So as Duncan continues to shoot his free throws with the most confident stroke of his career, memories of Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals are growing more distant by the day.
To put things in historical perspective, check out this chart from weaksideawareness.com:
“OK, let’s start with basics, I downloaded a file from basketballreference.com with historical data and I compared FT% in every season after 5th [with minimum 150 free throw attempts] to Free Throw Percentage based on all combined makes and attempts at this point of player’s career. And here are the results…
| Player | year | Season | ftm | fta | FT% | to-date-FTM | to-date-FTA | to-date-FT% | Sudden jump by |
| Chris Webber | 1999 | 7 | 311 | 414 | 75,12 | 799 | 1477 | 54,10 | 21,02 |
| Dale Davis | 1999 | 9 | 139 | 203 | 68,47 | 882 | 1729 | 51,01 | 17,46 |
| Dale Davis | 2001 | 11 | 150 | 212 | 70,75 | 1117 | 2084 | 53,60 | 17,16 |
| Chris Webber | 2004 | 12 | 181 | 228 | 79,39 | 1983 | 3158 | 62,79 | 16,59 |
| Kevin Restani | 1979 | 6 | 131 | 161 | 81,37 | 131 | 201 | 65,17 | 16,19 |
| Mark West | 1989 | 7 | 199 | 288 | 69,10 | 471 | 872 | 54,01 | 15,08 |
| Marty Conlon | 1996 | 6 | 144 | 171 | 84,21 | 327 | 470 | 69,57 | 14,64 |
| Corliss Williamson | 2001 | 7 | 240 | 298 | 80,54 | 933 | 1415 | 65,94 | 14,60 |
| Paul Silas | 1971 | 8 | 433 | 560 | 77,32 | 1269 | 2023 | 62,73 | 14,59 |
| Joel Przybilla | 2008 | 9 | 112 | 169 | 66,27 | 331 | 633 | 52,29 | 13,98 |
| Brendan Haywood | 2007 | 7 | 216 | 294 | 73,47 | 794 | 1334 | 59,52 | 13,95 |
| Chris Webber | 2001 | 9 | 253 | 338 | 74,85 | 1434 | 2352 | 60,97 | 13,88 |
| Gerald Wallace | 2008 | 8 | 365 | 454 | 80,40 | 1074 | 1614 | 66,54 | 13,85 |
| Toby Kimball | 1973 | 8 | 127 | 185 | 68,65 | 571 | 1037 | 55,06 | 13,59 |
| Connie Dierking | 1966 | 6 | 134 | 180 | 74,44 | 455 | 747 | 60,91 | 13,53 |
| Jamal Mashburn | 2001 | 9 | 211 | 241 | 87,55 | 1734 | 2342 | 74,04 | 13,51 |
| Kevin Willis | 1998 | 14 | 130 | 155 | 83,87 | 2490 | 3538 | 70,38 | 13,49 |
| Tyson Chandler | 2009 | 9 | 115 | 157 | 73,25 | 1071 | 1789 | 59,87 | 13,38 |
| Kevin Willis | 1991 | 7 | 292 | 363 | 80,44 | 1004 | 1493 | 67,25 | 13,19 |
| Connie Dierking | 1967 | 7 | 237 | 310 | 76,45 | 589 | 927 | 63,54 | 12,91 |
| Drew Gooden | 2009 | 8 | 186 | 216 | 86,11 | 1180 | 1612 | 73,20 | 12,91 |
| Caldwell Jones | 1981 | 6 | 179 | 219 | 81,74 | 553 | 802 | 68,95 | 12,78 |
| Baron Davis | 2009 | 11 | 239 | 291 | 82,13 | 1983 | 2846 | 69,68 | 12,45 |
| Thomas Sanders | 1969 | 10 | 161 | 183 | 87,98 | 1632 | 2158 | 75,63 | 12,35 |
| Nate Thurmond | 1969 | 7 | 261 | 346 | 75,43 | 1554 | 2462 | 63,12 | 12,31 |
Obviously Tyson Chandler made a list, otherwise you wouldn’t read this post, but his improvement was far away from the most impressive one – this title probably should belong to Chris Webber who after six years of shooting at dreadful 54% made a jump to 75% and he even had some seasons close to 80%! Very nice Chris.
Dale Davis would be my clear number 2 in terms of most impressive improvement though he started at lower clip than Webber. Also last year’s backup to Tyson Chandler – Brendan Haywood – had a nice jump himself but it proved to be just a fluke year.
By the way, does anybody know how they did it?
Is there any coach who should get some deserved credit?
And just because I’ve checked and it works very nicely as a curiosity…
here’s a difference between the worst year and the best one [with minimum 150 FTA for both seasons]…
| Player | Best Year | ftm | fta | FT% | Worst Year | ftm | fta | FT% | Difference |
| Karl Malone | 1999 | 589 | 739 | 79,7 | 1985 | 195 | 405 | 48,14 | 31,56 |
| George Mcginnis | 1975 | 475 | 642 | 73,98 | 1981 | 72 | 159 | 45,28 | 28,7 |
| Dale Davis | 2001 | 150 | 212 | 70,75 | 1996 | 92 | 215 | 42,79 | 27,96 |
| Paul Silas | 1973 | 264 | 337 | 78,33 | 1964 | 83 | 164 | 50,60 | 27,73 |
| Vin Baker | 2003 | 114 | 157 | 72,61 | 1998 | 72 | 160 | 45,00 | 27,61 |
| Doc Rivers | 1988 | 247 | 287 | 86,06 | 1985 | 172 | 283 | 60,77 | 25,29 |
| Baron Davis | 2009 | 239 | 291 | 82,13 | 2001 | 196 | 338 | 57,98 | 24,15 |
| Tom Hawkins | 1959 | 106 | 164 | 64,63 | 1968 | 62 | 151 | 41,05 | 23,58 |
| Wilt Chamberlain | 1961 | 835 | 1363 | 61,26 | 1967 | 354 | 932 | 37,98 | 23,28 |
| Dennis Johnson | 1987 | 255 | 298 | 85,57 | 1976 | 179 | 287 | 62,36 | 23,21 |
| Tyson Chandler | 2009 | 115 | 157 | 73,24 | 2005 | 97 | 193 | 50,25 | 22,99 |
| K.c. Jones | 1959 | 128 | 170 | 75,29 | 1963 | 88 | 168 | 52,38 | 22,91 |
| Drew Gooden | 2009 | 186 | 216 | 86,11 | 2003 | 167 | 262 | 63,74 | 22,37 |
| Kevin Mchale | 1989 | 393 | 440 | 89,31 | 1980 | 108 | 159 | 67,92 | 21,39 |
| Jerry West | 1966 | 602 | 686 | 87,75 | 1960 | 331 | 497 | 66,59 | 21,16 |
| World Free | 1980 | 528 | 649 | 81,35 | 1975 | 112 | 186 | 60,21 | 21,14 |
| Dick Vanarsdale | 1976 | 145 | 166 | 87,34 | 1967 | 227 | 339 | 66,96 | 20,38 |
| Gary Payton | 2001 | 267 | 335 | 79,7 | 1993 | 166 | 279 | 59,49 | 20,21 |
| Antawn Jamison | 2002 | 375 | 475 | 78,94 | 1998 | 90 | 153 | 58,82 | 20,12 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 2002 | 451 | 725 | 62,2 | 2006 | 124 | 294 | 42,17 | 20,03 |
| Tim Duncan | 2001 | 560 | 701 | 79,88 | 2003 | 352 | 588 | 59,86 | 20,02 |
