#2. Improve Free Throw Shooting
The only thing more concerning than De’Aaron Fox’s three-point shooting is his inconsistency from the free-throw line.
He is certainly not known to be a knock-down free throw shooter, but he was averaging an acceptable 72 percent over his first two seasons, roughly the same number that he averaged in his one collegiate season at Kentucky.
The issue is a curious one. He has solid games where he shoots free throws at volume and finishes with a high percentage. He’ll follow those games up with one where he shoots 6 and only makes 2. For example, in four games from January 6th through January 13th, Fox shot 21 free throws and made 20 of them for a 95 percent average. Over the next eight games, he made just 29 of his 51 attempts good enough for 55.8 percent.
Fox is now 2-of-6 from the free throw line. He's doing a lot right, but hitting freebies isn't one of them.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) January 5, 2020
Some of his misses have come in big moments, including a poor performance against Dallas on January 15th in which four of his six misses from the line came in the second half of a game that Sacramento had a shot of stealing from the Mavericks. They ended up losing by 4 with Fox shooting 33 percent from the stripe.
As mentioned previously, an improvement from the free throw line would help his scoring numbers as well. He averages 6.6 attempts per game, by far the most on the team. If he is able to get his percentage back up to his season average, then the 21 points per game mark would likely be a breeze.