Raptors Discuss Fixing Free Throw Woes as Date With Bulls & Diar DeRozan Awaits
The last time the Toronto Raptors saw the Chicago Bulls it was a horror show. It was the end of a miserable season for the Raptors who built up a 19-point lead only to see it vanish in the final quarter en route to a disastrous play-in loss. Adding to the horror aesthetic, you’ll likely recall the bone-chilling screaming courtesy of Diar DeRozan, DeMar’s daughter, who let out a piercing screech every time Toronto shot free throws.
As a few players admitted after the fact, the screaming likely played a part in Toronto’s 18-for-36 free throw shooting that ultimately sunk the team that night.
So, what’s the plan to fix that this year?
Well, Toronto hasn’t hired a screamer so far, though head coach Darko Rajaković joked about cussing out the players in Serbian as a means of preparing the team for crunch-time free throws. Instead, the Raptors are hoping extra practice and better nerves will allow the team to avoid such unfortunate free-throw shooting in the future.
“We're putting a lot of work in. Our guys, they know that those are very important for us it's just muscle memory,” Rajaković said of the team’s free throw shooting. “You got to do it in this (practice) setup. You got to do it in a game. And to understand that it's not the end of the world, like, you’ve got to go to the free throw line, you have confidence it that shot, make it miss it, you cannot change that. Focus on the next one, like you cannot live in the past.”
The Raptors have tried their best to recreate high-pressure situations this year in practice. There are some tricks, Gary Trent Jr. mentioned, including forcing players to run sprints if they can’t hit consecutive free throws. That's probably the closest anyone can come to recreating playoff pressure in a practice facility.
“At the end of the day, it’s just about paying attention to detail and reps,” Trent added.
That’s been a big theme of training camp and the preseason for Toronto. Yes, there have been massive changes on both sides of the ball with more ball movement and a less aggressive defense being instituted, but the Raptors don’t want the big changes to overshadow the simple fundamentals.
It’s unlikely other teams are going to try to recreate the Diar DeRozan experience on a regular basis, but the Raptors have to show they can take advantage of the easy ones this year. If Toronto is going to take an offensive step this year, more free throws are coming, and converting those will be as important as ever.
