ESPN on ABC Analyst Jalen Rose was on media conference call a couple days ago, and the tail end of it might have been the most entertaining and interesting part. There were not one but two international reporters calling, one from Turkey, the other from Greece.
One of the European NBA reporters asked Jalen Rose about the “hack-a-Deandre Jordan” strategy employed by Los Angeles Clippers opponents this season.
“I’m serious, with all professional courtesy, at 40+ percent, you might as well try to shoot them with your feet,” said Rose.
The reporter laughed, then a brief silence. He followed up by asking Rose “say it again?” (probably just to double confirm the Jalen Rose zinger at Jordan’s expense).
“He’s better off trying to shoot his free throws with his feet if he’s going to shoot 40%,” Jalen responded.
OH SNAP!!!
Oh no he didn’t!!
You can hear the zinger around the 41:20 mark at the ESPN Media Zone page. The Clippers center is currently shooting .406% from the free throw line. That’s down from his .428% last season. In Jordan’s defense (sort of), he has shot less than 39% from the charity stripe in three times in his career. In his seven year career he has achieved better than 50% FT just once. So this is to be expected.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc. You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)