Mitchell Robinson changed his free-throw routine and is hoping — without either the evidence or sample size yet for conclusions — it corrects his biggest flaw.
Instead of taking three dribbles at the line like during the last playoffs, Robinson has been shooting following one bounce during preseason.
He also adjusted his feet after recognizing that the attempts were frequently misfiring left.
“I kind of scooted over a little bit,” Robinson said. “Actually, it works for me. One dribble, then go right to it.”
The alteration hadn’t paid dividends through the first three preseason games or before Monday’s contest against the Wizards, with Robinson still launching line drives from the charity stripe while making just 2 of 6 attempts.
But it’s important that he feels comfortable with the routine, and Mike Brown, the new head coach, promoted consistency, above all else.
“We have to have a game plan where it’s diagnosed to the point where, ‘This is the messaging,’ ” Brown said. “One, two, probably three things at the most, but everybody on the staff has to know it.
“Whoever’s working with him at that time has to say the same message. We don’t want one coach who’s working him out today to say, ‘OK,’ — I’m making this up, not saying this is what he did — ‘pull your elbow in.’ And then the next day another coach says, ‘Hey pull your elbow out slightly.’ We can’t ever give him mixed messages in those instances. We’ve got to give him confidence and we’ve got to find the right guy to make sure that he’s working with him in that area while he’s getting the repetitions and putting his work in.”
Robinson’s free throws were always problematic, but became a code orange issue in last season’s playoffs, when coaches — most prominently Boston’s Joe Mazzulla — began fouling him on purpose.
The strategy kept Robinson off the court when Hack-A-Mitch was a viable option, and it might’ve won Boston a second-round Game 3 at MSG.
For his playoff career spanning 35 games, Robinson shot a paltry 39 percent from the foul line.
The aftermath included Rick Barry, the Godfather of granny free throws, telling The Post he could correct Robinson’s problem by teaching him the art of the underhand shot.
Instead, Robinson adjusted his routine and has a simple goal for this season.
“Better than last year,” he said.
Robinson actually shot a career-best 68.4 percent on foul shots during the last regular season, but that was a tiny sample size (just 19 attempts) since he only played 17 games following an ankle injury.
The playoffs were the bugaboo and now the issue is more significant given the increased likelihood of Robinson starting in the frontcourt with Karl-Anthony Towns.
A bigger role for Robinson means more minutes and more free-throw chances.
And most alarmingly, the 27-year-old has been steadily getting worse throughout his NBA career.
His efficiency started at 60 percent as a rookie and then dipped every season until the low point of 40.9 percent in 2023-24.
Habitually poor foul shooters, for the most part, don’t drastically improve. But there are positive examples.
Andre Drummond, a 32-year-old center now with the Sixers, was well below 40 percent for his first five seasons.
Then he hit 60 percent and consistently hovered around that mark.
Karl Malone shot just 48 percent as a rookie, then finished his career at roughly 75 percent.
DeAndre Jordan went from seasons of 38 percent to 70 percent back down to 42 percent.
Perhaps better conditioning will help Robinson’s foul shooting. T
ired legs tend to make it more difficult and Robinson dropped weight with the help of a farm fresh diet (he owns a farm in Nashville) and incline sprints (“I ran up a lot of hills, a lot of hills in Tennessee,” he said).
Robinson understands the importance of hitting his foul shots, if only in sheer numbers.
“Yeah,” he said. “Those are extra points.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
