Dion Waiters shot a career-low 68% from the free-throw line last season. Really, it wasn’t much worse than the 69% he shot the year prior.
Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:So he looked at film this summer and noticed a trend. Most of his misses drifted left.
Waiters conversed with his shooting coach and decided to test a new style, sliding a step to the right for free throws. “The first couple times it felt weird,” he said.
But Waiters, always the free basketball spirit, wasn’t swayed from the kooky correction. He was convinced he needed to amp it up. “I moved even more to the right,” he said.
That’s definitely a creative fix – maybe even one that will boost his free-throw percentage. In an extremely small sample, Waiters is 8-for-12 (67%) in the preseason.
But it’s just a band-aid.
If Waiters free throws are drifting left, that indicates a flaw in his form. If his form is flawed, that could extend to his streaky jumper. There’s a reason the top jump shooters and top free-throw shooters usually correlate.
At some point, Waiters should address the underlying issue.
In the meantime, if this helps him make a few more free throws, why not?
