

Maybe you should submit a resume for a position on the coaching staff. They just took Kevin Freeman, why wouldn't they take UConn legend Chris Smith?

That's a good one. Clearly because Jim Calhoun is one of the best coaches of all time means he never makes any mistakes whatsoever (cough NCAA violations, APR, ...). It's a message a board. People offer their opinions. If you disagree with mine that's perfectly fine, but maybe offer an explanation besides "you're not a coach". I'm not a D1 basketball player either, but I'm a better free throw shooter than Drummond.

 

[John Fryer]

End of games we may have to watch out for Hack A Shack.

Perhaps, "Hack A. Drum" would sound and be more appealing.

Peace,

John Fryer

 

[Gurleyman]

Some basketball players just aren't good foul shooters, but hopefully bring enough to the table that they make up for it (our 2004 NC team had three bad foul shooters in the starting five in Okafor, Boone and Taliek). Plus he's a couple games into his career and is still adjusting to shooting foul shots in big arenas with 10,000 people in them (and TV cameras), which is a factor too. You can get into the flow of a game and block out the crowd, but the free throw line is different - non basketball players can be excellent at free throws because it is the athletic equivalent of darts or bowling. Drummond also has to learn a ton of things right now - the complexities of a college offense, individual post moves, hedging screens, when to give help defense, etc. - a complete deconstructing of his free throw shooting, as valuable as it might be, is probably going to need to be an offseason project.

 

[high-post]

You know what would be awesome? If Drummond decided to say " it," and just started shooting granny style. And hit at an 88% clip.

 

[DogMania]

AD is hands down the worst FT shooter I've ever seen at UConn.

I'm sure the staff is working with him on his form. It's going to take some time for him to turn this around. In addition to issues with his mechanics, there's the growing fear of failure running through his head each time he steps to the line.

Hopefully soon he can stick with some sort of consistent mechanics and begin to experience some level of success to get him past the Oh ! I have to go to the line demons that must be running through his head.

Until that happens, JC has no choice to either keep him on the bench at the end of close games or maybe put him in there for defense and sub him out immediately when there is a change of possession.

 

[partial]

It's not so much the form. I think his problem is he seems to hesitate, sometimes in the middle of his foul shot. That's a recipe for comically bad foul shooting.

 

[intlzncster]

He looks awful at the line. He's already missing free throws, so why not just completely revamp what he is doing and have him start with good fundamentals, even if it doesn't pay immediate dividends?

He may improve over the year on his own, maybe not, but this is something I see being worked on over the summer.

He's got so many other things to get down, that you probably have to put this on the back burner (obviously practice them, but not as emphasized from a teaching perspective). jmo of course.

First and foremost, I want the kid to know exactly where he needs to be on O and D at all times, so he can maximize his athletic abilities. I'd like him to work on some back to the basket moves. I'd like him to work on defensive positioning one on one (without fouling).

He's got a lot to do, but man, what a ceiling.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Gonna be hard for teams to hack a Shaq in college, with only 5 fouls to give.

They did it to Shaq in college. It is definitely a potential liability at the end of games.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I can make 50 free throws in a row. I'm working on making it 100. I'm going blind in my left eye, so it's a kind of physical therapy.

I could teach Drummond, step by step, how to have perfect form. But he'll still walk away a 20% shooter. Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

AD is hands down the worst FT shooter I've ever seen at UConn.

I'm sure the staff is working with him on his form. It's going to take some time for him to turn this around. In addition to issues with his mechanics, there's the growing fear of failure running through his head each time he steps to the line.

Hopefully soon he can stick with some sort of consistent mechanics and begin to experience some level of success to get him past the Oh ! I have to go to the line demons that must be running through his head.

Until that happens, JC has no choice to either keep him on the bench at the end of close games or maybe put him in there for defense and sub him out immediately when there is a change of possession.

We need to give him a little time, but it sure ain't pretty at this point in time. I sure hope that he can improve and get better than Josh did, but he may not be here long enough. I would really like to see him show some signs that someone is working with him to implement some good mechanics. He may well get worse initially (and that may be what we are seeing now), but it would give some hope of improvement.

 

[tykurez]

Word on the street is he's shooting 90% from the line in practice