According to Chris Mullin Blake "The Barbarian" Griffin is a cross between Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Dominique Wilkens. Many consider him the best power forward in the league because of his tenacious rebounding and electrifying monster dunks. Dwight Howard is the best center in the NBA hands down. His defensive presence and total domination of the painted area draws comparisons to Wilt Chamberlin and Shaquille O'Neal. So why can't you win a championship with either one of these guys right now?
Free throws. It may sound like I'm nitpicking given the stature of both players, but their issues at the free throw line is a major cause for concern. Blake Griffin is shooting an awful 52% from the charity stripe and Dwight Howard is shooting a pathetic 49%. It's impossible to give them the ball in crunch time because teams will automatically foul and take their chances at the line. If you can't go to your best player in crucial situations you won't advance very far in the playoffs.
There is a solution to rectify this problem. Call Rick Barry. As some of you might recall I wrote a blog last year entitled Weapons Of Mass Destruction http://cleaviewonder.blogspot.com/2010/11/weapons-of-mass-destruction.html and the Rick Barry underhand free throw was #5 on the list. Barry has the 2nd highest free throw percentage in the history of the NBA (.900) and in one season, 1978-79, only missed 9 times from the line. To say that these two superstars could use his mentoring would be an understatement.
The underhand free throw isn't the coolest looking shot in the world, but it's damn effective. There is no reason Blake and Dwight shouldn't at least try out the technique for a while. Heaven knows it couldn't be any worse than what they're doing right now. If either one of these guys could boost their free throw percentage to a modest 65 to 70% they would be unstoppable. Give Rick a call. What's the worst that could happen? To do nothing wold be giving in to failure.
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