SPORTS NOTES
SHAQ ATTACK - NBA FOUL SHOOTING

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

While traveling through Asia its remarkable to hear the perceptions of NBA fans of what they think the NBA is all about. At a recent pick up game in Phnom Penh, Cambodia one 22 year old Asian NBA fan felt that the reason Shaquille O’Neal’s foul shooting was so bad is because he is so tall and when he shots he is too level to the basket. Since I’m not from the Hip-hop generation of logic I disputed his rationale. I did agree that O’Neal’s foul shooting was stinking.

I mistakenly pointed out that the Houston Rockets leading three point shooter last season was Matt Bullard who I thought was seven feet tall just one inch smaller than O’Neal. My mistake was that this year Bullard is listed as only 6-10.

Shame on me, I could have sworn that Bullard was listed as seven-footer at one time. I guess he shrank since then or I’m mistaken. Let’s just say I made a two-inch mistake, I’ll take the hit. The fact remains that he was the Rockets leading three-point shooter last season, hitting 79-177 for a .446 the leagues third best.

Bullard trailed only league leader Hubert Davis of the Dallas Mavericks 82-167 for .491 and now retired but then Utah Jazz, Jeff Hornacek who hit 66-138 for .478. As you can note Bullard, a forward, shot more three’s than the two guards who are 6-5 and 6-4 respectively.

My Asian friends point was about foul shooting. Bullard was 25-30 from the line last season for .833 compared to O’Neal’s .524, 432-824. Bullard has a .764 lifetime average from the stripe, 220-288 in his 9-year NBA career as of the end of the 1999-2000. O’Neal has a .534 NBA career average making 2894 of 5418 shots.

Though my basketball mate, friend’s logic was about height being the cause of O’Neal’s deficiency at the line, I decided to look it up where it is written as they say, in the NBA Register, the bible of the leagues statistics. I wanted to see where the truth lay with respect to the big fellas, you know those seven-foot plus guys.

In this analysis we had to omit the little guys like the 6-10 Bullard. To compare Shaq’s height paucity in his free throw shooting accuracy we needed the stats of the other height impaired NBA players. Little people, under seven feet are not permitted in this competition.

I mentioned to the NBA fan that from all of the stories that I’ve heard regarding O’Neal’s free throw shooting problems that the size of his huge hands being the detriment made more sense to me.

The fact that the ball is so small and Shaq’s hands are so large, made it so that he couldn’t get a proper grip on the ball to let it roll off his monstrous fingertips. Over the years O’Neal has had a full dose of tips from supposed experts to help him with his foul shooting problem. With that said, I’d like to invite “Little” Stevie Wonder to sing his rendition of “Finger Tips” as background music as we get more into this story.

To be honest not many Asian’s know that much about the technical side of basketball. They just see the sizzle on the NBA steak of promotion and publicity. They do notice O’Neal’s teammate Kobe Bryant and the Toronto Raptors Vince Carter as many Asian’s emulate their between the legs dribbling and spinning in the air shooting.

The difference is, those young Asian NBA fans that attempt to play the game spend so much time practicing the Bryant and Carter’s acrobatic moves, that they can’t make a lay-up in most cases…nor so they want to.

“That’s the new NBA way,” my Asian friend told me. It made me wonder what is the NBA selling now day’s, sizzle [theatrics] over steak [fundamental basketball]?

This conversation brought to mind three things. 1. This guy doesn’t know what the f#@k he’s talking about. 2. Is this what the NBA is selling for young NBA fans to buy, sizzle and no steak? 3. Forgive him lord for he knows not what he say. I decided to take the path of righteousness and select Number 3. Ohhh…and… excuse my English!

I then was asked who I thought was the best player in the NBA. I mentioned that the San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan is considered the best most fundamentally sound basketball player in the game by many of the NBA scouts and coaches that I talked to prior to the 1997 NBA draft in which Duncan was chosen as the first overall pick.

You then have to ask the question, who has come along since Duncan that is a better fundamentally sound player? Duncan doesn’t jump up and spin around in the air to take a shot, dribble between his legs or make flashy slam-dunks. Thus…his skills aren’t as appreciated as much by the young set on NBA fans that are aghast at the thrilling highlight reel performances of Bryant and Carter.

Duncan is however, a seven-footer and he does qualify for this height impaired poor shooting competition. In his three year NBA career [excluding this season] Duncan is a .710 foul shooter, 1025-1443.

To spice up these stats let it be noted that Bryant’s career foul shooting record through the end of last season is .763. The 6-7 guard shot .754 from the line last year. His .689 foul shooting average in the second of his four NBA seasons [through last season] was the worst of his career.

Carter is a 6-6 guard/forward. In his two NBA seasons he has hit .781 from the line. In his three-year college career at North Carolina he hit for only .705 from the foul line.

These figures embellish Bullard’s accomplishments since he is a much taller player and a better three-point shooter. Cater is a NBA-lifetime .377 three-point shooter hitting 114-302. Bryant hit 46-144 three’s last season for .319 and is 199-601 lifetime for .331. Bullard’s lifetime three-point stats are .385. He has hit 497 of 1291 from the three-point line.

The problem here is, if you ask someone who is Matt Bullard it’s doubtful anyone will recognize his name nor know what he does. Like Duncan he doesn’t dribble between his legs or spin around in the air when he takes a shot…. He just squares up and makes them. Like Duncan he has one NBA championship ring to his credit. He was a member of the 1994 Houston Rockets NBA champions.

That matches Bryant’s total as a member of last season’s Lakers championship team with O’Neal. Cater has yet to win an NBA title. His flash and dash has earned him the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk title and the young Asian NBA fans noticed that.

Next: Part 2: Can Shaquille O’Neal - Be Da Best of The Worst?

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