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Up to this point Tim is averaging 5.5 trips to the line (50 games thus far) compared to last year averaging 6.9 a game (82 games). The past couple of games TD has been barely going to the line though.
As I've looked at boxscores during the season I've noticed that TD's free throw attempts per game have been down pretty significantly this season. He's only averaging 5.5 attempts down from 7.1 the year before. His lowest per game average over the last seven years was the 2005/06 season when he averaged 6.7 attempts but was also nursing an injured foot. His high over the last seven years was 8.7 attempts per game, so 5.5 is a significant drop. As a percentage he's getting to the line 23% less than last year.
What's the reason for the drop? Is it that teams are abandoning the idea of putting him at the line because the perceive him to be hitting better? Is he 'saving it for the playoffs' and not taking the ball up as aggressively as he used to? Are the refs looking the other way and letting him get hacked on?
I started thinking about his free throw shooting in the Boston game when his arms were getting swatted and hacked whenever he was holding the ball and no fouls were being called. I was watching Ginobili getting pinballed around with no calls, so it wasn't just Tim. Granted, the refs were letting the teams go after it pretty good that game but it made me wonder if TD is not getting the kind of calls he used to get from the refs, or if he's just not efforting like he used to, or if there's some other explanation.
Up to this point Tim is averaging 5.5 trips to the line (50 games thus far) compared to last year averaging 6.9 a game (82 games). The past couple of games TD has been barely going to the line though.
Yup, I've noticed the same thing.
A lot of it has to do with the way they are calling the post - Davis and Powe were constantly hacking on him the other day and he went to the line for 2 and-1s and then those two missed FTs in the 4th. A bad joke. That's been happening to him all year. If half of the times he's been hacked this year were called, he'd be averaging 10 FTs a game, and he should be.
The terrible officiating of the charge-block and hacking in the post are ruining the game. Why do ticky-tack touches on the perimeter get called all the time when hacks, pushes and body-checks in the act of shooting at the rim get ignored??? Makes no sense to me.
Actually Tim had 80 appearances last year so his average was 7.1 attempts.
Over the course of a season that amounts to 128 fewer attempts if Tim plays 80 games. That's a lot of points...and perhaps a win or three...and I want to know why the best player in basketball isn't getting the love!!!
I think it's a combination of the two you mentioned.
He's not getting calls even when he's getting beat to .
And he's not as aggressive as he can be and as I'm sure he will be as we get towards the playoffs.
I'm not sure why he's not getting calls that are obvious he deserves. (Replays showing it.) His whining at most everything can't help. But there have been a lot of non-calls where his whining is appropriate. Where he'll get called on one side but not get the call on the other for the same foul. It's frustrating and I think he's letting his frustration show.
I'm not worried about his aggressiveness. It will pick up at the right time. He always plays with more fire in the Playoffs.
His FT% is so-so this year. It went up a little, it went back down. It's never going to be a strong part of his game, it's obviously his achilles heel. But again, during the Playoffs he usually makes the ones he needs to. I don't think other teams avoid putting him on the line.
It's true. He's not getting to the line as often. However, he's getting hacked as much or more as he ever has. Defenders are really making a point to "swipe" at the ball. Which is why Tim needs to keep the ball above his head and away from prying hands. Officials are much more likely to call those "reach-up" fouls than they are those where a defender is trying to swipe, steal or tie up a player.
I just don't want to see him chucking up any more of those wild-ass, off-balance shots, while sprawling to the floor and looking at the refs for calls, while the opposition sprints back the other way. It really bugs me when he and Manu repeatedly do that .
Last edited by SenorSpur; 02-13-2008 at 04:14 AM.
I'll say this about Tim, he has been a beast since he has come back from injury. Putting up like 22 and 13 a game for like 6 weeks. So please lets not hear any crap when Tony comes back and his numbers go down that he is not in his prime anymore.
I did not take into consideration the games Duncan missed in my average from 82 games. Or was that taken into consideration already?
Because the refs are letting teams hack the out of him!!!!!
NO what pisses me off even more is that ING GUARDS get to the line all the time when they drive, for less contact than what Tim takes. ING GUARDS. Now that is some bull .
Duncan gets beat up so much that by the Playoffs, when things are allowed to get more physical, he wears the padded shirt under his jersey. To protect his kidneys.
(Sorry, I don't know what that piece is called.)
flak jacket?
Blame Stern. Officiating isn't friendly to big men in this league. Especially when you consider the # of times guys like Duncan get no calls in the paint, but if a guard like Kobe or Wade gets the most ticky tack fouls. It's not even close the way officiating in this league has turned into a favorable advantage for teams with big guards. Thank god Spurs have their own two guards.
Parker doesn't go to the line as much as he should either.
I have noticed the lack of free throws for Duncan as well, and for our team in general. In the Boston game, we got 13 attempts and they got 34. That is a huge discrepancy. Granted, they were driving to the basket, but as has been said, Duncan was getting repeatedly hacked in the post. In the Toronto game, Duncan had one free throw attempt. ONE! I know his aggressiveness plays a part and that will increase with time. But at the same time, he should be getting to the line a lot more than once a game.
This is what has always bugged me.
Duncan this season is not getting calls like he should. Players like Big Baby Davis clobber the out of him and it's a no call, while on the other end of the floor BBD gets the foul called when Duncan hasn't even left his feet.
I can't begin to say how many times this has happened this year.
True, dat.
And I agree that TP doesn't get to the line as much as he should given the contact he absorbs.
answer: the league hates us.
At least he isn't getting poked in the eye as much this year.
Kobe, Wade, LeBron, AI, and all the other exciting players
T.D. is boring?
Maybe he should come out with his own rap album. That should earn him a few more trips to the line. Right? Isn't that the logic here?
Maybe it's fallout from the Timmy and Joey Crawford incident. I always knew it would come back and bite us in the posterior. Refs are taking out their revenge on the Spurs. Sucks if its true.
Indeed, but you think they'd extend that to TD like they used to a few seasons ago...
I don't believe in conspiracies, but there's some cir stantial evidence that the league is skewing their refereeing guidelines to try to prevent the Spurs from winning another ring.
I'll tell you what I think. I don't think it will matter, this preferential treatment. The Spurs will adjust, and win the whole thing anyway.
It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit.
The NBA is first and formost an entertainment driven business.
A business is going to do whatever is in it's best intrest.
However, the NBA shouldn't be a self en led business, but a governing body which oversees and regulates a group of businesses (NBA owners). I don't know the legislation of the business so it would ignorant for me to purpose anything.
As a Louisiana State Trooper once told me...Somethin' just ain't right, it just don't add up.,,Well, you boys have a nice day.
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