3 Improvements Clint Capela must make for the Atlanta Hawks in 2024

If Clint Capela wants to stay with the Atlanta Hawks, he has to step up.

Apr 17, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela (15) grabs a rebound against the Chicago Bulls during the first quarter during a play-in game of the 2024 NBA playoffs at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

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Clint Capela must continue to work on his free throws in 2024-25

Unfortunately for the Swiss pivot, free throw shooting has always been his Achilles heel. Capela is a 54.5% shooter from the charity stripe on 2.9 attempts per game. This makes it a really good play to foul Capela if a game is tight.

Still, Capela has improved his shooting percentage over the past two seasons, going 60.3% in the 2022-23 season and then 63.1% in 2023-24. While this level of development will not have him win the league title any time soon, getting up to 70% would be extremely beneficial to the Hawks moving forward.

Capela seems to have a point at the top of his shot that the ball goes sideways just before the release. He can adjust for that. But the mechanics of his shot look wrong. Given that I am not an NBA shooting coach, I am sure I am not the first to notice this, and people with greater skills than I likely have tried to correct this.

Capela only hit 17.4% of his free throws in his rookie season, so he has certainly improved from the stripe over his 10 years in the league. Capela is never going to be a star, however, he can certainly help a team get over the hump if he has every aspect of his game rock-solid.

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