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Dallas Mavericks might actually use starting center DeAndre Jordan to shoot technical freethrows, according to Tim Bontempts of ESPN. Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle made the suggestion in jest of Jordan's impressive improvement from the charity stripe in his 11th NBA season.
Rick Carlisle says DeAndre Jordan, who is shooting a career-best from the foul line, could potentially be used as a technical foul shooter "in certain situations." A career 45 percent FT shooter, Jordan is shooting 80 percent this year.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 24, 2018
Carlisle might actually want to take this seriously. Jordan is, in fact, the Mavs' best free throw shooter this season, edging out the likes of Wes Matthews and rookie sensation Luka Doncic. To be fair, Dallas legend Dirk Nowitzki, a career 87.9 percent foul shooter, still has not suited up for his 21st NBA season.
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Nonetheless, this is an astonishing development from one of the league's worst free throw shooters. In his first ten seasons in the NBA with the L.A. Clippers, Jordan has only made 44.6 percent of his foul shots. Amazingly, he has converted 53 of his 66 free throws this season, good for 80.3 percent. This is easily a career best for the 6-foot-11 big man.
A few weeks ago, rumors floated that Jordan has rubbed teammates off the wrong way due to selfish play. However, everyone around the organization, including Carlisle rallied around their high-flying center and dismissed any of those whispers.
Certainly, the Mavericks are ecstatic with DeAndre Jordan's tremendous improvement from the 15-foot parallel. When they signed the one-time All-Star to a one-year, $22.9 million deal this off-season, Carlisle probably thought that he would have to deal with the Hack-A-DeAndre tactic opposing teams use against Jordan due to his atrocious free-throw shooting. Fortunately for him, he no longer has to deal with what the Clippers dealt with for 10 seasons.
