Typically to end practice, coach Brett Brown instructs the Sixers to line up behind the base line and calls out one player to shoot free throws. If the player makes two of them, practice is over.
If not, the Sixers run sprints and shoot them again.
Mostly, Brown has been calling on Jahlil Okafor to shoot the free throws and more often than not, practice ends without the sprints.
It turns out that Okafor can shoot free throws a little better than advertised.
“He told me, ‘I’m not as bad a free throw shooter as people think I am,’” Brown said.
The reason some thought Okafor wasn’t a very good free throw shooter was because of the numbers he posted in his only season at Duke. He hit just 51 percent of his foul shots in 38 college games, including 10 for 20 from the line in the NCAA Tournament.
Against Notre Dame in the ACC tournament semifinals, Okafor went 2 for 8 from the line in a 10-point loss. For a player who says he was an 80 percent shooter from the line in high school, the 51 percent at Duke was a huge drop off.
NBA
However, in Thursday night’s 115-114 victory over Cleveland in preseason action, Okafor went 4 for 5 from the line in 21 minutes.
“It’s something I’m working on everyday, so it’s good to see them go in during the game,” Okafor said.
Brown would like to see foul shooting become a major part of Okafor’s game. After all, NBA big men can make a pretty good living if they are able to shoot well from the foul line. The issue, though may be finding ways to get there. At Duke Okafor attempted just 5.1 free throws per game and in Tuesday’s preseason opener in Washington, Okafor did not get to the line once.
One of Brown’s goals this season, he says, is to get Okafor to become a consistent free throw shooter as well as a player who spends a lot of time shooting them in games.
“My first challenge is to get to him and get there more,” Brown said. “I want to encourage him to be a better rebounder and get the ball deep and get to the line a lot.”
A big man who gets to the foul line a lot in the NBA is a valuable commodity. It also indicates that the big man is busy in the paint, battling for rebounds and going hard to the rim.
“I think the bigs who don’t get to the line a lot, it’s reflective of the mentality of how much do you really want it,” Brown said. “So that’s my evolution with him. Once he gets to the line a lot, he’s a much better free throw shooter. His shot isn’t close to being broken.”
In the meantime, Okafor is working on his free throw routine. When he steps to the line he palms the ball in one hand like Kentucky Colonels-era Artis Gilmore, takes a deep breath and dribbles three times.
Then he lets it fly.
That was the way Okafor shot in high school. But at Duke, coach Mike Krzyzewski talked Okafor into simplifying his pre-shot routine.
“I started missing and Coach K recommended that I just shoot it and said I was taking too much time, but I’m going back to what I did in high school,” Okafor said.
“Coach K knew I was a good free throw shooter, but he thought I was putting too much pressure on myself and recommended I just catch it from the ref and shoot it.”
So far, so good with the Sixers. Still, Brown’s goals for Okafor remain modest. Much like with Nerlens Noel, who was a 52.9 percent free throw shooter in his one year at Kentucky, Brown wanted to turn him into a 60 percent shooter in his rookie year.
Noel ended up shooting 60.9 percent on 3.1 attempts per game in his first year.
For Okafor, Brown says 65 percent would be a good starting point.
“I have great confidence that he’s going to grow to be a 70 percent free throw shooter and maybe a little bit beyond that,” Brown said. “I hope we get him to 65 percent and that’s a good first year.”