The Los Angeles Lakers are currently the only NBA team shooting below 70 percent at the charity stripe. Due to this, their head coach is going to extremes to try to combat the problem.
All season long the Los Angeles Lakers have been awful at the free-throw line. Frankly, awful may be too kind of a word given that they have played over half their games.
On various occasions, if the Western Conference squad shot the rock even a tiny bit better, there is a high chance they would have a few more wins.
Eventually one would think the purple and gold would climb out of this funk. Granted the team won a most recent contest Friday evening, this same area stuck out yet again. However, this time, even for them, it was tremendously bad.
Out of 14 total attempts from the free throw line, the Lakers made just two of them against Indiana. Such a statistic does not even seem true. In spite of its unconventionality, this did indeed occur, making it the worst free-throw shooting performance in league history.
As if the Lakers need more stress on top of stress, too, right? This season everyone seems to be in a love-hate relationship with point guard Lonzo Ball. The 20-year old kid’s father never seems to keep his mouth glued shut. Trade rumors continue to engulf the organization. On a consistent basis, Luke Walton’s rotations are anything but consistent. The list goes on and on.
Finding any sort of light at the end of the tunnel has gotten tougher and tougher day by day in this specific department, though. In a recent piece by Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope revealed his frustrations after the Pacers game.
"“Never seen that happen,” he said. “At least half, you get seven for 14. That was bad to watch. Thankfully we got the win. Could’ve been an easy blowout. Twelve points we left on the board.”"
Caldwell-Pope brings up a key point at the end of this statement. Albeit his team did win, that many missed opportunities are certainly disappointing. In the grand scheme of it all, it only makes things harder when they should not be.
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What may be just as sad in this case is that out of those two abovementioned makes, only one Laker managed to strike luck: Jordan Clarkson. It clearly suggests that the charity stripe has been anything but charitable to the 16-time champs in 2017-2018.
Even though it is challenging to remain hopeful about the FT shooting, Walton has not entirely thrown in the towel.
The L.A. Lakers’ second-year coach is testing the waters with new methods beyond constant repetition in practice. Said methods relate wholeheartedly to the appeasement of the mind. The fact that this is apparently so is crucial by virtue of free-throws being a mental game in a sense.
As wacky as it sounds, Walton is thinking about upping the ante on some meditation techniques the team has already implemented this season. According to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, these techniques have been taught by Andy Puddicombe, who works for a meditation-oriented firm.
Youngmisuk goes on to exemplify that Puddicombe’s goals revolve around not only ensuring the team is mentally calm before a game. While it may seem paradoxical, his hope is to also ensure the Lakers are prepared to give it everything they have in the tank. Ergo, in being in that ideal state of peacefulness, conquering inevitably springs forth.
The meditation expert took the time to explain the benefits of this relaxation technique on Saturday.
"“When we focus on something too much, or overthink it, then we tend to create tension, both in our mind and in our game,” Puddicombe said on Saturday. “Nowhere is this more obvious than on the free-throw line. Meditation will unquestionably help players step out of that thinking pattern, and get more comfortable shooting from the line, but only if they practice it regularly and apply it in a game time environment.“At this level, mental training is everything. My hope is that the younger players coming through will understand this and follow in the footsteps of Jordan, Kobe, Shaq and the like, in making meditation an essential part of their training regime.”"
Puddicombe alludes to a couple crucial points in his reflections. Guys like Jordan and Kobe especially were masters when it came to the mental side of the game. It is oftentimes why in the fourth quarter they tended to outshine the competition.
Speaking of masters, it sheds light on why Walton has given meditation a shot. In having once played for the Zen Master, Phil Jackson, Luke has a grasp on the deeper aspects of the game that are easy to forget about. Better than perhaps any coach ever, Jackson understood that one’s mind needs to be cared for to be at its best. Thus, it is safe to say that Jackson was not too bad of a professor.
Needless to say, fixing the FT woes is easier said than done. It is essential to bear in mind that Los Angeles is a younger team than most. Therefore, it is possible that certain players think what Walton is doing is ridiculous.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the University of Arizona product is willing to go to extreme measures. Meditation may not be for everyone, yet these actions reveal that Walton wants the Lakers to realize the game branches beyond what is physical in nature.
Walton’s thoughts on the subject matter were recently reproduced by SB Nation writer Drew Garrison. The Lakers’ head coach articulates that his bigger hopes are to not only assist his players on the court but off of it, too.
"“Especially in today’s world that we live in with so much social media and just constant stimulation to your phone all day, it’s important for guys to understand that you can train your mind to gain an advantage at this sport that we play,” Walton concluded."
In a perfect world, one can only hope that these obscure techniques can melt the team’s FT issues. The Lakers have been horrendous in this area to say the least, so anything potentially useful should be taken seriously.
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Things like a failure are unavoidable. It is impossible to expect that 100 percent of the attempts are going to fall through the net. However, the odds are high that the Lakers’ woes will only get better if they think they are capable of improving. That is what it boils down to.