"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Monday, January 15, 2007

Free Throws: The Mavs have found a solution.

Its no secret that MU has struggled at the line this season.

One team in the NBA has apparently found a fix for poor FT shooting. According to today's New York Times, the Dallas Mavericks have found a solution by hiring a full time Free Throw coach.

Once the NBA's worst free throw shooting team, they now employ investment banker Gary Boren to film the team shooting free throws, and work on mechanics and delivery.

Boren, 67, has been with the Mavericks as an assistant since 1999 while working in banking. He is an adviser to The Equity Group, which is based in Dallas. Since he joined the Mavericks, they have finished in the top six in the league each season in free-throw shooting, including four first-place finishes. This season, Boren has them at 80.7 percent, the fourth time his team has been higher than 80 percent at the line.


While it might be a bit rash to suggest that a dedicated free throw coach might help MU, you can't argue with success. Working with Boren, Shawn Bradley improved from a FT average of between 60 and 70% to a personal best 92.2% in 2001-02. That type of shooting is like, well, money in the bank.

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