Andre Drummond
There can be many grueling assignments on a basketball court.
Grabbing a rebound in traffic is no walk in the park. Elbows are raised, and there’s always some overaggressive sky-walker looking to literally climb atop your back to secure the ball.
Handling the pill without turning it over requires immense skill and concentration. Maintaining the dribble, assessing the defense, setting up a play, all with a little gnat trying to strip you of the rock can feel about as pleasant as a root canal.
Even something as simple as setting a pick can be tricky. You have to plant yourself in time, resist the urge to move during the sequence, and prepare to possibly get rammed into by a feisty defender none too pleased with getting screened out of the play.
Then there is the free throw.
An unguarded, unbothered, 15-foot shot from directly in front of the hoop. It is the only situation in sports completely unaffected by anybody or anything else.
Unfortunately for the Detroit Pistons, this harmless part of the game has proved to be a nightmare.
There are 30 teams in the National Basketball Association. Eighteen of them made at least 75% of their free throws last year. Another ten squads connected on at least 70%. Only two teams fell below this mark: the Los Angeles Lakers and our very own Pistons.
It is no surprise that both clubs had terrible seasons, the Pistons missing the playoffs entirely and the Lakers getting swept four straight in the opening round. Many NBA games are close down the stretch; fail to take advantage of easy opportunities, and more than likely you will come up short when the final buzzer sounds.
Take the Pistons final exhibition game, for example. They outplayed the Timberwolves in every way at The Palace; turned the ball over less, rebounded the ball more, shot a much better percentage from the field. The home team even got its share of friendly whistles, marching to the line twice as many times (34 to 17) as the Wolves.
So why did the Pistons only win by one? Why did it take a super-lucky bounce on a Josh Smith 3-pointer at the horn to escape by the slimmest of margins?
Look no further than the charity stripe. The Timberwolves converted 16 of their 17 attempts, a sparkling 94 percent. The Pistons made a ghastly 19 of 34 for an ulcer-inducing 56 percent. Double the number of opportunities, yet virtually the same number of points as a result. That’s how you lose tight games in the NBA, which the Pistons have done plenty of in the past four seasons.
So who are the main culprits?
The headliner of this group is undoubtedly Andre Drummond, the blossoming second-year big man with one giant flaw in his game -- he can’t make free throws. He strode to the line 159 times last season, and found success on 59 of them. That’s 37%, which is miraculously an upgrade from the 29.5 percent clip he posted during his one season at UConn.
This is a major problem for the Pistons going forward. Drummond is counted on this year to be the team’s most impactful player. He will be in the starting lineup, he will play heavy minutes, and he will be around the ball a great deal on the offensive end. But how many easy baskets can you get when the other team knows they are just one solid hack away from what essentially becomes a turnover? (two missed free throws is really no different than throwing the ball out of bounds)
More importantly, this weakness will make things very difficult for Maurice Cheeks in the final quarters of games. What will stop coaches from routinely grabbing Drummond 80 feet from the basket and sending him on a parade to the line down the stretch? We saw that act with Ben Wallace many a time, and it wasn’t pretty.
The mention of Wallace brings to mind the great fear with Andre Drummond -- that he will never improve at all. Big Ben famously spent 16 years in the NBA without once eclipsing the 50 percent mark at the free throw line. One season after another of brick after brick, with the not-so-occasional airball mixed in.
Therein lies the problem. It’s not that any of us ever expected Ben to become some prime offensive weapon. His strength was his strength, a wrecking ball in Reeboks, able to carve out a long basketball career without a whole lot of true basketball ability.
But there was no reason that his struggles at the line had to be so exaggerated for so long. At some point, with enough practice, tutelage, and willingness to change, he should have become semi-respectable at the line. It never happened.
Each October, Ben would saunter up to the line for his first attempt and it would look exactly the same as it did five months prior; an extremely high-arcing delivery, replete with an unbalanced approach and a backpedaling finish. Some might call this continuous, forever-broken approach, as the definition of insanity.
Clearly, the Pistons do not want Drummond to become another Wallace. They can’t afford it. He is going to get significant touches on offense this year, and will be a focal point on many possessions. Another 35-45% campaign from the stripe will be debilitating to the team’s chances at making a long overdue playoff run.
New assistant coach Rasheed Wallace is said to have been helping the young fella on his stroke throughout the pre-season. It’s not exactly getting tips from Rick Barry or Mark Price, but it should help to some degree.
But before we go laying this critical issue solely at the feet of Drummond, let’s remember there are others suffering from a serious case of free throw-itis.
The splashy off-season addition of Josh Smith brought the Pistons a high-flying 6’9” lefty that can rebound, pass, and score. Unfortunately, he also carries with him a shocking 52% rate in free throws last year, by far a career low after nine NBA seasons. As recently as 2011, he sank a respectable 73 percent, so the precipitous drop is bewildering, to say the least.
Factor in the third member of the starting front court, Greg Monroe, who generally treads water in the mid-to-high 60s, and you’re looking at a real problem for a team not likely to blow out many opponents.
Yes, adding Chauncey Billups and Brandon Jennings will even things out a bit, and should drive the team’s overall percentage up a few ticks. But Drummond and Smith will likely be seen at the line most often. Their ability to sink free throws with even moderate improvement from last year could be a huge lift for the club going forward.
The free throw is a funny thing. It’s one of the few skills in professional sports where a pickup player off the streets could outperform several paid athletes in a 1-on-1 contest.
My dad is a doctor and used to spend some time seeing patients at a mental health facility. Oddly enough, the building also housed a small basketball court with creaky floorboards and dim lighting. Following his rounds for the day, my dad would find his way to the court, and still wearing shirt and tie, grab an egg-shaped ball for 10 tries from the free throw line. Inevitably, he would can eight or nine of them.
It’s not to suggest that the Good Doctor is or ever has been some type of hidden NBA talent. It’s merely to point out that becoming an above average, if not respectable, shooter from the foul line is not some Herculean task. Anybody with a modicum of basketball know-how can scratch together a functional stroke and knock in at least 65%.
The Pistons will begin a critical season for the franchise on Wednesday night. After a half-decade of putrid basketball, the time has come where nothing less than a return to postseason play will be tolerated. The talent has been upgraded and a Finals MVP has returned.
A run at 50 wins would be worthy of a standing ovation...even 40 could get ‘em into the dance.
But it’s what will happen 15 feet from the basket that could determine this team’s ultimate fate.
