Watching Rajon shooting free throws is a painful experience.
Not just because he's bad, and possibly worse than last year.
No, it's painful for a more personal reason.
Back in junior high I was one of the worst shooters ever.
Knuckleballs, side spin, and even the occasional forward spin were all possibilities when the ball left my hands (note I didn't say finger tips).
By high school, I had improved some, but not much.
Then I watched Jim Paxson (yes, Jim, not John) shoot the ball. Stripped down, simplified mechanics. Then I watched MJ cradle the ball on his finger tips as he prepared to shoot. Finally, I self-medicated: I noticed a good portion of my shooting problems could be traced to my left hand getting in the way of my right-handed shot.
With these observations in mind and a little fine-tuning, my shot went from a thing of ugliness and a total crap shoot to a thing of beauty and totally reliable. I can drain 30 to 40 shots of 50 from ten to twenty feet out. My high school friends remain befuddled over the transformation.
The point here isn't how I did it. The point is that if a schmo like me can do it, someone who is paid to put the ball in the basket ought to be able to do it, too. MJ and KG both shot line drives when they came into the league. Both corrected the problem.
Rajon Rondo has all the athletic talent in the world.
But for some reason, he seems content with his ugly-ass mechanics.
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