The 'Ball Don't Lie' Non-Stars: Who Are the NBA's Worst Free-Throw Shooters?
You know the NBA's "Ball Don't Lie" non-stars when you see them.
They trudge toward the free-throw line with deer-in-headlights terror showing through feigned confidence. They take so many deep breaths you think they might faint. They stare at the rim, the floor or some random space in the air. They might blow into their hands, step back once or twice to gather themselves or even speak words of encouragement to themselves.
Then, they line up their attempt, let if fly and—fill the lowlight reels with bricks, air balls and every type of bad mess imaginable.
These six non-shooters are the Association's worst of the worst at the charity stripe. Each has been hand-selected based off his body of work, with much more weight given to their past performances than the sliver of stats they've compiled through the early portion of 2017-18.
A couple of rules before we get going.
Players must have entered this season with at least 200 career attempts, so slow-starting youngsters like Lonzo Ball (50 percent), Josh Jackson (54.1) and Dennis Smith Jr. (58.6) are off the hook. Guys also have to be rotation regulars right now, which spares the likes of Omer Asik (career 55.4 percent), Andrew Bogut (55.6) and Miles Plumlee (56.4).
Everyone else went under the microscope, and these six stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Bismack Biyombo, C, Orlando Magic
1 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 55.2
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 12-of-23 (52.2 percent)
The influx of NBA broadcasting money made 2016 the summer of buyer's remorse, and the Orlando Magic were one of many teams burned by wild spending. Then, they deemed defensive specialist Bismack Biyombo worthy of a four-year, $72 million commitment.
Now they're only committing 14 minutes to him per night.
He's almost unplayable on offense with his stone hands, restricted-area shooting range and atrocious touch at the stripe. Even worse, he teased at a free-throw improvement this preseason (76.9 percent, albeit on 13 attempts), but Orlando wisely wanted to see more before believing.
"We don't want to put the cart before the horse," Magic coach Frank Vogel cautioned, per Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. "We still have a lot of season to play, but he definitely looks more confident in it this year than he did last year."
Those looks were deceptive, apparently, because his weakness is worsening. He's down a percentage point on last year's disastrous debut and has only topped 55 percent twice, with one of those above 60 percent, during his seven NBA seasons.
Clint Capela, C, Houston Rockets
2 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 45.4
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 23-of-32 (71.9 percent)
There's something fascinating about the best big man on the three-point-obsessed Houston Rockets being one who has taken nearly 78 percent of his career shots within three feet of the basket. But their offensively inclined skipper Mike D'Antoni says if you're designing a modern center, it should look a lot like Clint Capela.
"I'll be very surprised if he doesn't become, if not the best center in the league, one of the best," D'Antoni said, per ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon. "I'll be shocked."
Capela's success at the free-throw line could go a long way toward establishing his ceiling. His above-the-rim play, defensive versatility and aggressiveness on the glass (25 rebounding percentage, second overall) will always have value, but he can't play in big moments if he's a liability at the line.
So far this season, he's been anything but. And maybe this is the continuation of a trend in which he has raised his free-throw percentage at least 15 points in each of his four NBA seasons. Or, perhaps he's overdue for a crash landing back to reality, since multiple 15-plus percentage-point jumps require a shockingly low starting point (4-of-23, 17.4 percent as a rookie).
As a sophomore, he had the third-worst free-throw season ever (37.9 percent, minimum 200 attempts). He had encouraging stretches in 2016-17—11-of-15 over a four-game stretch, 14-of-17 in a two-gamer—but still would have finished third-worst if he had enough attempts to qualify (53.1 percent). He's young enough to keep improving (23), but flaws aren't eradicated in one month.
Andre Drummond, C, Detroit Pistons
3 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 38.8
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 30-of-47 (63.8 percent)
For all of the spellbinding stories of the season's early goings, Andre Drummond's fight for free-throw functionality has quietly been one of its best subplots. It's (potentially) a radical redeeming tale years in the making, with previous chapters including talks of granny-style strategizing and a secret formula that was supposed to shock us all.
But the big guy kept stumbling from one anemic shooting display to the next. Just consider this: At age 24, he already owns four of the Association's 20 worst free-throw-shooting seasons of all time.
So, yes, even if he's shy of 65 percent, the fact he's north of 60 is certainly newsworthy.
"It's like night and day," Drummond told ESPN.com's Nick Friedell. "It's been an exciting process for me to see the progress that I've put in over the years, the time that I've spent, countless hours in the gym shooting free throws."
History isn't keen on Drummond's recent success proving sustainable, though. None of the other players with a bottom-20 season holds a career free-throw percentage of even 60, and more than half fall in the 30s or 40s. Plus, Drummond's last time out in the Pistons' 114-97 win over the Indiana Pacers featured an unsettling 0-of-7 showing that indicated how violent regressing to the mean could be.
Dwight Howard, C, Charlotte Hornets
4 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 56.4
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 39-of-92 (42.4 percent)
Superman, meet kryptonite.
If you've been waiting on Dwight Howard to solve his free-throw woes, your patience is commendable—but your reasoning is illogical. The eight-time All-Star center is losing significant ground in this battle, sitting nearly 25 percentage points beneath his rookie rate (67.1). If he can't curb this trend, he'll post a new career-low for the second time in three seasons.
"Howard's free-throw percentage wouldn’t be good for a middle-school team," Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer wrote. "... He's leaving a lot of points on the floor and daring teams to use the Hack-a-Dwight strategy."
Last season, the league-average free-throw percentage was 77.2. Had Howard maintained that rate for his career, he'd have an extra 1,733 points to his name and jump from 93rd to 60th on the Association's all-time scoring list.
But even when he was at his peak, his seemingly superhuman powers couldn't conquer this problem. And as his skills continue to erode—his 17.4 player efficiency rating is the lowest it's been since his rookie year—this glaring deficiency will become even harder to ignore.
DeAndre Jordan, C, Los Angeles Clippers
5 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 43.3
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 21-of-34 (61.8 percent)
Count DeAndre Jordan among the early season's charity-stripe surprises, and count us among the skeptics regarding its staying power.
He is Drummond's biggest rival in terms of free-throw incompetence. Jordan has the fifth-lowest career percentage (min. 250 games), which puts him just two spots back of Drummond. And while Drummond has four of the bottom-20 shooting seasons, Jordan has three—plus the 21st-worst.
"The free-throw shooting is a real issue," Sports Illustrated's Andrew Sharp said on the Open Floor Podcast. "In the final six minutes of a close game, you can't have him on the floor."
The problem is the Los Angeles Clippers can't afford to be without Jordan. He has the highest on-court net rating of the regulars (plus-5.6) and the lowest off-court net rating on the team (plus-0.1). He anchors their defense, controls the glass and sparks some of their offensive actions as an aerial screen-and-roller.
But if you took him to skip rocks in a lake, he might never hit the water. There's a reason he subsists almost exclusively on dunks (62.4 percent of his field goals last season) and layups (30.8). Unless he can start dunking from the free-throw line, though, he's unlikely to find his way off this list.
Andre Roberson, SG/SF, Oklahoma City Thunder
6 of 6
Career Free-Throw Percentage: 49.3
2017-18 Free-Throw Shooting: 2-of-4 (50.0 percent)
On behalf of all big men, here's a huge "Thank you!" to Andre Roberson for proving perimeter players can be equally inept at the stripe.
The fifth-year swingman owns some of the most cringe-worthy misses in recent years. Maybe it's the fact that the word shooting is part of his job title, but his errant attempts can be appalling. In March, he spoiled his two freebies with a brick and an air ball. In October, he skipped the brick and missed everything twice.
"Roberson remains a psychological mess and at times can't be on the court, no matter how badly the Thunder needs his defense," Berry Tramel wrote for the Oklahoman. "... I've defended Roberson's minutes, and his $10-million-a-year contract, because defense matters. But if you air ball foul shots in the NBA, you can't play."
No rotation player squeezes the life out of the Oklahoma City Thunder offense more than Roberson. They're dreadful when he plays (95.7 offensive rating, would be 29th) and dominant when he doesn't (106.4, would be ninth). He costs them valuable spacing and is logging nine fewer minutes per game than he did last season.
Even though he's only 25, there's little (if any) reason to believe he can right this sinking ship. He couldn't convert freebies in college (58.2 percent) and has misfired on nearly 75 percent of his NBA jumpers.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball Reference or NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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