Udoka Free Throw Solutions - Photo Added
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I’m not sure you can fix Doka’s shooting mechanics. Remember this kid didn’t start playing organized basketball until later in his life. He so far behind the learning curve on how to actually shoot, I’m just not sure there is enough time to catch up?
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DoubleDD said:
I’m not sure you can fix Doka’s shooting mechanics. Remember this kid didn’t start playing organized basketball until later in his life. He so far behind the learning curve on how to actually shoot, I’m just not sure there is enough time to catch up?
there may not be enough time, but of course it can be fixed. I don’t believe that he is physically incapable of moving his right elbow inward toward his rib cage, nor do I believe he is incapable of releasing the ball on his right side instead of his left. Until definitively proven otherwise, I believe it can be fixed.
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Two of the great basketball bigs of all time, Wilt and Shaq, could not hit FTs and they booth have career averages of just over 0.500 with Wilt having one with 0.380; Bill Russell, another great big has a career average of 0.561. I personal;y think they developed mental blocks they were not able to overcome; obviously they excelled in other parts of the game.
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Well I’m holding out for hope. Yet you have to admit Coach is starting with scratch. I’m afraid Doka’s shooting woes have officially become a serious problem.
I was so hoping he could sneak by and even get lucky enough to shoot say 50%. This is no longer the issue. Doka has now become useless in close games coming down to the wire. Sadly he has become a liability late in games. They’re already calling it the Pok a Dok.
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@HighEliteMajor Well, shoot. Another great theory shot to hell! Thx for the correction (in Embarrassment font).
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I have read that big men have trouble finding the optimal release point and shot arc for FTs because of their longer standing reach and overall long limbs. The ideal shooting motion is a more compact movement, but big guys tend to have lots of moving parts in their shooting stroke.
That can be corrected obviously - Dirk Nowitzki immediately comes to mind as a great FT shooter, but I think it takes more time for a big man to develop a good shooting stroke, particularly a big man that developed as a big guy playing in the post. Guys like Nowitzki developed as perimeter oriented players. Anthony Davis was a guard for most of his life. But some of the bigger guys tend to never have developed much in the way of shooting touch outside the paint anyway.
As a result, their release is inconsistent and their shooting suffers.
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The Big Dub was a very good FT shooter at 0.784, Withey 0.726, TRob went from 0.395 as a freshman, 0.510 as a sophomore to 0.682 in his Junior year.
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@HawkChamp I agree that Self’s strategy, or lack thereof was not acceptable.
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Y’all see this? http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/jan/24/police-called-suspicious-person-offering-free-thro/
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Kareem was 72% I believe for his career so it can be done.
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kjayhawks said:
Y’all see this? http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/jan/24/police-called-suspicious-person-offering-free-thro/
I hope we don’t know this person.
️
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@dylans All I wanted to do was deliver @HighEliteMajor step-by-step guide to better free throw shooting. Geesh, I thought it would come in handy. afterall, @nuleafjhawk dared me.
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I knew at least one of us would take credit for it!!
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dylans said:
kjayhawks said:
Y’all see this? http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/jan/24/police-called-suspicious-person-offering-free-thro/
I hope we don’t know this person.
️Haha well it wasn’t me or you I’m assuming lol
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@Blown I don’t think I’d give Doke too much lip if he didn’t want me around. Lol
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@kjayhawks @dylans @Blown — I have an alibi. Really I do.
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@HighEliteMajor Admittedly you were the first person I thought of. Although it could’ve been half the people in the state (the half with good taste).
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I saw the story on Facebook earlier and my first thought was…oh, oh, someone in the forum finally blew a gasket.
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It wasnt me. I promise.
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@Blown That was the first thing I thought when i saw the article - Crap, what’s my alibi?
Although - they should thank the guy. At least SOMEONE is trying to fix the problem.
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After the game, Kansas coach Bill Self said it was a “bad decision” on his part to leave Azubuike in the game, though added he didn’t want to hurt the sophomore’s confidence, either.
On Wednesday night, Self said on his weekly radio show that he checked on Azubuike earlier that morning.
“I said, 'Doke, [did the] sun come up today? You OK? … I kind of put you out there, didn’t I?” Self said of the exchange.
“He said, ‘No, no, you didn’t at all.’ I said, ‘I put you out there. I apologize for that. But I think you and I should get together and we’ve got to correct this, don’t we?’”
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Glen Miller might have the cure
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-uconn-free-throws-0405-20140404-story.html
UConn shooting 75% as a team this season, their top 4 scorers are 199 of 243 from the line on the year (81%).
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Doesn’t Self’s statement imply that they haven’t gotten together to work on it?
Regardless, it’s good news.
All that matters is from today forward. Let’s see what he does from now, to the end of the season.
He’s just so bad fundamentally, that there are so many areas that have room to improve. That’s good too.
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@HighEliteMajor I interpreted that statement to mean that he and Doke need to get together and smooth out the fact that Self embarrassed him on National TV. Self has made it abundantly clear that he isn’t going to try to ‘fix’ his shot. Maybe motivate him to practice more, but not fix anything.
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A survey was conducted of the most admired trait in others. I would have guessed: money, fame, power. But, the leading answer was “the ability to overcome adversity”. Go Doke Go!
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It seems to me that Dok cannot see well out of his left eye. This would explain the position of the ball in front of left eye, and because of being right handed the right elbow goes out instead of down.
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I thought #1 was the ability to make FTs in late-game situations.
Looks like I need to get out more…
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@welladjustedhawk Interesting thought
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We haven’t focused on FT’s this much since that year in the 2000’s that I don’t like to name out load
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Is there an Ophthalmologist among us who would be willing to visit the dorm and offer an eye test (wink wink)?
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@welladjustedhawk No optometry degree here, but if his bad eye is left eye, he would not want to align the ball over that eye. When aiming, you want one eye to dominate a bit. Doesn’t mean that it’s like shooting a rifle where you close one eye – because depth perception is an issue. Depth perception in shooting free throw is much less of an issue because the length of the shot is less important (than a regular shot) because it becomes muscle memory (alignment can too, of course). Aligning over his left eye would make sense if he couldn’t see well out of right eye perhaps, but you certainly wouldn’t move your right foot forward when shooting as he does if you were aligning with your left eye. That has me puzzled.
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Maybe that is how it works in free throw mechanics. I just thought maybe he can’t see the hoop as well if he covers up the right eye.
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@HighEliteMajor It seems this would have been even better considering his large hands. Small handed players (youngins) often need the second hand to stabilize the ball. There’s no way he needs that second hand anywhere near the ball to hold it steady. It does look like he used that time practicing the baby hook and conditioning though, so I don’t think he was wasting time. It’s so strange because he looks like when he is stepping up to the line he is trying to get his form right (he straightens his right arm and motions a smooth stroke with just his right hand) but when he gets the ball it all falls apart.
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HighEliteMajor said:
@welladjustedhawk … When aiming, you want one eye to dominate a bit…
When my daughter started learning archery, the teacher found she had a dominant left eye even though she was right-handed. She aimed much better shooting left-handed.
It would be interesting for Doke to test which is his dominant eye. The test is extremely simple and takes seconds: form a circle with both hands, stretch arms out and put the circle around an object about 15 feet away. Now close each eye in turn: the eye that is open when you see the object is the dominant eye.
If Doke has a dominant left eye, that would explain a lot.
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I think Doke can shake this ugly shot. It can’t get much worse. I think we’ve all seen the worst. Now let’s move on. Self and Co will do their job. Doke will put this mess behind him and get better.
This conference challenge means absolutely nothing. I think its useless. Is there something more, other than bragging rights?
http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=211606095
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After watching Doke, while thinking about HEM’s comments, it appears to me that he is extremely left eye dominate which is why he moves the ball to that side of his head. I taught my children to shoot skeet and in the process I noticed that my daughter always closed her right eye, shifted the gun to her left every single time before firing which basically had her sticking her head over the top of the receiver. We checked and she was left eye dominate, so I taught her to shoot left handed and immediately she tripled her skeet score. I’m not saying they should change Doke’s shooting hand but I am convinced his eye dominance is at least part of his bad form.
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@ParisHawk @Kubie You both might be on to something there. If he is left eye dominant, then it would seem to me best that he align himself square to the target, both feet at the line, and shoot from the middle of his forehead with a middle finger release. That would avoid the cross-fire mess he’s in now.
Or … line up square and shoot Rick Barry style. Really, I think we all know that’s probably the best answer here. It’s a matter of sucking it up and doing it.
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Seriously though. At this point do we really ever see Doke becoming a great outside shooter? Even mid range largely? I honestly don’t. So the point that it would mess up his shot is simply wrong. There is absolutely zero shame in shooting them granny style or whatever anyone wants to call it. It can be the Dokthrow for all I care. I respect that much more if it’s effective than having too much pride to do it that way cause it’s different than what most do. He may be one of the anomalies of the world that needs to do it different to be successful. His shot already looks different… Much different… And ugly ugly ugly. Anything that puts the big guy in a successful shooting Percentage from the line is what the goal should be.
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Are you saying that you were the guy that walked into the dorm, wanting to give free throw shooting advice?
I’m kidding.
I wonder why Doke’s free throw form didn’t get worked on over the summer?
Surely Coach Self must have noticed it.Not kidding.
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I will say that I’m not above it if it helps Udoka. After all I’m offering to do for free what our Multi million dollar HoF coach has said he isn’t gonna do… Why not? Lol
