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You'll see below two pictures of Doke shooting free throws. The first image is from January of 2018. The second is from the game last Friday vs. UNCG.

Here's a link to the discussion on January/2018 regarding Doke's free throw shooting.

/topic/6949

We are still witnessing a disaster. So let's not chalk this up to being mental. That may be a component, of course. But when you look at his FUNDAMENTALS THEY ARE TERRIBLE.

Folks talk about golf swings that hold up under pressure. This is "Exhibit A" of a free throw stroke built to fail.

The only real changes from the January/2018 is that the ball is not as far to the left of Doke's head and that the horrid ultra-finger tip release has been corrected. In my prior post, I identified the obvious (right arm) and the not so obvious (the ultra finger tip positioning). The arm has moved close to proper positioning, but far from even near acceptable. The right hand on the ball looks perfect now -- meaning contact points. The hand is still on the side of the ball though.

I also see Doke bending more, which is not captured by the photos.

But seriously, this is a disaster. Doke's left elbow cannot be in that position to shoot anything reliably. His right hand is still horribly positioned on the side of the ball and the left hand is still too flat to the ball. This creates too much pressure with the left hand and lack of control with the right -- that leads to unreliable directional control.

The right elbow needs to be tucked so it's perpendicular to the floor. This should be a non-debatable point between the staff and Doke. It clearly isn't. By permitting Doke to continue to shoot in this manner, the staff is failing him and the team. Doke elbow is near 45 degrees. Just completely unacceptable.

The idea that Doke has been working to improve may be true, but his form continues to be severely flawed. Practicing the wrong form only ingrains the severe flaws. I truly cannot belief our coaching staff permits this.

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![Doke.1.jpg ↗

Elbow in, ball more to his center would help a ton.

Yeah

Does it even start in?

@HighEliteMajor The way he's holding the ball there, he should be shooting left handed.

Some big paws

Doke has focusing issues. His mind is all over the place while on the court. I recently mentioned how his emotions go wild. He knows better than to shoot those woofballs but he doesn't execute. Doke should always have a teammate tell him a trigger word right before he shoots a FT. Doke should receive hypnotism to trigger off that word. From that day forward, Doke will shoot in the high 60s or so.

Strictly having him focus, shooting decent form, and not be full of anxiety.... I will guarantee he shoots high 60s or better!

This is friggin' nuts!

Ok boomer.

Seriously bring in rick barry now to consult. Great documentation of zero progress. Total fail by coaches and Dok (gym in dorm for goodness sakes!!!) Barry style (see not granny style....sounds better no?) Is the only option at this point. Tell him Wilt tried it.

This is seriously crazy.

Me: Doke, put the ball in your right hand. Put the ball to the right of your head. Your hand needs to be directly under the ball. Your right elbow needs to be directly under the ball. Now I need you to just push the ball up directly to the ceiling. Don't touch it with your left hand. No legs or bending.

Doke: That makes no sense. There's no basket on the ceiling.

Me: Just do it please.

Doke: (multiple reps).

Me: Now, make sure the ball is in the right hand so that it is resting your fingers and the pads of your hand, just under the fingers, but is not touching anywhere below that. Your thumb should touch down to the fist knuckle. (showing Doke).

Doke: Kind of like I'm doing now?

Me: Yes, but much different than you were doing before. This is a real good change you've made. Now, shoot to the ceiling 20 more times, elbow pointing at the floor, shoot directly up, don't touch with your left hand. Again, keep the ball to the right of your head, clear vision to the basket.

Doke: This sucks, but ok. (20 reps)

Me: Now, let's incorporate your lower body. You know how you're flexing your knees now? Let's stick with that. 20 more reps, same thing, but add in the lower body.

Doke: Coach Self knows more than you do.

Me: I know, I've been told. I'm a booster now. So if you don't do the 20 reps, I'll say I gave you money. Now do the 20 reps.

Doke: Well, you could hold TJ's jock, but I'll do the reps.

Me: Now, let's go over to the this big window. I've marked off 15 1/2 feet. Now, what I want you to do is use the exact same motion and form, but shoot to the glass. Importantly, we need to pretend that the ball is a rock and you don't want to break the glass, but rather, you just want to scratch the glass. Again, all one handed.

Doke: Sounds dumb. But I'd have to shoot it pretty high to scratch the glass on the way down, wouldn't I?

Me. You would. Soft, too. Let's try some reps.

Doke: What's the garbage can there for?

Me: Oh, that's at 14 1/2 feet. If the ball goes in or hits the garbage can, you run the bleachers.

Doke: More dumbness. What if I don't do this. I like my way. It feels better. This feels really weird.

Me: Then you won't play. Coach Self told me to tell you that. By the way, we're doing this every day for the next month. Enjoy.

I'm not suggesting that this approach would work. But this is really not rocket science.

Those pictures make me think he is drastically left-eye dominant, but right handed. He is lining up on the left side but using his right hand, creating that godawful crossing motion when he shoots it.

I have the same problem. When I was a kid, I did everything righthanded (still do) except for shooting a rifle. Even with glasses, the left eye image was the one that my brain received. Closing my left eye to shut off the parallax view didn't help--the right eye image was sharp but my muscles didn't control it steadily enough to focus on the target.

When I started shooting left handed, which took some practice because I was using muscles the opposite of what I was used to, I won some ribbons at camp.

This matters because humans, like all animals that evolved to be hunters, use the different angle of their eyes to the target (the parallax) to create depth perception. I actually had to go to an ophthalmologist for about 20 straight weeks in 4th grade to learn how to compensate for the dominance and how to perceive depth properly. Most people develop this naturally, but it is usually considered a problem for one-eyed people, not us with both. The condition is unusual.

I think I have noticed that a consistent factor for Doke is that his FTs end up short. If so, poor depth perception, coupled with poor form, could be the result. Certainly his inability to make any outside shots beyond 5 to 8 feet suggests something. He might line up properly in practice, but revert under pressure to the eye that give him the most definitive image. Maybe he should try shooting left handed.

Incidentally, I no longer have the same issues. Lasik surgery made me farsighted, and that changed the ability of my left eye to be ultradominant. I can't shoot worth crap either way now!

Just a thought. I was thinking about Wild Thing in the movie Major League.

@mayjay It's an interesting thought on the dominant eye thing. The reason I don't think that's the case is that the staff has him at the line with his right foot forward (which is fundamentally sound). If there is a significant dominant eye as you mention, then being square to the target is the better bet when the off eye (left) is dominant for a right handed shooter -- both toes at the stripe. Just assuming the staff would have diagnosed that and made that adjustment. You'll see it in baseball some when some batters really get their head square to the pitchers. It impacts hitters since if your right handed, batting right, your right eye is not in front of you in your stance. There are some players that this really messes with. I've dealt with a lot eye issues at the youth level since many kids don't know they need glasses or that they have vision issues until sports intervenes. It's something hitting coaches talk about too. But you never know what's going on.

When a kid is shooting like this, form wise, it could make him appear blind when he shoots. I can't feel any arc or have much touch shooting with my elbow at 45 degrees, and worse when I move it to my left side as the launch point. Certainly, bad side to side directional control results too (which interesting doesn't seem to be his main struggle, though -- the depth issue you mention).

@Fightsongwriter Saw this last night, and older article on Doke -
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/01/udoka-azubuike-kansas-center-stats-free-throws-underhand-form-rick-barry-college-basketball ↗

It all stems from how he places his shooting hand on the ball. Shaq did some of the same crap. They hold the wall WAY too much at the fingertips. It isn't natural and then puts your arms in strange positions to compensate. People will say have you tried to shoot a nerf ball? Yes I have and I let it rest at the base of the fingers and it spins just like a regular shot. Plenty of large-handed players have touch and they all rest the ball into the base below the fingers.

Look at Embiid's grip here: https://sports.yahoo.com/embiid-76ers-roll-past-raptors-043515416.html ↗

Look at Shaqs fingertip crap: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/456937-hack-a-shaq-revisited-top-20-worst-free-throw-shooters-in-nba-history#slide0 ↗

Porzingis 7'3 and can shoot with touch:

Kevin Durant has a somewhat outward elbow but he still uses his fingers properly: http://arhiva.dalje.com/en/foto.php?id=19&rbr=19877&idrf=838730 ↗

@BigBad Dead on correct about the fingers. That picture from 2018 was atrocious. It has improved some. It's something in the link to my prior topic on this in 2018 I was really focused on too. You just can't make shots that way. I love your nerf ball analogy. We had a high vaulted family room when I was a kid so we could hang it pretty high where you'd have to jump to dunk (about normal ceiling height). Made for some really crazy games. Parents didn't like it.

I look at the elbow this way .. if you're a crazy stud and the ball goes in the hoop, do what you're doing. If not, we need to be fundamental. Applies in many sporting endeavors. I golfed one way when I was young and more athletic. I took 15 years off from golf (because of coaching) and could barely even hit the ball doing what I used to do when I started back up a few years ago. Fundamentals have saved me -- things when I was younger I didn't worry about because I could make up for it athletically.

Does anyone know if it's legal to dropkick FTs? ;)

Did anyone notice that Doke went 0-4 from the line Saturday? He's now hovering around 35% from the line. I think I might be able to do that shooting that Danny Manning baby hook.

@HighEliteMajor Even more concerning (to me), did you see him take an 8 footer?!? Don’t do that Dok!!!

His free throws mechanics aren’t good, but his issues at the stripe are mental and only going to get worse at home. Self needs to yell at him to shoot it before he releases every time. 😝

I was at the game. Doke shot free throws nearly the entire warm-up session. He made most of them. He's trying to get better at them. He cares.

Kcmatt7 said:

I was at the game. Doke shot free throws nearly the entire warm-up session. He made most of them. He's trying to get better at them. He cares.

He cares too much. He’s totally screwed. They need to do something to make him relax at the line. Punch him in practice if he does more than take the ball and shoot. No dribbling. No turning the ball over in hand. No staring at the rim. Just shoot it the instant you get the ball Brannen Green style.

He just needs to form some muscle memory - this is the scientifically proven best method:

Put your left foot in

Your left foot out

Your left foot in

And shake it all about

You do the hokey pokey

And turn yourself around

Then repeat with the right foot, left and right arms. Should see drastic improvement right away.

@dylans said: Punch him in practice if he does more than take the ball and shoot. No dribbling. No turning the ball over in hand. No staring at the rim. Just shoot it the instant you get the ball Brannen Green style.

This is REALLY a good idea.

HighEliteMajor said:

@dylans said: Punch him in practice if he does more than take the ball and shoot. No dribbling. No turning the ball over in hand. No staring at the rim. Just shoot it the instant you get the ball Brannen Green style.

This is REALLY a good idea.

I had some FT woes in HS myself. This is sort of how I fixed it. I didn't shoot it immediately. I went through my normal routine, but I quit staring at the rim during it. Just looked up at the last second and found my spot. Worked for me.

I hear he has been shooting them well in practice, he just has to transition that into the game. I never liked staring at the rim myself, I have a routine that still works well, last time I shot l was 7 for 10. I shot 87% from the line in high school. Didn’t shot a ton of them, but just do the same routine and it’s muscle memory.

Not sure if Doke shoots a chunk of his FTs in practice when he is highly fatigued. That’s a big deal. To more simulate a game.

Not sure if Doke shoots a chunk of his FTs in practice when he is highly fatigued. That’s a big deal. To more simulate a game.

Not sure if Doke shoots a chunk of his FTs in practice when he is highly fatigued. That’s a big deal. To more simulate a game.

@HighEliteMajor New mantra?

@mayjay ... just a guy trying to figure out technology.