If Shaq Can Do It, Surely The Gators Can
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Some of the best quotes in basketball history have been uttered because of free-throw shooting.
“I can't begin to describe the amount of crap I've taken for being a lousy free-throw shooter,'' former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman once said.
“Me shooting 40 percent at the foul line is just God's way of saying that nobody's perfect,'' Shaquille O'Neal once said. “If I shot 90 percent from the line, it just wouldn't be right.”
Shaq has been so bad from the foul line during his NBA career that Rick Barry, one of the NBA's all-time best free-throw shooters, once offered to teach Shaq the method he used: shooting free throws underhanded.
Shaq passed despite shooting free throws so poorly that teams adopted a Hack-a-Shaq defense against him in his prime. However, he did offer up another memorable quote thanks to Barry's gesture.
“I'd shoot zero percent before I'd shoot underhanded,'' he said.
Former Missouri head coach Norm Stewart once faced a similar dilemma as the one Gators coach Billy Donovan is currently enduring.
His team was shooting well from the floor, but for reasons beyond his understanding, Stewart's Tigers were struggling at the foul line.
“We're shooting 100 percent – 60 percent from the field and 40 percent from the free-throw line,'' Stewart quipped.
Ever since the first foul shot was tossed toward the rim, free-throw shooting has been a thorn in the side to many players and a headache for their coaches.
Three years ago when I covered Florida State for The Tampa Tribune, the Seminoles happened to be one of the nation's better free-throw shooting teams that season. They weren't a great shooting team, but thanks to some tips from assistant coach Andy Enfield, the Seminoles managed to hit the mark more often than not from the foul line.
I was intrigued enough by Enfield's work that I spent a session with him working on free-throw shooting for this story I wrote for the newspaper. In one of the highlights of my athletic career – you can probably guess there haven't been many – Enfield said I had good form and the ability to shoot free throws at an 80-percent clip.
I'm still not sure if he was lying or not, but I left and headed straight for the playground to practice. That's exactly what the Gators do regularly.
Donovan said Tuesday that Vernon Macklin shot an extra 100 free throws. He says during an average week, it's not unusual for each Gator to shoot over 500 free throws in practice.
The Gators are putting in the work, but you can't simulate certain factors such as pressure and fatigue when shooting in an empty gym. Donovan and his staff challenge the Gators in other ways.
“A free throw in the first five minutes of the game – that people would say has no bearing on the outcome of the game – is the same exact shot at the end of the game except you are creating this element around you,'' Donovan said. “Trying to help those guys see that, identify that, understand that is important.
“We have a couple of running drills that they do not enjoy doing. I'll throw a ball to a guy and say, 'You've got two free throws. If you miss them, the team runs. If you make them, we don't run.' You try to create those kinds of situations where there is something on the line.''
Donovan knows free throws. During his playing career, he shot 81.3 percent from the line (327 of 402) in college at Providence and 81 percent (17 of 21) during his brief NBA career with the New York Knicks.
Based on those numbers, it's probably safe to say Donovan rarely, if ever, missed five consecutive free throws like the Gators did in Saturday's 72-69 home loss to South Carolina.
If the Gators had hit their free throws down the stretch, there's a good chance we would be talking about them being the only unbeaten team in SEC play heading into Thursday's game at Auburn rather than harping on their free-throw shooting.
After Saturday's game was over, senior forward Chandler Parsons packed up and headed over to the team's practice facility to shoot free throws.
Parsons is Florida's most well-rounded player. He can shoot outside. He can drive to the basket. He is a good passer. He is a solid defender. He has a lot of the intangibles coaches look for to build a team around, including veteran leadership skills.
But his free-throw shooting has him scratching his head. Parsons has made 25 free throws this season and missed 21 – or a Shaq-like 54.3 percent.
He hasn't changed anything about his routine in his final season.
“The same thing every time: take two dribbles, take a deep breath and just shoot the ball like I know how to shoot the ball,'' Parsons said Tuesday. “It's almost like confusing. It's disappointing and confusing. I'm a good shooter. I'm shooting the ball well from 3, shooting the ball well in the game, just can't make a free throw.
“It's something that I've got to fix. It's obviously in my head.''
Statistically, sophomore forward Erik Murphy (17 of 20, 85 percent) is the Gators' best free-throw shooter. Murphy has missed the past four games due to a foot injury and is expected to play at Auburn, which should help.
Junior guard Erving Walker is the team's most prolific free-throw shooter, making 62 of 81 (76.5 percent). When the game is on the line, there's nobody the Gators would rather have at the line than Walker, a New York City kid who doesn't back down from a good challenge.
That's why Walker's missed free throw on the front end of a 1-and-1 late in Saturday's game was so surprising. With South Carolina leading 63-62, Walker stepped to the line with 1:09 left and a chance to put the Gators back in the lead.
Walker missed and 16 seconds later, Gamecocks forward Sam Muldrow hit a three-pointer to give South Carolina control.
“I can't ask for a better situation to be in at the foul line, but I just missed it,” Walker said. “It's real frustrating. We don't want to leave those free points out there, especially down the stretch.”
As the Gators move deeper into the heart of the SEC schedule, improving at the free-throw line is a top priority. Florida is 11th in the conference in free throws, shooting 65.1 percent (although only three of the 12 teams in the league are hitting 70 percent or better).
Donovan and his staff are doing everything humanly possible to help.
“If I could guide the ball into the rim, I would do it,'' Donovan said. “It's a mentality, it's a confidence, it's wanting to be up there on the line in those situations.
“I think you fix it by getting into the gym, by constantly working on it, by taking it serious, and by having a level of competitive substance that, 'I'm going to go up there and knock down two free throws.' We're going to be in more situations like that. Guys have got to walk up, man up, and make shots.''
The Gators will get their next chance on Thursday.
Until then, maybe they can follow the approach used by Shaq that helped him make 12 of 14 free throws in Game 2 of the 2002 NBA Finals.
“When I concentrate and focus, they always go in,'' he said. “So I'm going to continue to do that, and they will go in.”
If it can work for Shaq – a career 53 percent free-throw shooter – it can work for anybody.
GATOR GAMEBOX
Florida at Auburn
Tip-off: 7 p.m.
Records: Florida 13-4 (2-1 SEC); Auburn 7-10 (0-3)
Game notes: (click here)
TV: ESPN
Radio: Gator Radio Network (click here for affiliates)
Need to know: The Gators look to bounce back from Saturday's home loss to South Carolina with their first visit to the new Auburn Arena … Florida has won 12 of 13 against the Tigers and finished 6-0 against the SEC West a year ago; Gators are 51-16 against SEC West since 2000 … Florida won its only game against an SEC West foe this season by defeating Ole Miss in the SEC opener … Freshman G Scottie Wilbekin has a team-best 3.7-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio; Wilbekin has 41 assists and only 11 turnovers … UF has won eight of 10 overall … Gators sophomore F Erik Murphy is expected to play after missing four games due to a foot injury … Florida is shooting 46.8 percent from three-point range in SEC play … Auburn is coming off an 85-66 loss to Mississippi State, falling behind 22-3 and never recovering … Auburn's biggest win came against Florida State, a team that Florida defeated in November … Tigers sophomore G Earnest Ross leads team in scoring at 12.4 points a game; he is also averaging 6.9 rebounds.
