Secret to Getting to the Foul Line More Often
Great scorers are usually very good foul shooters. Imagine how many points Shaq would’ve scored throughout his career and his prime if he were an able foul shooter. Kobe and Carmelo, in today’s game, are players that know that they can get 10 plus points a night shooting foul shots but to do that you need to be good at getting to the basket.
What sets Carmelo apart from other offensive threats is his ability to shoot the ball whether off a pass or a dribble or a screen. He’s amazing so defenses need to focus on him and keep him from getting the ball. Once he gets the ball the defense needs to crowd him so he can’t get off an uncontested shot. The next part is the secret to Carmelo getting so many foul shots…he takes a direct path to the basket.
When I mention a direct path to the basket understand that I’m talking about a straight line. When you are in math class you’ll learn over and over about the shortest distance between two points being a straight line. Now you can say that math helped you in basketball because that’s a key. The shortest distance to the basket and where you are with the ball is a straight line and that’s what Carmelo does so well. I’ll explain further.
Defensive players are taught and trained to knock the offensive player off his path. It’s common sense that if the offense is slowed down then they will have to work harder and try harder to get where they want to go. When Carmelo drives to the hoop and is bumped or knocked off course he simply keeps going straight and it leads to a large amount of fouls called on the defense. For example, how many times have you heard a defensive coach yell to beat a man to the spot? We’ve all heard it. The defense is coached to knock a man off path and then beat him to where he wants to go. That’s only possible because the defense now has the best angle because the offense isn’t going in a straight line. If the offense goes in a direct line once they have even half a body/step on the defense then it is over. Either help needs to arrive or a foul will be committed.
To truly understand this watch Carmelo Anthony on drives to the hoop to really see this in action. It’s no wonder he shoots so many foul shots.
