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Andre Drummond is using virtual reality to be a better FT shooter
The NBA’s worst free throw shooters are marked men, assailed on all sides by intentional foulers and mocking fans alike. The likes of DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard will try pretty much anything to improve — practicing more, changing their shooting form in minor ways, and maybe even undergoing some kind of psychological counseling. It rarely works, but the effort they put in is considerable.
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One of the league’s worst foul shooters has even stepped into the virtual realm to try to improve his performance. Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond said at Monday’s media day that he has been using virtual reality to visualize success. From Noah Trister for the Associated Press:
The Detroit center has been using virtual reality in an effort to improve his performance at the line. Drummond has made 38 percent of his free throws for his career, and it’s an issue that’s sometimes caused coach Stan Van Gundy to take him out down the stretch in games. […]
”They recorded me shooting a ton of free throws, and obviously recorded the makes, and watching over and over again and just training my brain,” he said.
The exercise underscores the degree to which the Pistons feel Drummond’s struggles are mental and not physical.
”When I tried it I ended up really liking it and stuck with it throughout the summer and I saw the progress,” Drummond said. ”It’s more of a mental thing, and with the VR, it’s more of a reinforcement, kind of training your mind to think positively all the time – even though you’re not going to make every shot, but you still have that thought process that you’re making shots.”
Drummond’s approach makes sense, especially when considering that analysis has shown that more practice doesn’t help the league’s worst shooters. Being able to visualize success over and over again from his own perspective could train Drummond to shoot with more confidence when he goes to the line in real games.
However, it’s possible that this plan is just the latest in Drummond’s attempts to get better. Like other terrible shooters, Drummond has done plenty to try to become merely bad from the stripe. Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy even said in April that his center might end up trying to shoot underhanded, a mark of pure desperation given that nearly every person over 50 years old thinks it looks silly. Drummond is bad enough on free throws that he could possibly never become a passable shooter.
That doesn’t mean there’s no reason to try, though, and we wish Drummond good luck in his forays into virtual reality. Just make sure to avoid Job when he hacks the mainframe and becomes pure energy.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
