Giannis Antetokounmpo making technical free throws, and a higher percentage generally
By Adam McGee
With a tweak to his routine, and new responsibility when it comes to technicals, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been making important progress at the line.
For all of the discussion about what went wrong as the Milwaukee Bucks lost four consecutive games to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s free throw shooting struggles likely don’t get as much attention as they should.
Particularly as Antetokounmpo’s woes at the stripe have since largely carried over into this season, it’s entirely possible that when the Bucks find themselves in some really close games at the most important juncture of their season, their star’s ability to take advantage of his freebies could prove pivotal to their championship aspirations.
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While Antetokounmpo’s overall mark of 62.9 percent from the free throw line for the season won’t inspire a whole lot of confidence, there has undoubtedly been good news more recently on that front.
The reigning MVP has recently adjusted his free throw routine, and the early returns have been incredibly encouraging, along with pointing to an overall surge in Giannis’ confidence in that department.
Since the All-Star break, Antetokounmpo is shooting 76.8 percent on 7.0 free throw attempts per game. That efficiency comes very close to the 77 percent that was Antetokounmpo’s best overall mark for a season back in 2016-17. In other words, there’s never been a question that Antetokounmpo could knock down his free throws at a respectable rate, instead the question was what exactly has happened to that element of his game over the past couple of seasons.
Part of the issue has undoubtedly been inconsistency in Antetokounmpo’s approach, as his free throw routine tended to adjust with every slight fluctuation in his confidence at the stripe.
Writing about Antetokounmpo’s reworked free throw shooting routine close to two weeks ago, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed that new strategy as follows:
"“Antetokounmpo stepped up to the line, took a deep breath, spun the ball from his right hand to his left and started dribbling. One, two, three, four, five before collecting and cleanly hitting the free throw. Simple, straightforward, repeatable and effective — exactly how virtually everyone has learned to shoot free throws the world over.”"
That particular description came from one specific attempt, though, as Giannis stepped up to take a technical free throw against the Orlando Magic.
Given his struggles at the line, and the wealth of outstanding free throw shooters such as Khris Middleton, Kyle Korver, and George Hill on this Bucks team, that move was a surprise.
As coach Mike Budenholzer explained it to Velazquez, it was far from a pre-planned move, and one that was largely designed to just give Antetokounmpo continued practice at the line.
"“We threw him out there kind of just spur of the moment a little bit,” Budenholzer said. “The more he can work on that, get reps, I think it’s a good thing for him.”"
Interestingly, since then, Giannis has gone on to take technical free throws against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, making both, and taking him to 3-of-3 on technical free throws overall.
Of course, as Giannis prepares to go head-to-head with LeBron James on Friday night, this is an example of a play from the 35-year-old’s playbook. James has long been his team’s designated technical free throw shooter, in spite of the fact that he has historically struggled to make those shots.
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So far, Antetokounmpo’s new routine and his added responsibility of stepping up for technical free throws have been yielding overwhelmingly positive results. If that continues over the next few months, the Bucks’ chances of winning it all will only grow exponentially.