Mitchell Robinson changed his free-throw routine and hopes — with no evidence or sample size yet to draw conclusions — that it corrects his biggest mistake.
Instead of taking three dribbles at the line, as he did in the last playoffs, Robinson has shot off one bounce during preseason.
He also adjusted his feet after realizing that attempts on the left often failed.
“I was kind of shifting back and forth,” Robinson said. “It actually works for me. One drop and you’re ready to go.”
The change had not yielded results through the first three preseason games or before Monday’s game against the Wizards, with Robinson still launching line drives from the charity stripe while making just two of six attempts.
But it’s important that he feels comfortable with the routine, and Mike Brown, the new head coach, especially promoted consistency.
“We have to have a game plan where the diagnosis is made in such a way that ‘This is the message,’” Brown said. “One, two, probably three things at most, but everyone on staff needs to know.
“Whoever is working with him at that moment has to say the same message. We don’t want a coach training him today to say, ‘Okay,’ I’m making this up and not saying he did this: ‘pull your elbow in.’ And the next day another coach says, “Hey, pull your elbow out a little.” In such cases we can never give him mixed messages. We have to give him confidence and we have to find the right guy to make sure we work with him in that area while he gets the reps and puts in the work.
Robinson’s free throws were always problematic, but became a Code Orange problem in last season’s playoffs when coaches — most notably Boston’s Joe Mazzulla — started fouling him on purpose.
The strategy kept Robinson off the field when Hack-A-Mitch was a viable option, and it might have allowed Boston to win a Game 3 in the second round at MSG.
Over his 35-game playoff career, Robinson shot a paltry 39 percent from the foul line.
In the aftermath, Rick Barry, the godfather of Grandma’s free throws, told The Post that he could correct Robinson’s problem by teaching him the art of the underhand shot.
Instead, Robinson has adjusted his routine and has a simple goal for this season.
“Better than last year,” he says.
Robinson even shot a career-best 68.4 percent during the last regular season, but that was a small sample size (just 19 attempts) as he played just 17 games after an ankle injury.
The playoffs were the bugaboo and now the issue is more important given the increased likelihood of Robinson starting in the frontcourt with Karl-Anthony Towns.
An expanded role for Robinson means more minutes and more free-throw opportunities.
And what’s most alarming is that the 27-year-old has steadily gotten worse throughout his NBA career.
His efficiency started at 60 percent as a rookie and then dropped each season, reaching a low of 40.9 percent in 2023-2024.
Normally, for the most part, bad foul shooters don’t improve drastically. But there are positive examples.
Andre Drummond, a 32-year-old center who now plays for the Sixers, was well below 40 percent for his first five seasons.
Then he hit 60 percent and consistently hovered around that point.
Karl Malone shot just 48 percent as a rookie and then finished his career at around 75 percent.
DeAndre Jordan went from 38 percent to 70 percent seasons back to 42 percent.
Perhaps better conditioning will help Robinson’s foul shooting. T
Burned legs tend to make it harder, and Robinson lost weight with the help of a fresh farm diet (he has a farm in Nashville) and incline sprints (“I ran up a lot of hills, a lot of hills in Tennessee,” he said).
Robinson understands the importance of making his foul shots, if only in numbers.
“Yes,” he said. “Those are extra points.”
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