Last year I made a long post about Dame and his lack of respect from officials. In terms of being top 10 in scoring, he was barely top 20 in FTA. That has changed. Significantly. Last year: 18th in FTA per game 16th in free throws attempted 9th in free throws made. This year: 5th in FTA per game (Gordon Hayward is 1st with 14 FTA after playing only one game) 3rd in free throws attempted. 2nd in free throws made. I know it's early.... but this is really encouraging so far.
It's about time the NBA started investing in Damian Lillard. IOW: Sending him to the free throw line where "stars" make their living.
The killer is, in a couple games, he still couldn't buy a foul. A big part of his numbers are based on the fact he does attack the rim. He's finishing much stronger, so when he is missing, it usually is legit contact throwing his shot off.
Outside of Gordon Hayward and his one game sample size: Anthony Davis is averaging 12.3 FTA per game. Cousins is averaging 11.6 FTA per game. Westbrok is averaging 11.3 FTA per game. James Harden is averaging 10.3 FTA per game. Dame is averaging 9.9 FTA per game. That's pretty good company that he's hanging around with. The fact that he's only .4 FTA behind Harden, Sir Flops A lot, is impressive. Hopefully this trend continues.
This isn't new. @Dan Marang had a whole analysis on CJ last year about how his free throw rate for a 20+ ppg scorer was historically low. As compared to last year, CJ's actually shooting about 40% more FT this year than last.
Please... Have you seen how white some of the mare? Not trying to be racist at all, but I'm sure there is more than one ref that is a country only guy and hasn't a clue about rap. lol.
I will also point out that Cousins and Harden led the league with 10.2 attempts last year, so Dame's numbers will probably come down once everything normalizes.
What happened to those 20-23, 22 for 28 nights that Malone and some guys used to do. Are there really that many less fouls called these days? Or is the game less physical and faster?
Since 2010, there have only been 13 25+ FTA games in the NBA, and 9 of those belong to players who were probably being fouled intentionally (Howard, Jordan, Drummond, Josh Smith), so only 4 naturally-occurring 25+ FTA games in 6 years. In the 10 years prior to that there were 15 naturally-occurring 25+ FTA games, plus 3 other of the hack-a-Shaq variety. Going further back in time, there were only 15 such games total in the 80's and 90's combined (only 1 of which belonged to Karl Malone). I also checked to see if 25 FTA was too high a threshold for that search, so I re-did it with 20: 84 20 FTA games in the 80s 90 20 FTA games in the 90s (15 for Shaq) 187 20 FTA games in the 2000s (35 for Shaq/Dwight) 74 20 FTA games in the 2010s (26 for Dwight/Deandre) So, the 2000s were, by any measure, the peak era for high FTA games.
I know some of you hate when this is mentioned.......... but I wonder how much has to do with Dame "talking" with the refs. I remember when BRoy didn't get any calls in his first couple of years, and certain Vets took him aside and counseled him on the necessity of complaining to the refs. I saw Dame, last game, not get a call. He "discussed" it with the ref, and then shortly afterwards got the call on a similar play. I HATE that he has to do it.....but he does.
Lillard near the end of last season and to start this one has got some of the "star" calls that he used to not get when it was Aldridge's team. I believe his uptick in free throw rate for this season. Has to due more with how he's attacking defenders than getting "star" calls for the majority of it. Everyone has seen Lillard being quick with how he attacks the rim this season if you've been watching the games on TV. Not only does that put the defender in a poor position forcing them to foul you, but it makes it easier for refs to see obvious calls... As there is less traffic. I hope he averages 9+ft's a game all year.
except then people will cry that he's pulling a rose and putting his body on the line too much. can't please em all.
But unlike in years past, he's not hitting the floor after every lay-up attempt. He's (1) attacking the basket more, (2) making his lay-ups at a much higher percentage, (3) getting more foul calls, and (4) doing it all under extreme control so that he doesn't take the physical beating he has in the past. I hope he's able to keep this up all season, because it's quite amazing how much he's improved this part of his game through the first handful of games.
