If you heard the Don Nelson show on KNBR today, Nellie is "demanding" Biedrins to learn how to shoot underhanded free throws this summer. According to Nellie, Rick Barry has agreed to work with him this summer in Colorado (where Barry lives). Nellie joked if Biedrins doesn't comply, he'll fine him $10,000 every time he shoots over-handed. This is why I like Nellie, he takes a dire situation and puts in a logical solution. How many years have we talked about Rick Barry teaching players that have broken free throw techniques yet those players always refuse to learn because it "looks bad." http://www.knbr.com/portals/3/podcasts/razormrt/0325nelson.mp3 Despite the fact that Nellie will probably be gone after new ownership, he seems to be a lot more energetic and attentive than earlier in the season. Probably because he has a roster full of players that play 100% every time they play. Forget the conspiracy theorist who say Nellie has some grand agenda to rake new ownership of money or whatever. The guy has one year left on his contract and I think he's accepted it.
LOL. Unfortunately, this is going to be another FAIL for AB. I'd go with what Red Auerbach said whom I think was a better coach than Nelson and has more rings. Otherwise, we'd all be shooting underhanded FTs. [video=youtube;YdE-RCpLBcM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdE-RCpLBcM&feature=related[/video]
So you disagree that Biedrins' FT mechanics are broke, his confidence shot, and that there isn't a better alternative than to shoot 17% from the line?
Nelson brought Barry in early and taught Biedrins the way, so I don't know if forcing it would really help. The story from January: I don't really know which way is better for Biedrins. Physically, studies and math have shown that the underhanded shot does have a better chance at making it. If it produces good results, why not try? But in the end, I don't know about being forced - he should work with whatever's most comfortable for him.
Bottom line -- you are getting paid millions of dollars to put the little round ball through the big orange hoop. That's your job. It's a dream job. If you're not putting the little ball through the big hoop, you better figure it out. This isn't about fashion. It's about making free throws to score points to win games to give paying fans a chance to see the playoffs one day. If a hall-of-famer did it, where's the shame in that? I don't care if you have to shoot sky hooks from the three point line: figure out a way to make your free throws, and do it!
Good find on the Peterson article. I never read that before. I can't believe the Latvian coaches tried to change Biedrins' technique. WTF. I think that whole experience screwed him up big time. I can't blame him for wanting to play for Latvia though. He's like a mega superstar there. He should do what's comfortable for him, but he doesn't seem to have the ability to find what's comfortable. Why not explore everything and put the time into. Sounds like he spent an hour learning the underhanded free throw. Free throws are about repetition, like the above video says, so I'd figure he should spend like a month or two working with Barry. How awesome would that be to spend a whole summer working with a hall of famer? Kobe did it with Olajuwon. Why not Biedrins with Barry?
Who was the guy that fixed his stroke when he was shooting 62 percent? I forgot who it was, but they should try to get that guy back.
I think besides the mechanics it's all mental for him. Look at Shaq's fear of putting them in from that far away from the hoop. I predict Biedrins will start missing worse than 83% of his free throw attempts when the arena erupts in a chorus of laughter and points out that he shoots like my 8 year old daughter. That's no good for him. If he's going to miss, he's going to miss like a man, and then we trade him for a stronger center who can make at least 65%.
I didn't say that, but Nelson forcing him to shoot underhanded will be a fail. It demonstrates the bad points about Don Nelson's coaching. Free throws are one of my favorite topics. Contrary to most people thinking that it is more mental than physical, I believe it is more physical than mental. One needs to relax, calm their body and find what mechanics work for them and then do that each and every time. Visualize and think it is going in each and every time. That's the mental part. AB should find what works for him. Shooting underhanded may be more natural, but most people are not comfortable with it. AB has long arms, so he needs to be more in control of them and to shorten his arms when shooting free throws.
Matt Steinmetz made a great point on Warriors pre-game a few days ago. Rick Barry says learning and shooting underhanded is easy. Matt Steinmetz said that it's easy for HIM not necessarily easy for others. Good point, we'll see. To your point that it "demonstrates the bad points about Don Nelson's coaching." Are you serious? That seems more like a shameless jab at him. So you're saying that trying to help fix a 17% FT shooter is bad. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. What do you suggest then? AB has proven to be a poor FT shooter his whole career. At one point he shot 60+% but then regressed, then regressed a lot. Why not try to make him a good FT shooter by trying something new since everything in the past has garnered poor results? Basketball and any sports is both mental and physical. It's very cliche for people (players) to say it's "90% mental" when in fact we know that's not really the case. I think the more accurate description is that the mental and physical aspects are co-dependent on each other. If one is broke, or in AB's case, both are broke, you're going to have problems. So, why is this a bad thing Don Nelson is doing?
1st of all, the comment of "Forcing" him to do or fine him is tongue in cheek. He's essentially telling Andris to fix it at all costs. That being said, working with Barry for a couple of months is not the worst idea. If he ups his %age into the 70s shooting that way, then he'll be laughing all the way to the bank.
I'm serious. He criticizes players too often. How does his criticisms of AB help him get his confidence back? If you read my posts again, I did make a couple of suggestions. As for 17%, he was better than that earlier. I would toss out the 17% because it's an anomaly. This is not to say that he hasn't regressed, but AB is not that bad if he were healthy and was able to work on his FTs. I was saying Nelson should praise AB instead of trying to tear him down because he's the one putting negative thoughts in AB's head imho. Maybe Nelson's coaching resulted in the 17% FT shooting. LOL. It's not just AB that I've noticed the results of Nelson's criticisms. We had Radman, BWright last season, feud with Baron and other incidents. Nope whatever the percentage is, most people think shooting FTs is mental. It's more physical and that's what I base my philosophy of shooting FTs on. You want to get a comfortable FT shooting style and practice so that it's the same each and every time. The mental should be the same each and every time. You want to block out the negative thoughts. You're entitled to your opinion about shooting underhanded. Maybe it works for you. I just don't think it's for everyone. If AB tried it and liked it, then Nelson would have something, but I have not read AB saying anything of the sort.
Nellie doesn't openly criticize all players all that often. He takes a jab at a player who is lazy (out of shape, overconfident, etc) to lite a fire under them by openly embarrassing them. He's tried multiple options (including benching them for long stretches) by this point and the guys just don't get it. The other scenario is usually for someone who thinks he's above the system, or can't grasp the system. This is the head coach, and Nellie is really good at using this tool. Sure he may crush a guy's confidence, but if someone like Andris is afraid to play on 1/2 of the court because of free throws, then he deserves to be blasted. It's for his own good. It's like when teachers don't want to use red ink to correct papers because it's jarring. Give me a break. Grow some stones and try to be the best player you can be. There's no excuse for 17%. I think I could practice with my feet for a month and get to 17% (I'm not joking at all). If your psychie is that fragile, then go find another job.
