Vitterd has some valid points, hand size and height play major factors in shooting. This message board is probably filled with 5'11 white guys with normal size hands, who just assume because it's easy for them to make free throws that a 7 foot nba player should be able to make them just as easily.
Take Shaq for example, he was just not a good shooter, no matter how much he worked on it, and no matter who coached and taught him. You know he had a great work ethic, every other aspect within his control he excelled, like footwork and passing, etc. You think he didn't want to hit free throws, he probably practiced more free throws then anyone, but it just wasn't going to help much.
There is a reason that almost all the tops free throw shooters are smaller players, despite the fact they get to the line the least and probably practice it the least as well.
Take Shaq for example, he was just not a good shooter, no matter how much he worked on it, and no matter who coached and taught him. You know he had a great work ethic, every other aspect within his control he excelled, like footwork and passing, etc. You think he didn't want to hit free throws, he probably practiced more free throws then anyone, but it just wasn't going to help much.
There is a reason that almost all the tops free throw shooters are smaller players, despite the fact they get to the line the least and probably practice it the least as well.
it is a pretty simple thing. Shaq and these guys brought in expert free throw shooters for help. Practiced all the time. They knew that more points is more money. But it couldn't help. You should be able to see the reason for this. Deandre and shaq practiced free throws more than anyone on the team.....just too tough because of hand size.
comparing shaq to DJ? Shaq shot over 50% in his career and usually made them when they mattered. You can live with a player going 1/2 on average from the line as nothing is wrong with getting 1 point per possession. DJ is shooting something like 41% from the line and is a much worse free throw shooter. With DJ's free throw shooting he has no business being on the field in the 4th quarter as with his shooting no lead is safe. I remember them blowing a 10+ point lead with 4 minutes to go in the regular season to Portland cuz DJ went 0/6 from the line. When free throw shooting costs you a game in the playoffs its very difficult to recover from it and the Clippers don't have the talent to do so. Clippers are the only team in the league right now that would likely offer DJ a max contract as he has no offensive game and needs a top notch pass first point guard to score.
You have a study to back this up? I've only seen stuff that says there is no evidence that hand size is an issue.
My opinion, and this is strictly my opinion, would be that a lot of these guys develop poor form in their younger years (grade school through high school). When you're 10x more athletic and 6 inches taller than every other guy on the floor you can get by without a lot of the fundamentals. It's a lot harder to go back and fix your stroke after 6 years of poor form than it is to learn good form from day 1.
During last nights mavs / rockets game, Chris webber went into detail about how the size of the hands is bs. He said these guys just don't practice free throws. He mentioned how he hired a guy and went to the gym 2x a day to shoot free throws only, because he was embarrassed how bad he was. He said he even brought the trainer with him for out of town weddings just so he wouldn't miss a practice. TNT then showed a statistic of biggest free throw percentage turnaround from the players first season to their second and Webber was 2 on that list.
