Some more information. Harden is first in the league with 467 points this season off free throws. That's 122 more points than the next guy on the list, DeMar DeRozan, with 345 points off free throws. Harden has attempted 536 free throws. Again, he's first in the league, and the next guy on the list is DeMarcus Cousins with 417 attempts.
It's very noticable. No one goes inside and hits the ground more per call than Damian. I think he is indeed trying to draw fouls by falling down, and maybe he has a rep for doing that, but that doesn't seem to matter for guys that are real flagrant floppers. Not sure why refs would dislike Damian, he's not harsh with the refs.
I don't think it's the refs. They work for the NBA. I have always thought that the NBA hands down orders on who they want to protect. Guys like Shaq, LeBron, Kobe, Wade, etc. Harden is just one of the absolute worst about taking advantage of that favoritism.
Dame doesn't really euro step or slither.... and often times runs straight into dudes, falls down and just yells. No drama added. Harden slithers around.... and often times whips his head back and over exaggerates contact and falls down with added drama attached. Its quite obvious why Dame doesn't get them. He's not trying to cheat the system. Harden on the other hand is purely dramatic in the majority of his fouls, and well, the NBA refs eat that shit up like its a golden turd.
Actually, if Dame were handed an extra 10 free throws, his line would show him as 7-15, because those missed shots on which fouls were called wouldn't count as field goal attempts. For all those (@Tunchi) criticizing Dame's FG%, how much higher would it be if he got the amount of foul calls he deserves? Or conversely, how much lower would Harden's be if he weren't getting so many BS calls?
Scottie Pippen's FTr (free throw rate) dropped nearly 5 percentage points (about 15%) between his year in Houston and his first year in Portland.
I mentioned this in the analysis on CJ McCollum but if you take a look here you can read how Steph has actively targeted that as a weak link in his game and worked to make it better. There's a list of players (and articles) backing up the theory that it's a skill that is developed over time- but also something that some players have naturally. Not just the arm flailing, but the ability to anticipate player movement and act to get into that space before hand, setting up a defender to be where you want him and not where he wants to be. CJ on RipCityMornings Friday stated he REALLY needs to work on drawing contact, and flat out admitted that his game about avoiding contact b/c of his size growing up. Meanwhile, Harden was always a bull at the 2 and he developed a lot of different methods- 1 being left handed and having the ability to go right & left, changing speeds probably better than anyone, the Eurostep, and of course the arm flailing and acting. That last part is really only a part of it - and just serves to sell the original act that is really a refined craft. Let me state- I hate the way he does it- but it's effective. Lillard gets caught anticipating contact when sometimes there isn't any, and THEN resorts to the arm flail. That almost never works (as we've seen) so he still needs to work at setting up his defender better, drawing the contact where and when he wants it so he's better prepared to generate the foul. It sounds mathematical and simple, but there really is an art to it, as much as I hate to admit it. As far as free throw rate is concern though, Dame is right on average for a 20PPG scorer. Particularly one that chucks from the 3 point line as much as he does. Steph .281 Dame .277 Doesn't get all much closer than that. Keep in mind that Curry is the better interior finisher by a large margin and has been in the league 2+ more years. I think it's fair to say that Lillard gets his share of FTs considering the reigning MVP and current NBA darling is drawing them at relatively the same rate.
How do you account for Dame taking significantly more shots than Steph within ten feet though? (at least at the time of that post, I haven't looked more recently.) More than Harden as well.
C'mon now guys- I love me some Dame but he's NOWHERE near Wade/AI in terms of going to the rim, finishing, and/or drawing fouls. There's a reason both of those guys have medical files measured in inches, they made a living throwing themselves into the paint and onto the floor on a nightly basis. Personally, I don't want Dame to become that b/c that turns into games missed in a hurry. Wade and Iverson were some of the best in NBA history at getting to and finishing at the rim their positions have ever seen, it's a little premature to put Dame on that level.
I'd have to break up the shots by type to verify... give me a few and I'll see if I present a decent answer.
after running the numbers it's really a small breakdown of shot type. Steph creates a bit more space on avg- with his defender 2.87 feet away and Dame at 2.7. Steph has 58% of his shots inside 8ft between 3-8 feet (meaning not inside the restricted area) and Dame is at 54%- they're at the rim percentage is near identical as well. While nothing here is conclusive, I'd go back to my original point that they are drawing them at about the same rate inside. Where I think Steph is drawing more fouls... and this would be harder to quantify... is that Steph gets fouled on his jumper more often. He does have a nasty pump fake, something that Lillard hasn't resorted to (thank the pump fake God Dorrell Wright!) and/or incorporated into his game all that much. This does bring up an interesting point though, I'll see if I can find fouls by location and see if there's any difference between Dame/Steph on WHERE they get fouled and that would probably provide a bigger indicator one way or the other.
