DeAndre Jordan’s struggles at the free-throw line reached a new level Monday night.
One of the most-debated topics during the offseason was what to do about the “Hack-A” strategy. During the NBA Playoffs last spring, first the San Antonio Spurs and then the Houston Rockets fouled Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan early and often, and with good reason.
During the regular season in 2014-15, Jordan made just 39.7 percent of his free throws, joining Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons as just the second and third qualified players in NBA history to not even make 40 percent from the stripe over the course of a season.
In last year’s playoffs, Jordan shot 157 free throws in 14 games (an average of 11.2 per contest) and was blazing hot by his own standards, hitting 42.7 percent.
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For some perspective on how much free throw shooting Jordan was doing during the postseason, his 157 free-throw attempts were more than five players who qualified for the league lead in free-throw shooting took during the entire 2014-15 regular season.
Of that group of five, Nick Young of the Los Angeles Lakers played in just 42 games and Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Pelicans appeared in 61. But Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jason Smith of the New York Knicks and Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks each played in at least 70 games and shot fewer free throws than Jordan did during two playoff series.
It’s also worth noting that all five were better than 80 percent shooters.
It’s a dilemma for the NBA, no question. On one hand, it’s hard to watch what we saw Monday—Jordan traipsing to the line a whopping 34 times and missing 22 of them.
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Jordan’s 12-for-34 performance at the line matched a record for futility set by Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 1, 1967, when he was 8-for-30, the only two players in NBA history to miss 20 free throws or more in a single game.
Since 1963-64, there have been 289 games in which a player attempted at least 22 free throws. Missing that many in a single 48-minute contest is to elevate the free-throw follies to a new level.
This season, Jordan is 58-for-153 (37.9 percent) in 18 games, on pace to shoot 697 foul shots over 82 games.
The 153 attempts place Jordan third in the NBA through Monday’s games, trailing only James Harden of the Rockets (shooting 86.9 percent on 214 attempts) and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors (hitting 82.8 percent of his 157 free throws).
Jordan has missed 95 free throws this season, more than 14 teams have bricked in 2015-16.
It long ago passed from sublime to ridiculous.
Jordan on Monday became just the sixth player since 1963-64 to attempt at least 30 free throws in a regular-season game, joining Jerry West (Oct. 17, 1964, 15-for-30), Chamberlain (twice, also on Oct. 17, 1969, 15-for-30), Adrian Dantley (27-for-31 on Nov. 25, 1983), Shaquille O’Neal (19-for-31 on Nov. 19, 1999) and Dwight Howard (twice, 21-for-39 on Jan. 12, 2012, and 25-for-39 on March 12, 2013).
None of those other players attempted as few as Jordan’s six field-goal attempts, however.
Since Jordan already has enough attempts to qualify for the 2015-16 leaderboard (125 attempts), he has moved to the head of the class in foul-line futility. His 37.9 percent accuracy is slightly worse than Chamberlain’s 38 percent mark set in 1967-68.
It should be noted that Drummond also has enough attempts to make the list; his 38.2 percent mark is currently the third-worst in history.
Yes, both Jordan and Drummond—who was 4-for-18 in a win over the Rockets on Monday—are doing worse than their historically bad 2014-15 performances at the stripe.
There are many advocating for a rules change, but beyond “they shouldn’t be able to do that,” I’ve yet to see a tangible plan that would address the tactic of intentionally fouling ghastly free-throw shooters.
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And as hard as it was to watch Jordan clank 22 misses off the chipped and battered rims at Staples Center Monday night, there are two key elements to bear in mind: One, his team won the game handily, 102-87. Two, remind me again why players should get a break in the rules simply because they can’t master a fundamental component of the game?
That feels a bit too much like the same notion behind eliminating the selection of honor graduates such as valedictorians and salutatorians because the students not selected might have their feelings hurt.
I get it—the Clippers have to decide whether to take one of their better defenders and their best rebounder off the floor because of concerns he could cost them a game at the foul line.
But how is that fundamentally different from a team having to take a super scorer off the floor because he kills the team defensively during crunch time? Should we alter the rules to allow players not to have to defend, too?
A rule change to protect players such as Jordan, Drummond and others who struggle at the foul line sends the message to younger players they no longer have to worry about trying to improve that aspect of their game. It’s OK, big guy, we’ll cover for you because you suck at shooting free throws.
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I’d rather have to watch Jordan take the paint off the rims brick by brick than give him a pass for not being able to master a basic fundamental of basketball.