Sports Notes - SHAQ ATTACK - NBA FOUL SHOOTING - Part 2
Can Shaquille O'Neal Be Da Best of The Worst?

Shaquille O'Neal can dunk but he can't smoke them in at the foul line. - NBA photo

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Here are the facts. Seven foot Jack Sikma has a NBA career foul shooting average of .849, 4292-5053. He led the league in foul shooting for the 1987-88 season with a .922 average hitting 321-348. That was his 11th year in the league, when he was 32 years old and a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sunday July 1, 2001

SHAQ CAN'T HIT THE HOLE

In chapter one, song and verse or... in this case… part one "Shaq Attack- NBA - Foul Shooting", we took a look at the Asian youth's perception of the NEW NBA and that Shaquille O'Neal couldn't shoot fouls properly because he is so tall. I don't make them up pal… this was said and I heard it.

We also covered how young Asian NBA fans are enamored about the NBA's sizzle of Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter. This is a case of buying the sizzle and not filling your belly with a steak. You can die trying to live on sizzle there is no substance. You can eat steak

But lets get back to the basics. This is about poor foul shooting and size being a detriment. So lets focus on former and current NBA players that are 7-0 and bigger. One inch less than O'Neal can't make that much of a difference for those who want to split hairs.

Here are the facts. Seven foot Jack Sikma has a NBA career foul shooting average of .849, 4292-5053. He led the league in foul shooting for the 1987-88 season with a .922 average hitting 321-348. That was his 11th year in the league, when he was 32 years old and a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. His only sub .800 season was in his rookie year [1977-78] when he shot .777 from the foul line 192-247. He played in 1107 games missing only 41 in his 14-year NBA career. He played hard.

Sikma was a member of the Seattle Super Sonics 1979 NBA championship team and is the clubs all time leading rebounder with 7,729 [1977-78 through 1985-86]. He was a member of the Sonics for nine seasons and the Bucks five. The 1990-91 season was his last year in the league.

The 7-4 Rick Smits has best free throw shooting average for players 7-1 or taller. The now retired Indian Pacer hit for 2266-2932, .773 during his 12-year NBA career, all of them with the Pacers.

The biggest player ever in the league, 7-7 Romanian, Gheorghe Muresan was a .644 career foul shooter 490-761 in his on and off seven year NBA career. Now if you tell me Minute Bol was [and probably still is] 7-8, I'll cry. We have no stats on Bol but we'll get back to you with the facts as we learn of it.

O'Neal is a lifetime .534 free throw shooter 2894-5418 for eight seasons. Last year he shot .524 when the "Hack-Ah-Shaq" became popular leading the league in shots taken and missed at the line 432-824. It was the second straight year he has led the league in foul shots taken. He has led the league in that category three of his nine NBA seasons.

His best year at the line was as a rookie with Orlando 1992-93 when he hit 427-721 for .592. His worst season was in his first year with the Lakers 1996-97 when he hit 232-479 for .484.

Now… I love the Shaq-Man and I want him to feel good about this report because we found out that the great Wilt Chamberlain suffered more than he does at the line.

Considered by many as the best center of all-time [sorry Shaq], the 7-1 giant had only a .511 career accuracy mark from the stripe 6057-11862 [that's a lot of fouls] during his 14 year NBA career. His best year was his third in the league 1961-62 as a Philadelphia Warrior when he was 835-1363 [ouch!] for .613.

Compare those numbers at the line and you have to wonder what O'Neal is crying about being fouled so much. Chamberlain shot 1363 foul shots to O'Neal's highest ever total of 854. That's a difference of 509 shots taken by Chamberlain. Chamberlain didn't get to the line that many times by divine grace, HE GOT WHACKED AND HACKED down in the pits.

Chamberlain's worst foul shooting season was 1967-68 as a member of the Philadelphia 76rs when he averaged .380, 354-932. His numbers were down but obviously he wasn't hacked as much as when he got those 1365 shots in his third year…or perhaps the referees turned a blind eye when Chamberlain was whacked and hacked. Who knows?

Chamberlain led the league in foul shots taken nine of his fourteen seasons, O'Neal just three of his eight NBA campaigns. Chamberlain must have been given some respect during his last four years in the league [all with the Lakers] when his foul shots taken numbers were down. Due to injuries he played in only 12 games during the 1969-70 season thus taking only 157 foul shots. The following seasons he took only 669, 524, 455 respectively.

In contrast experience doesn't count that much when it comes to foul shooting. Of course it takes time to get the hang of it, to relax and shoot a comfortable shot.

The Los Angeles Clippers Michael Olowokandi never played organized basketball until five years ago when he attended Pacific University in California. With that limited experience in the game and only two years in the NBA the 7-0 Nigerian is making free throws at a .586 clip. O'Neal's numbers are worse and he has had the benefit of playing the game as a youth, in high school and college prior to his NBA career.

Now it could be argued that Chris Dudley is the worst foul shooter in the league today. Dudley is a lifetime .459 from the line. The saving grace for him is he doesn't qualify for this competition since he's a mere 6-11. Sorry Chris… O'Neal is the winner.

So back to the argument does height make a difference in free throw shooting accuracy? I think the figures bear it out…NOT. It comes down to practice, focus and relaxing to find a comfortable shot for the player. Failure in many cases is thinking too much.

O'Neal's problem may more so be attributed to having the big hands and thinking too much. Indeed, the opinion from my young Asian friend O'Neal's height is the problem because he's more level with the basket is ridiculous. The numbers in the table below of seven foot plus players bears that out.

But it also brings to mind the false perceptions that young NBA fans around the world have to what is real and what is not. They see the NBA sizzle since the NBA has no more steak. They were born or were very young and impressionable during a time when the NBA went showbiz or Showtime, as Magic Johnson coined in the eighties. The list of the decay of the NBA goes on but we'll save that for another story.

The table below ranks the best to worst seven-foot plus player's foul shooting averages over the years. It includes the big men of the past from the All Time Great NBA Players in the NBA Register.