Owner, coach point out free throw discrepancy After the Wizards lost a second straight game in which they suffered a dramatic free throw disadvantage, Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis weighed in with complaints about the treatment of his team by NBA referees.
“As a young team; we have not yet established a relationship with the officials,” Leonsis wrote Thursday on his blog, Ted’s Take. “They seem to blow the whistle with abandon on our team; I can see how disheartening it is at times on our players.”
Leonsis’ comments echoed those of interim coach Randy Wittman immediately after Washington’s 109-103 defeat at Orlando on Wednesday.
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“It’s hard to win a game 39 free throws to nine, let alone be in a game,” Wittman said. “That’s where our guys, we can’t stop playing as hard as we do. We got nine guys on their rookie contracts. Right now they’re not getting the respect. That’ll come. If we keep playing as hard as we play night in, night out, we’ll eventually get calls.”
Two days earlier, the Chicago Bulls attempted 31 free throws to 13 for the Wizards in a 98-88 win for the visiting Bulls, but the decisive elements in that contest were reigning MVP Derrick Rose’s season-high 35 points and Washington’s defensive lapses down the stretch.
Still, the statistics are partly on Leonsis’ and Wittman’s side. Wizards opponents average the fifth-most free throws in the league (25.2 a game). But they also reflect Washington’s NBA-worst offensive efficiency and shooting tendencies that aren’t conducive to earning foul calls.
According to Hoopdata.com, the Wizards (4-18) are second in the NBA in shots attempted at the rim (27.4 a game) and 24th in the rate of free throw attempts to field goal attempts (25.2). But they are also seventh in the league in attempts between 16 and 23 feet (23.4 a game), the lowest-percentage 2-point shots on the floor.
Denver, which is first in the NBA in shots at the rim (33.4 a game) and the rate of free throw attempts to field goal attempts (35.6), is last in shots from 16 to 23 feet (12.5 a game).
In Orlando, Wizards point guard John Wall matched his career low with two points and didn’t make a single trip to the line, where he averages 6.0 attempts a game, by far the most on the team. Washington also has had limited presence inside, where Andray Blatche struggled before his injury and JaVale McGee doesn’t rely on power moves.
Free throw disparity aside, the Wizards nearly won in Orlando anyway, thanks to a career-high 12 points and four assists from rookie Shelvin Mack and a career best-matching 12 points from second-year forward Kevin Seraphin. Neither player had featured prominently under former coach Flip Saunders.
When the Wizards last played in Toronto (7-16), where Washington won its first game of the season 93-78, both teams attempted 17 free throws.
