Your Philadelphia 76ers have had quite a 2nd half. They’ve been 7-4 since the all-star break, had a 5 game winning streak going into said all-star game, and have beaten teams such as the Mavericks, Magic and Suns. However, there’s been a problem, in my mind, which has become quite apparent over the course of this season. The Sixers just can’t hit a free throw. They suck at this relatively important part of the professional game. With most games being decided by 10 points or less, free throws play a vital role. But check out the numbers for our boys:
Overall: 70.3% (30 of 30)
Post all-star: 69.7% (29 of 30)
Differential compared to opponent: -7.1 % (30 of 30)
There aren’t many ways to spin these numbers. One might bring up that the Houston Rockets are the only team worse than the Sixers since the all-star game. And they’d be right, but that’s still fairly irrelevant. Dropping free throws at a 7% worse clip than the team you are facing is simply bad, and it’s something that should be targeted in the offseason. Also consider that the Sixers are the worst three-point shooting team in the league. This only necessitates that they get points wherever and however they can and makes making your free throws that much more important.
One can’t expect this team to do well in the playoffs if they can’t make the most of their chances for points. They do well enough on 2-point field goals, but can’t do much else. This falls on guys like Iguodala, who gets to the line about 6 times a game and only sinks 73% of them. Youngsters Rodney Carney, Jason Smith and Thad Young also have trouble at the line. But perhaps the most pathetic player at the line is Mr. Reggie Evans. He gets there 3.4 times per game and hits only 44% of them. The only players in the league worse than him are Ben Wallace (42.9) of the Cavaliers and Josh Boone of the New Jersey Nets (42.3). Maybe he should try the old-school through the legs variety. It couldn’t hurt.
