Milwaukee Bucks: Free throw success remains key for Giannis Antetokounmpo
By Adam McGee
As Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks look to continue their ascension up the NBA ranks, the Greek’s free throw success and improvement will remain important.
As Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has progressed up the NBA ranks in recent years, his jump shot and the prospect of him developing a three-point shot have been the sources of frequent and often exhausting conversation.
Of course, a version of Antetokounmpo that averaged 38 percent or better from three-point range would be even tougher for opponents to gameplan against. In truth, though, Antetokounmpo is already a matchup nightmare, and an addition of such a weapon would likely even elevate him to the status of the NBA’s best player.
As it stands, a much more important element to the Greek’s game, based on the player he already is, comes at the free throw line.
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Antetokounmpo is one of the most skilled and relentless drivers in the game, and his athleticism provides him with unique opportunities to get into the paint and attack the rim. A natural byproduct of that was always going to be free throw attempts, but it also represented an area where Antetokounmpo needed to grow smarter, gain the respect of officials, and continue to maximize his opportunities in that area.
In the 2017-18 season, the 23-year-old certainly improved in that department as he went on to become one of the NBA’s elite in terms of getting to the line.
Averaging 8.5 free throw attempts per game, only James Harden (10.1) went to the line more often than Antetokounmpo did on a nightly basis. Joining Harden, only Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard amassed more than Antetokounmpo’s 487 points from the free throw line too.
Giannis’ elite ability to draw fouls is further highlighted with a closer look at the frequency with which Antetokounmpo was fouled both in the act of shooting and in putting the ball on the floor. Per Cleaning the Glass, Antetokounmpo ranked in the 100th percentile among forwards in shooting fouled percentage (19.3 percent) and floor fouled percentage (3.1 percent).
Most exciting for the Bucks, and terrifyingly for the rest of the league, there’s no reason to believe Antetokounmpo can’t become even more deadly when it comes to getting to the line, and then converting from the charity stripe.
A career 74.6 percent free throw shooter, Antetokounmpo has become perfectly solid at knocking down freebies, but still has room to improve significantly.
Even on a flat rate of attempts, making the jump from a good free throw-shooter to an elite one could bump up Giannis’ scoring averages pretty significantly without even allowing for the kind of gains many would expect him to make in other areas of his offensive repertoire.
Taking last year as an example, a 10 percent increase in Antetokounmpo’s free throw efficiency, putting him alongside the likes of Harden, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler in percentage, would have brought his points per game up from 26.9 to 27.7.
At the level of production Antetokounmpo has reached, such a gain would be really significant.
Another area where Antetokounmpo has room to grow is in finishing through contact. In light of recent photos emerging of the Bucks superstar looking stronger than ever, his surprisingly underwhelming And-1 record is worthy of further inspection.
According to Cleaning the Glass, Antetokounmpo managed to make the shot attempt while drawing a foul just 24.7 percent of the time last season, placing him in the 54th percentile among forwards.
A combination of improved strength and shooting touch could easily see that number bump up, again providing Antetokounmpo with additional easy points.
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If anything, much like the rest of Antetokounmpo’s game, his free throw shooting still provides him with simple avenues to further growth. Areas of improvement that could completely transform his game may continue to be the main topics of discussion, but Antetokounmpo can make major strides overall if he just continues to build on the things he’s already good at.