James Harden Has Made More Free Throws in his Career Than Field Goals...

[Dro]

Saw this on realgm.

James Harden has more free throws made than field goals made in his Career

FG made: 3,255, FT made: 3,490

For comparison, they said Shaq has more FG's made than FT'S ATTEMPTED, even with all the Hack-a-shaq.

Also, they looked up other all-star caliber players with high FT's attempted averages and claimed they didn't find anybody else with more made FT's than FG's.....

:biggums:

[imdaman99]

The skill of getting to the line. You may not like it, I know I sure as hell don't...but it's an impressive talent to have.

The problem is, it doesn't always work in the playoffs.

[GrapeApe]

That's crazy, and the fact that there's apparently no precedent is pretty alarming. :eek:

[Dro]

That's crazy, and the fact that there's apparently no precedent is pretty alarming. :eek:
I edited to my post to say, no other "all star" caliber players have this big of a discrepancy between fg's made and ft's made. I think the only the guy they found even in the ball park was Maggette. Even Kobe has way more fg's made than FT's...

[Dro]

The skill of getting to the line. You may not like it, I know I sure as hell don't...but it's an impressive talent to have.

The problem is, it doesn't always work in the playoffs.
It backfires because refs normally swallow their whistles.

But what I find interesting is people will say, "well he's very efficient". Maybe so. But does anybody ever think of the impact that it has on his team's offensive rhythm? His teammates just stand around while he pounds the air out of the ball for 20 seconds, then runs in jacking up a shot and gets a foul. They're standing around watching him when he's got the ball, and standing around more while he's shooting all these ft's. Meanwhile nobody else is gaining any offensive consistency or rhythm at least not when I watch them play.

So yes, his style might be good individually for him, but I'm not sure how effective it is for his team's success. I mean honestly, I think his playstyle limits the overall ceiling of his team.

I don't hate Harden for taking advantage of the rules. I hate the rules...

[Derka]

The skill of getting to the line. You may not like it, I know I sure as hell don't...but it's an impressive talent to have.

The problem is, it doesn't always work in the playoffs.
It is not a skill; it is 100% at the whims of a subjective 3rd party.

[Dro]

It is not a skill; it is 100% at the whims of a subjective 3rd party.
And thats my problem with it. Its completely dependent on the refs. Which is why it doesn't really work in the playoffs..Its fools gold...For all the flopping Reggie Miller did, he definitely didn't get away with it as much in the playoffs, especially not those kick out your leg, get 3 free throws fouls...

[GrapeApe]

It is not a skill; it is 100% at the whims of a subjective 3rd party.

While true to some degree, there's definitely skill in terms of knowing how to draw contact. I remember Jerry West talking about it being an innate ability and an important skill. What constitutes a foul can certainly be subjective, but the ability to consistently draw contact from a defender is a skill.

The problem is if a player is too reliant on drawing fouls, they become much less effective when the officials are more lenient in allowing contact. This typically happens in the playoffs and late in games. For a player like Harden this is very problematic if his 3 point shot isn't falling. He needs to develop more of an in-between-game to supplement his foul-drawing ability and 3 point shot.

[jstern]

I could see the league evolving in that direction. 3 pointers and free throws. The way Curry is taking advantage of the current rules, someone is going to come in a revolutionize the league creating simple fouls and being ultra efficient by shooting mostly free throws. The game will be longer and boring, but if they change the rules back to combat the new monster, then nobody is going to really have the skills to do anything else.