In short, no he wont. Here is more of a decade of data, his free throw percentage is actually getting worse.
Let’s think about this. There have been plenty bigs in the NBA that had trouble from the line. They usually were at a stable percentage or even got slightly better with time. Giannis is getting worse! This is extra impressive given that he shoots more than anyone in the league, every season Giannis is the worse. He misses the most.
Everybody knows Giannis tries hard. In eleven years in the NBA you pretty much know that multiple trainers, coaches and experts have been called in. Yet he is getting worse. Why? Here are potential reasons:
- Wrong training regime. Not talking about free throw training, I mean Giannis is in the weights room focusing on brute strength. Because that is what you all cheer him on for. That is what gets him in the photos after the game. But that is not basketball, a game of finesse and balance.
- Terrible shooting technique in general. Giannis started playing ball at a later age. Most of the things he does are not as fluent as other players that started younger. And he clearly lacks the body intelligence to adapt quickly to the necessary changes in small movements and muscle memory.
- His hands are too big. This is actually a thing. Everyone admires his wingspan and enormous fingers. Great for palming the ball (in fact Giannis is high up in palming violations too) but not so great for a stable free throw.
- Lack of social intelligence. In fact he brags about how he avoids training with other NBA super stars in the summer. As if it is a clever thing to do. But at the top level, they are the only ones that can make you better. Giannis obviously doesn’t know how to change up his personal development methods.
A great example is the whole thing with the ten second rule. Giannis is in clear violation of the rule very often. He ruins the flow of the game for everyone, he ruins the already low Bucks TV ratings, it is awkward and messy. So why has he never thought of shooting the damn ball faster when at the free throw?
Usually because he is exhausted! He has usually waited around the paint to get the easy defensive rebound. His team mates have cleared out to let him have it for his stat padding. Then he will run the floor. This – as anyone who has played ball knows – takes energy. When you have the ball you have to be ready to fend off opponents trying to get to the ball. Because Giannis has no dribbling skills he counters this by running fast. So he has made an explosion of energy to get down the court, then often got caught up in traffic, now stuck in traffic. Which is an even more tiring high stress situation for any player. So if he gets to the free throw it is because he found some more energy to push his way to the rim. Of course he needs ten seconds to recover!
So this season so far, in the Bucks easier half of the games, Giannis has already missed almost three times more free throws than anyone else. That is 1700 seconds of wasted TV time, boring down time hurting the TV ratings and making the game worse.
More than a decade in the NBA and shooting worse than ever. Giannis, whatever you are doing, it ain’t working and it won’t work. You are not the worse in NBA history (yet) but you are fast coming up to be the worse in NBA history that has shot so many. And despite what some fans think, a solo run to the rim that ends up in a foul when you miss the free throws is a very, very bad play for your team.
