德懷特 - 霍華德的罰球問題!

Dwight Howard’s free-throw shooting has been at forefront of NBA chatter in recent weeks.

NBA commissioner David Stern wants to cancel out the hack-a-Howard approach and Kobe Bryant is using Howard’s shooting as an example of what’s wrong with U.S. player development. Howard is just trying to shut out all the noise and shoot.

Dwight Howard is trying to improve his free throw shooting to help the Lakers late in games.
He hasn’t done a great job with that so far, shooting just 47.7 percent from the free-throw line, while becoming a liability in the closing moments of games. To his credit, he has averaged 18.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks away from the free-throw line.

The most recent instruction Howard received came from point guard Steve Nash, who is one of the best free throw shooters in NBA history at 90.4 percent, according to ESPN.com. Nash offered tips to Howard in practice, which only strengthened Howard’s growing frustration.

"Listen, he was just suggesting some things, but it's not something that we've already talked about or anybody else has suggested," Howard said. "My mind cannot get clouded with everybody telling me how to shoot a free throw. I just have to go up there and shoot it my way and not get caught up in what everybody else is saying, because that's when I miss."

So far, Howard has missed 104-of-218 free-throw attempts this season. He has shown the ability to knock down free throws on a couple rare occasions. He hit 15-of-19 shots from the line in an October loss to the Portland Trail Blazers but has teetered around or below the 50-percent mark on most nights.

Bryant compared Howard’s shooting struggles to those of former Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal, who was a career 52.7 percent shooter. That deficiency didn’t stop O’Neal from winning four NBA titles. And Bryant believes Howard can overcome his free throw troubles if he dedicates himself to improving.

"Shaq, he had a tough time at the free throw line, but he got to a place where the critical stretches of ballgames, he really knocked them down," Bryant said. "Maybe he was about 50 percent, but it seemed like in games where there were big ones, it seemed like he didn't miss them. He got to that place just by working. That really meant a lot to him and he took on that responsibility of having to make them."