When it comes to free throw shooting, a lot of it depends on form.  This is because you are standing at the line with nobody covering you with the rim directly in front of you.  If there is something wrong with your form it is really going to alter your shot at the line.  Today I decided to take a look at some of the worst shooters and breakdown their form, looking for some things that can be corrected.

Dwight Howard (483/816 = 59.2%):

When Dwight Howard shoots free throw, it looks like he is playing darts rather than shooting a basketball.  This is because when he shoots his free throws, it is all wrist.  After he does his routine dribbles, he rests the ball on his shoulders, and with no knee bend or anything he fires the ball at the rim:

Howard ends up with a lot of line drives because he is basically aiming the basketball rather than shooting it.  A lot of that is because he rests the ball on his shoulder before taking the shot.  When Dwight gets his whole body in rhythm before he shoots it, he tends to make it:

The difference in the miss clip and the make clip is that on the miss, Dwight’s load up on the shot is all hurky-jerky finishing with a pause on his shoulders.  Meanwhile on the make, everything looks smooth.  It is no surprise the result of this one is a make.

DeAndre Jordan (48/128 = 37.5%)

When you want to show people how important repeating the same shooting motion on foul shots is, you should show clips of DeAndre Jordan.  On makes, he looks like a real good foul shooter and on misses…well, misses aren’t pretty at all, and it all comes down to shooting form.  Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t repeat the form he uses to make foul shots too often.

DeAndre Jordan tends to shoot a lot of airballs from the free throw line.  The reason is that most of the time, he doesn’t even bend his knees when shooting.  Bending your knees and rising up in rhythm is so important when shooting free throws, because it is what gives shooters the ability to reach the rim with a nice shooting arc.  When Jordan bends his knees, his shot looks completely different:

Sundiata Gaines (23/46 = 50% – Summer League 17/35 = 48.6%)

Gaines is a rare exception when it comes to bad free throw shooters.  Usually, it is just big men who seem to struggle with free throw shooting, but Gaines also seems to have problems.  Again, the problem comes down to inconsistency with his form.

On both of these misses, Gaines bends his knees but then allows his body to uncoil before shooting it. The result is that Gaines ends up shooting flat footed, and that won’t help you make any shots.

When Gaines makes his shots, he tends to have a less exaggerated knee bend and that helps him shoot it in rhythm.