Detroit Pistons: New NBA Rules Offer Some Relief From Andre Drummond’s Free Throw Woes
By Zac Snyder
NBA rule changes will help the Detroit Pistons hide Andre Drummond’s free throw deficiencies a little but not much.
The Detroit Pistons already have Andre Drummond working on his free throws this offseason and Drummond turned down a spot on the Olympic team to work on his game.
That’s a good thing because the league won’t bail out the Pistons and Drummond from opposing teams trying to take advantage of his free throw woes by intentionally sending him to the line.
The NBA announced some changes today to away from the ball fouls but none went as far as to eliminate the “hack a (insert terrible free throw shooter’s name here)” strategy. Instead, the league is extending the protection offered in the final two minutes of the fourth period (and any overtime periods) to include the final two minutes of the first three periods as well:
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"The current rule for away-from-the-play fouls applicable to the last two minutes of the fourth period (and last two minutes of any overtime) – pursuant to which the fouled team is awarded one free throw and retains possession of the ball – will be extended to the last two minutes of each period."
Of course, the best way to eliminate the intentional fouling of Andre Drummond is for him to make enough free throws to render that strategy useless when he is sent to the line – and then doing that enough consistently to take that strategy off opposing teams’ minds.
Stan Van Gundy admitted in Boban Marjanovic‘s introductory press conference that Marjanovic’s abiltiy to make free throws was one of the attractive things about him.
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Hopefully Drummond will improve enough to render this discussion totally moot but at least the Pistons do have some other big men capable of hitting free throws so they don’t have to rely on a small lineup if Drummond needs to be taken off the floor.