Fisch’s Friday Rant: Hack-a-C’mon Son

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Check out last Friday’s rant here.

I come here today to talk to you all about free throws. Not a jumpshot, not a hookshot, free throws. The first thing that comes to mind these days when talking about free throws is the “hack-a-shaq” strategy. We have some great playoff series going on right now, yet people are getting worked up because they have to watch some free throws.

First off, I know free throws are slow and not very exciting to watch. I really do understand how the entertainment value might not be there when you’re watching DeAndre Jordan attempt 20+ free throws. However, it’s still an important part of this game. You can keep your “this isn’t how Dr. Naismith wanted the game to be played” theory away from me. These shots are called free throws! 

Secondly, I refuse to believe all of the tweets and comments I’ve seen that said, “some guys just can’t make them.” Stop it. People can’t actually believe that. These guys are being paid millions of dollars and they can’t tweak their form or just put up more free throws? Their job is to be the best they can be at basketball. They have plenty of time over the summer to work on their free throws. Here, if any of those guys are reading this, is a video on how to shoot some foul shots if they weren’t sure:

In all seriousness though, they have tons of people and facilities at their disposal. They have practice facilities they can use and they can get almost any coach they want to help them tweak their form or figure out what exactly is wrong. Just as an example, DeAndre Jordan should know by now that he needs to get back in the gym this summer and try to prove people wrong. Teams can see he can’t shoot free throws right now. So, why not go twice as hard in the gym this summer to make teams think twice when you make at least 60-70% of the free throws off of intentional fouls?

Bottom line, stop making excuses for the guys who can’t shoot free throws. Especially when this hack-a-whoever strategy is only used for mainly five guys out of the entire league. 76% of the intentional fouls this season, regular and post season, have been on DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Joey Dorsey, and Andre Drummond. Why make some rule change when the “problem” is focused on such a small sample? There’s no need for it. 

So hit that gym ladies and gentlemen, I have no remorse if you can’t make a free throw.

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