Random Stat:
Free Throw Shooting at home versus away

One thing that has been pondered for basketball at all levels is whether free throw shooting varies playing at home versus away. At home you have the familiarity factor along with a usually accomodating home crowd (beware the boo birds though if you're an 'underachieving' team), whereas playing on the road with a home crowd sitting behind the backboard you, you'll have to deal with all kinds of craziness.

Which NBA players have seen the largest difference in their free throw shooting home versus away? We'll get to that, but first let's note the league wide averages: home teams have shot free throws +.004 better in both 2004-05 and 2005-06 (season to date), but that's not adjusting for who took the free throws. Oh, and for the people thinking there's a large bias in awarded free throws for the home team, it turns out that home sides took an extra 1.11 free throws per game last season, and 1.17 extra per game this year so far. Oddly enough, in the clutch moments of games, the away free throw shooting percentage has actually been higher!

Largest net in Home FT% - Away FT% (Min: 30 FTA at home)

			Home			Away			Net
Rk	Player	Tm	FTM	FTA	FT%	FTM	FTA	FT%	FT%
1	Fortson	SEA	28	33	.848	5	10	.500	+.348
2	Perkins	BOS	32	45	.711	15	35	.429	+.282
3	Brown	UTA	52	56	.929	46	65	.708	+.221
4	Granger	IND	29	32	.906	35	49	.714	+.192
5	Anderson	HOU	29	31	.935	32	42	.762	+.173
6	Battie	ORL	37	50	.740	16	28	.571	+.169
7	Webber	PHI	104	125	.832	55	80	.688	+.144
8	Stoudamire	ATL	38	40	.950	34	42	.810	+.140
9	Terry	DAL	50	60	.833	43	62	.694	+.139
10	Jack	POR	37	45	.822	26	38	.684	+.138
11	B.Wallace	DET	57	111	.514	29	76	.382	+.132
12	Thomas	WAS	31	45	.689	19	34	.559	+.130
13	Bowen	SAS	22	35	.629	13	26	.500	+.129
14	Jeffries	WAS	32	45	.711	24	41	.585	+.126
15	Murray	SEA	58	77	.753	31	49	.633	+.120
16	Harrington	ATL	102	133	.767	52	80	.650	+.117
17	Bogans	CHA	38	46	.826	42	59	.712	+.114
18	Williams	MIL	47	52	.904	38	48	.792	+.112
19	Miller	SAC	77	85	.906	89	111	.802	+.104
20	Jackson	IND	64	79	.810	65	92	.707	+.103

Well, Danny Fortson doesn't have the sample size clearly for road free throws (but here's an instance where ref bias may be pronounced -- is he subjected to different standards on the road versus at home?), but there are some pronounced differences: do the guys showing up on this list get more easily rattled by the antics of the opposing crowd? Could be.

However, if you go back and look at these same twenty guys in 2004-05, you'll find that for the non-rookies, basically half of them have better Home FT%, and the other half better Away FT%. This doesn't exactly suggest a compelling argument there's much to it on a specific player basis. The guys who show up both times as better at home are:

- Terry, B.Wallace, E.Thomas, B.Bowen, R.Murray, A.Harrington, Bogans, M.Williams, S.Jackson.

Now we'll examine the other end of the spectrum:

Lowest net in Home FT% - Away FT% (Min: 30 FTA at home)

			Home			Away			Net
Rk	Player	Tm	FTM	FTA	FT%	FTM	FTA	FT%	FT%
191	Andersen	NOK	20	48	.417	29	55	.527	-.110
192	Murphy	GSW	105	139	.755	85	98	.867	-.112
193	Jaric	MIN	37	55	.673	33	42	.786	-.113
194	Taylor	NYK	19	30	.633	12	16	.750	-.117
195	Nelson	ORL	35	50	.700	45	55	.818	-.118
196	Maggette	LAC	52	64	.813	49	52	.942	-.129
197	Jackson	MEM	19	30	.633	32	42	.762	-.129
198	Ford	MIL	40	63	.635	57	74	.770	-.135
199	McDyess	DET	17	30	.567	12	17	.706	-.139
200	McLeod	UTA	34	45	.756	26	29	.897	-.141
201	Najera	DEN	47	63	.746	33	37	.892	-.146
202	Haslem	MIA	35	46	.761	41	45	.911	-.150
203	Dampier	DAL	17	36	.472	47	75	.627	-.155
204	Cabarkapa	GSW	23	34	.676	20	24	.833	-.157
205	Haywood	WAS	35	72	.486	46	69	.667	-.181
206	Felton	CHA	43	72	.597	37	47	.787	-.190
207	Claxton	NOK	71	105	.676	89	102	.873	-.197
208	Cook	LAL	27	38	.711	22	24	.917	-.206
209	Griffin	MIN	13	30	.433	20	30	.667	-.234
210	Watson	DEN	23	44	.523	8	9	.889	-.366

If you can find a common thread connecting these players, let us know, but it seems primarily a random effect -- once again half of the twenty show better away FT shooting in 04-05, the other half were better at home.

If you look at specific teams, you'll find the following:

FT% at home is .010 or more better in both 04-05 and 05-06
Cleveland, Detroit, New Jersey, New York

FT% at home is -.010 worse in both 04-05 and 05-06
Boston, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio

Ah, but really you're asking yourself, "which team's fans do the best job of spooking the opposing players" and here's the read on that:

Lowest FT % by opponents playing at team's home
1. Phoenix (#5 in 05-06, #2 in 04-05)
2. Boston (#1, #8)
3. Cleveland (#4, #6)
4. Houston (#8, #5)
5. Orlando (#3, #13)
...
26. Philadelphia (#16, #29)
27. Portland (#22, #25)
28. New Orleans (#28, #23)
29. L.A. Lakers (#24, #28)
30. Milwaukee (#28, #30)

Of course as the numbers showed above, attributing that to the home team fans or even the arena seems dubious. More likely some teams do a better job of not fouling the good FT shooters!

Random Stat Archive
Who gets their shot blocked the most? (2/03)
Plus/Minus stats over the last 30 days (2/02)
What percentage of the time has each team been leading? (2/01)