While growing up in Phoenix, I used to watch Suns games with my dad. Any time a player missed a free throw, it would inevitably send him into the same rant.
"Those professional players should never miss a free throw," he would always say. "If I was the coach, I would make that guy shoot 100 free throws for every one he missed in a game."
I don't want to tell Dad about the job the Kings have done at the free-throw line this week. Practice would never end if he was the coach. But Paul Westphal would have good reason to keep them late because:
• On Sunday against the Heat, the Kings made 20 of 32 free-throw attempts.
• On Tuesday at New Orleans, they were 9 of 19 at the line.
• And on Wednesday at San Antonio, they made 8 of 15 foul shots.
Their total for three games: 37 of 66. In other words, they have made 56 percent this week.
That's far lower than their season average of 72.3 percent, which is 27th among the NBA's 30 teams. Entering Thursday's play, the league's best is Denver, which makes 80.9 percent of its foul shots.
The Kings' biggest foul-line flubs this week are also four of their top seven scorers. Tyreke Evans was 16 of 23 in the past three games, Andres Nocioni 3 of 13, Jason Thompson 6 of 12 and Omri Casspi 0 of 4.
They say practice makes perfect, so maybe the Kings are getting enough free-throw practice. I think I know a 79-year-old father who has just the answer.
What to surf
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdTQi4L6khw: The Kings should check out Michael Jordan's fundamentals of free-throw shooting.
What to watch
NBA, Magic at Suns, 7:30 p.m., ESPN: Today's the anniversary of Steve Nash saying he was unhappy with the Suns. What a difference a year makes.
What to do
High school football, Del Oro vs. Rocklin, 8 p.m., UC Davis: Two schools four miles apart play for the Division II section title.
The last word
What you're saying on the sacbee.com comments: • "Few more free throws, less newbie errors, and turnovers and this will be a very competitive team." – Arckingsfan on "Kings hang tough in road loss to Spurs."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
If you choose to use our "reply to comment" feature, you should note that the length of the quoted comment will count against the size limits for your comment.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.