BBR Mailbag: Highest Percentage of Career Points From Free Throws
Posted by Neil Paine on November 5, 2010
Today's mailbag question comes in from my friend Jake, a Duke fan:
"Do you happen to know which players have the highest % of their career points coming from free throws? My friend and I were discussing where Corey Maggette would fall on that list."
Minimum 7,500 career points, here are all-time NBA players who had the highest percentage of their points come from the charity stripe:
Player | Career Pts | Career FT | Pct from FT |
---|---|---|---|
Harry Gallatin | 8409 | 3103 | 36.9% |
Dolph Schayes | 18438 | 6712 | 36.4% |
Corey Maggette | 11893 | 4156 | 34.9% |
Cedric Maxwell | 10465 | 3598 | 34.4% |
Neil Johnston | 10023 | 3417 | 34.1% |
Ed Macauley | 11234 | 3750 | 33.4% |
Larry Foust | 11198 | 3570 | 31.9% |
Danny Schayes | 8780 | 2788 | 31.8% |
Moses Malone | 27409 | 8531 | 31.1% |
Paul Arizin | 16266 | 5010 | 30.8% |
Mark Olberding | 8145 | 2492 | 30.6% |
Lenny Wilkens | 17772 | 5394 | 30.4% |
Andrei Kirilenko | 7711 | 2327 | 30.2% |
Sidney Moncrief | 11931 | 3587 | 30.1% |
Kevin Johnson | 13127 | 3943 | 30.0% |
George Mikan | 8458 | 2536 | 30.0% |
Dwight Howard | 8598 | 2555 | 29.7% |
Bob Pettit | 20880 | 6182 | 29.6% |
Frank Ramsey | 8378 | 2480 | 29.6% |
George Yardley | 9063 | 2677 | 29.5% |
Vern Mikkelsen | 10063 | 2969 | 29.5% |
Richie Guerin | 14676 | 4328 | 29.5% |
Adrian Dantley | 23177 | 6832 | 29.5% |
Antonio Davis | 9041 | 2665 | 29.5% |
Chris Bosh | 10340 | 3016 | 29.2% |
David Robinson | 20790 | 6035 | 29.0% |
Dave Gambee | 7935 | 2295 | 28.9% |
Dikembe Mutombo | 11729 | 3391 | 28.9% |
Oscar Robertson | 26710 | 7694 | 28.8% |
Rudy LaRusso | 11507 | 3303 | 28.7% |
Also, for fun, here are the players with the lowest percentage of their scoring coming from free throws:
Player | Career Pts | Career FT | Pct from FT |
---|---|---|---|
Wesley Person | 8192 | 786 | 9.6% |
Dell Curry | 12670 | 1245 | 9.8% |
Mookie Blaylock | 11962 | 1269 | 10.6% |
Chuck Person | 13858 | 1486 | 10.7% |
Anthony Peeler | 8017 | 875 | 10.9% |
Jason Williams | 8212 | 898 | 10.9% |
Darrell Griffith | 12391 | 1387 | 11.2% |
Calbert Cheaney | 7826 | 890 | 11.4% |
Ken Norman | 8717 | 1012 | 11.6% |
Dennis Scott | 8094 | 956 | 11.8% |
Lindsey Hunter | 7956 | 941 | 11.8% |
Bingo Smith | 10882 | 1307 | 12.0% |
Rory Sparrow | 7557 | 928 | 12.3% |
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf | 8553 | 1051 | 12.3% |
Norm Nixon | 12065 | 1527 | 12.7% |
Quentin Richardson | 7581 | 964 | 12.7% |
Jon McGlocklin | 9169 | 1167 | 12.7% |
Scott Wedman | 11916 | 1526 | 12.8% |
Harvey Grant | 7781 | 1026 | 13.2% |
Antoine Walker | 15647 | 2091 | 13.4% |
Mike Miller | 9448 | 1267 | 13.4% |
Terry Tyler | 8868 | 1196 | 13.5% |
Fred Brown | 14018 | 1896 | 13.5% |
Brian Winters | 10537 | 1443 | 13.7% |
Olden Polynice | 8265 | 1146 | 13.9% |
Dale Ellis | 19004 | 2639 | 13.9% |
Robert Reid | 10448 | 1459 | 14.0% |
Shawn Marion | 14190 | 1982 | 14.0% |
Danny Ainge | 11964 | 1676 | 14.0% |
Dana Barros | 8901 | 1249 | 14.0% |
November 5th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Yep, I heard them mention this during the Milwaukee/Boston game the other night. Cool stat.
November 5th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
The most surprising thing about this list for me is how high Dwight Howard ranks, given how poorly he shoots free throws. And KJ and Lenny Wilkens being so high as point guards.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
The Dwight Result is Because he shoots FT so bad. When he is good for the 2 pts with a dunk inside etc, why not make him earn them?
Some people might (also) point to the fact that Dwight (Still) doesn't have a quality post move so he misses out on those points... Big men of the quality DHow aspires to be shoot the ball more ... Actually this seems like a big factor.
Nobody shoots as many FTA whilst making as few FGA.
This: http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=KppR6 is a search of the only 75 player seasons where people have attempted between 10 and 15 FGA and at least 8 FTA per game. Almost all of the players are closer to shooting twice as many FGA as FTA - and if you sort by FT% you will see a post prime Shaq and Post Prime Wilt both Notiorus FT shooters who didn't really need to develop weapons like the hook shot or a jumper. In their prime both these players were capable of getting many many more FGA per game.
John Drew is a name that comes up that I know little about - is his game comparable to Howard's?
You will see Magette is also on the list - but is also able to generate more FGA.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Drew was a guard-forward who had a knack for making plays around the basket:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=3874
He was a crazy good at drawing fouls and even better at grabbing offensive boards. Tremendous talent, tragic story, like many players in the late 70s/early 80s.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
/offtopic
Is there a link to your uniform number database from any of the regular features on this site?
November 7th, 2010 at 1:07 am
@5
Frivolities section, Uniform Numbers on the home page
November 7th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Was sure Adrian Dantley would have appeared higher on this list.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
#6
Thanks. Didn't notice it b4 (below the "fold" on my screen; not on menu bar).
November 7th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I notice there's a preponderance of extremely ancient players at the top of that list. 6 out of the top 10 appear to be players who peaked before 1960. You ought to recenter it for each year, so that we can compare players' percentage of points from free throws relative to the average for that year, or, if using career numbers, relative to the average of the seasons in which they played.
November 7th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I notice there's a preponderance of extremely ancient players at the top of that list. 6 out of the top 10 appear to be players who peaked before 1960.
I noticed that too. Part of it could be rules-related. Example. According to NBA.com, the 5th-team-foul rule wasn't implemented until 1972-73.
November 7th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
"I noticed that too" -> (didn't specifically notice or realize pre-1960 era, did notice unfamiliar names)
November 8th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Surprised to see Marion on the 2nd list. Athlete on lots of uptempo teams who actually played a significant amount of time at the 4... I guess it's all those corner 3s.