The free throw is generally considered the easiest shot in basketball. There is no defender to prevent you from taking it and scoring a point. Thus, players who draw a lot of free throws get a lot of easy points.
James Harden and Joel Embiid are both star players for the Philadelphia 76ers. The two are well known for their ability to score. A fair portion of their scoring comes from free throw shots that they draw.
Recently, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has taken shots at the Philadephia 76ers’ star duo. He pointed out that they are among the leaders in the league in free throws, and claimed that neither would be a top-10 scorer if they didn’t have their free throws.
https://twitter.com/joeylinn_/status/1507517704005042179
Embiid is #1 in the league in free throws and James Harden is #3. You take away their free throws and neither guy would be top-10 in scoring.”
There is no doubt that drawing free throws is a skill that is useful. However, the refereeing often gets tougher in the playoffs, which means that it is harder to draw fouls. It remains to be seen whether the tougher officiating will affect James Harden and Joel Embiid in the playoffs. With that being said, both players have more in their offensive arsenal than just foul-drawing, so it’s likely that they’ll be able to score in other ways.
This is a year where the Philadelphia 76ers could potentially win the championship. They have a fair amount of talent on their roster, and they have a 9-3 record with James Harden. The Joel Embiid and James Harden duo is clearly working out, and some have even compared them to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Hopefully, this is the year we see them make a deep playoff run, and it would be amazing for the 76ers fanbase if they got to the NBA Finals.
