Since entering the NBA in 2012, Andre Drummond has been among the worst free throw shooters in the league. That may no longer be the case.
The Pistons held a press conference on Friday to officially announce the signing of Drummond’s new five-year contract extension. During the session with the media, the Pistons big man said he has been experimenting with new tactics to help improve his free throw shooting and apparently found one that has been working.
#Pistons Drummond on FT: “I just try different tactics … we’ve found something that works and we’ll stick with it — you’ll find out.”
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) July 15, 2016
#Pistons SVG on Drummond: “I’m really optimistic he’s going to come back and shoot free throws a lot better.”
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) July 15, 2016
Drummond’s career-high from the free throw line is 41.8 percent, during the 2013-2014 season. Last season, he converted on just 35.5 percent of his attempts. To say Drummond could stand to improve would be quite the understatement.
We will have to wait to see what Drummond has come up with and whether it yields better results in games. Earlier this year head coach Stan Van Gundy appeared to not rule out his center shooting underhand.
The league recently instituted rule changes in an attempt to discourage teams from purposely fouling notoriously poor free throw shooters like Drummond, DeAndre Jordan, and Dwight Howard. While that may work, another way to see to it teams stop is to repeatedly make them pay when they put you on the line. Drummond could be on the way to doing just that.
H/T CBS Sports
