DeAndre Jordan and free throws in the same sentence has historically had some variation of the word “bad” in between, and for good reason. Jordan was a career 44.6% shooter from the free throw line prior to the start of the 2018-19 NBA season. Eight games into the young season, Jordan is shooting 82.4% from the charity stripe, making 28 of his 34 attempts.
This is a very good thing.
Some will say that it’s the new digs, others will say it’s his new shooting form. The reason why doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that Jordan’s improved free throw shooting could eradicate a trend in the league – fouling poor FT shooters, and more specifically, big men.
Jordan wasn’t the first victim of the “Hack-a-Big-man” strategy. It was first popularized when Shaquille O’Neal was terrorizing teams in the paint. Shaq is in the Hall of Fame for obvious reasons, but if there’s one knock anyone can make against his game it was his horrific percentages at the line.
Shaq was a career 52.7% shooter from the free throw line, and teams knew that. The principle of fouling a poor FT shooter makes sense. It puts the opposing team at a disadvantage, can provide an extra “timeout” in late-game situations, and can allow teams to regroup.
It’s also incredibly annoying and disrespectful to the game of basketball.
I’ve never met DeAndre Jordan, and I’ve never met Shaq. I can say with certainty that both of those guys got annoyed once or twice being fouled all the time for their poor free throw shooting. Shaq was never able to get over the hump, but Jordan appears to be there, and that’s good for the league.
Adam Silver has made some public remarks about the length of NBA games like a certain commissioner of another professional sports league (looking at you Mr. Manfred). Silver has made a lot of public remarks about getting rid of the “Hack-a-Shaq” trend. Why? Check this quote from the man himself in an interview with USA Today in 2016:
“’Even for those who had not wanted to make the change, we’re being forced to that position just based on these sophisticated coaches understandably using every tactic available to them,’ Silver said. ‘It’s just not the way we want to see the game played.'”
Unlike the MLB, NBA games normally take around two and half hours. Depending on who’s playing, that extra thirty minutes is because the opposing team is repeatedly fouling the other team’s center to “stay in the game.” The most egregious (recent) example that comes to mind is Mike D’Antoni subbing in K.J. McDaniels to foul Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond…. five times in nine seconds.
Houston's KJ McDaniels fouled Andre Drummond 5 times in 9 seconds on purpose for some reason https://t.co/ESeeCtT0RG pic.twitter.com/15dRB5hVD0
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 21, 2016
The Rockets were down nine points at the time and would end up losing the game by that exact amount. Poetic justice?
Speaking of Drummond, he’s been improving his percentages at the line as well.
A career 42.4% free throw shooter, he took a huge leap from 38.6% in the 2016-17 season to 60.5% last season. Now, he’s shooting 62.5% from the line this season.
Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert began his career shooting 49.2% from the line but has upped his career percentage to 63.1% and is shooting 68.1% so far this season.
The list goes on.
The NBA may be trying to take the tradition out of centers, but today’s centers aren’t letting “Hack-a-Shaq” become a tradition.