Basketball teams of all levels practice free throw shooting almost every practice.
It’s a fundamental part of the game, a skill developed from the moment players pick up a ball.
Most NBA players aren’t automatic from the line, but they’re pretty close. Stephen Curry, Steve Nash, and Mark Price are the gold standards, the only three players who have hit at least 90% of their career attempts, but 13 players have hit at least 90% this season, and a handful of current players have connected on 87% or better of their career attempts.
Raptors point guard Dennis Schroder has made 87.5% of his shots this season, which is slightly higher than his career average. So far, his teammate Chris Boucher has hit 83%, which is significantly higher than his usual mark of around 77%.
Despite missing 31 of 41 three-point attempts and 15 of 22 two-point attempts, rookie Gradey Dick has hit all 14 of his free throw attempts. At the very least, his free throws are falling. That is not true for the majority of his teammates. In last year’s brutal play-in loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Raptors missed 18 of 36 free throws.
One would think that improving the easiest shots in the game would be an off-season priority (that team ranked 17th in both accuracy and makes), but this year’s group has been much, much worse. So far, your 2023-24 Toronto Raptors have shot 72.7%, tied with New York (72.6%) and Denver (72.4%) for the worst mark among all teams.
Maybe the decent Knicks and defending champion Nuggets can get away with it, but the Raptors have been hampered by it so far, including a three-point loss at Cleveland on Sunday. In that game, Toronto shot 69% from the line while missing nine free throws. The Cavaliers only attempted six free throws, so they didn’t have a huge advantage from better accuracy, but a few more Toronto hits from the line could have meant the Raptors travelled to Brooklyn for their next game on Tuesday with a record above.500.
To get to 69% for the game against the Cavs, the Raptors had to make nine of ten free throws down the stretch. Toronto had missed eight free throws and made 11 entering the fourth quarter. According to TSN, this was the first time the team took 20 more free throws than their opponent and still lost since 2016. In each of its last six games, the team has missed at least five free throws.
A team that is one of the worst half-court scoring teams in the NBA, with a distinct lack of quality shooters, cannot afford to be so bad from the free-throw line.
Nobody expects Jakob Poeltl to be a shooter, but even the career 53% shooter was closer to 60% last season, but is now at 48.5%, near his career low. The biggest surprise is Gary Trent Jr. Trent is one of the team’s few above-average shooters, but he has the yips, hitting only 58.6% of his attempts. Trent was a career 83% from the line entering this season, after hitting 85% just two years ago. He recently missed two clutch shots late in a game. OG Anunoby has dropped to 61% from 84% last season. Precious Achiuwa has a score of 60% after scoring 70% last year. In 2020-21, Pascal Siakam was 10% more accurate.
What is going on, and what can be done about it?
That’s something Darko Rajakovic and his staff need to figure out quickly.
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