New York Knicks: 5 goals for Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2017-18
By Randy Porga
2. Improving on the line and with contact
Tim Hardaway Jr. can certainly help bolster the team’s offensive productivity, but his performance from the charity stripe last season was not very impressive.
One of the areas he statistically regressed in last season was his free throw percentage, making only 76.6 percent of his attempts. The Knicks should not panic too much, however, since the league average during 2016-17 was 77.2 percent. It was the first time in his career he shot below 80 percent, reaching as high as 89.3 percent during the 2015-16 season.
On the plus side, Hardaway showed improvement with his ability to draw fouls and follow through after the contact. During the 2016-17 season, he drew 86 shooting fouls and connected with a three-point play on 24 of those plays.
Although he had a personal best with his minutes on the court, last year his ability to draw fouls speaks to his toughness shot selection. His highest frequency of shot attempts came within three feet of the basket at 20.4 percent. If he’s going to keep attacking like this, Hardaway needs to make it high on his list of improvements to start hitting his free throws at an elite rate again.