Of all the NBA’s players, those that stand 7 foot and above, (213cm), whom stands the tallest when it comes to free throw accuracy?

The question recently came up during a Phoenix-Houston telecast on ESPN. Color commentator Hubie Brown noted that the best free-throw shooting 7-footer in the history of the NBA was Dirk Nowitzki.  Not far behind the German superstar was Yao Ming, whom hit his first 17 free throws this season before settling down to ~86% this season.

Here’s the breakdown:

Highest Free Throw % for 7-footers in NBA History:

1. Dirk Nowitzki 87%
2. Yao Ming 82.6%
3. Brad Miller 79.9%
4. Steve Stipanovich 79.6%
5. Joe Kleine 79.4%

Not surprisingly, the top two are foreign-born.  I wondered, however, who are the best free-throw shooting “giants” in NBA history and how does Yao Ming compare to them?

Definition of a Giant
So for the sake of keeping the data relatively low, I arbitrarily defined a “giant” as 7-foot 2-inches tall and above. I wondered how Yao Ming’s accuracy compared to 7-2+ centers in NBA history and those now playing in Europe and Asia.

I researched keyhoops.com, eurobasket.com and basketball-reference.com. I published my findings comparing Yao Ming to “giants” currently playing abroad at my blog, the global hook. Researching the NBA proved more detailed, however.  Here are the best shooting NBA “giants” in order of their career free throw shooting percentage. I have boldfaced players born outside of the U.S.

1. Yao Ming, 7-6
Career %: .826 (2571 FTA)
Best Season %: 2006-07, .862

2. Arvydas Sabonis,7-3
Career %: .786 (1690 FTA)
Best Season %: 1999-00, .843

3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 7-3
Career %: .781 (2959 FTA)
Best Season %: 2008-09, .838

4. Rik Smits,7-4
Career %: .773 (2932 FTA)
Best Season %: 1998-99, .818

5. Luc Longley, 7-2
Career %: .760 (947 FTA)
Best Season %: 1999-00, .825

6. Karl Petur Gudmundsson, 7-2 (possibly the only player from Iceland to ever play in the NBA)
Career %: .754 (252 FTA)
Best Season %: .807

7. James Donaldson, 7-2
Career %: .732 (2722 FTA)
Best Season %: 1986-87, .816

8. Tom Burleson, 7-2
Career %: .726 (1452 FTA)
Best Season %: 1977-78, .794

9. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 7-2
Career %: .721 (9304 FTA)
Best Season %: 1977-78, .784

10. Shawn Bradley, 7-6
Career %: .716 (1322 FTA)
Best Season %: 2001-02, .922

11. Primoz Brezec, 7-2
Career %: .706 (603 FTA)
Best Season %: 2004-2005, .745

12. Dikembe Mutombo, 7-2
Career %: .684 (4951 FTA)
Best Season %: 2001-02, .764

13. Ralph Sampson, 7-4
Career %: .661 (1786 FTA)
Best Season %: 1987-88, .760

14. Jake Tsakalidis, 7-2
Career %: .657 (513)
Best Season %: 2004-05, .778

15. Mark Eaton, 7-3
Career %: .649 (1653)
Best Season %: 1984-85, .712

16. Gheorghe Muresan, 7-7
Career %: .644 (761)
Best Season %: 1994-95, .709

17. Randy Breur, 7-3
Career %: .628 (1278)
Best Season %: 1985-86, .712

18. Keith Closs, 7-3
Career %: .606 (165 FTA)
Best Season %: 1998-99, .800

19. Stojko Vrankovic, 7-2
Career %: .598 (132 FTA)
Best Season %: 1996-97, .676

20. Swede Halbrook, 7-3 (NOT a Swede, btw ; )
Career %: .591 (391 FTA)
Best Season %: 1961-62, .636

21, Chuck Nevitt, 7-5
Career %: .589 (90 FTA)
Best Season %: 1985-86, .731

22. Greg Ostertag, 7-2
Career %: .569 (1465 FTA)
Best Season %: 1996-97, .678

23. Alan Ogg, 7-2
Career %: .568 (44 FTA)
Best Season %: 1992-93, .750

24. Manute Bol, 7-7
Career %: .561 (403 FTA)
Best Season %: 1986-87, .672

25. Priest Lauderdale, 7-4
Career %: .554 (92 FTA)
Best Season %: 1996-97, .565

26. Bruno Sundov, 7-2
Career %: .526 (19 FTA)
Best Season %: 2004-05, 100% (2-2)

27. Shaquille O’Neal, 7-2
Career %: .525 (10,400 FTA)
Best Season %: 2002-03, .622%

Some fun facts to chew on:

• There have been a total of 27 NBA players that are 7-2 or taller.
• International Flavor: The top six free throw shooting “giants” in NBA history were born outside of the U.S – Yao (#1), Sabonis (#2), Ilgauskas (#3), Smits (#4), Luc Longley (#5), and Gudmundsson (#6).
• Yao Ming (#1) is the top free-throw shooting giant at nearly 83% from the line, while Shaquille O’Neal (#27) is the worst, shooting 52.5%, a difference of 30%…  wow.
• Only 0.01% separates #26 Bruno Sundov and last place Shaquille O’Neal (#27), coincidentally, Sundov has the least amount of free-throws attempted on the list with only 19 attempted in his career, while Shaq has the most attempts by far, with 10,400.
• After Shaq, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the second most with 9304 free throws attempted during his career, followed by Dikembe Mutombo (4951), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2959), Rik Smits (2932), James Donaldson (2722), and Yao Ming (2571).

Shaquille O’Neal the Worst FT Shooting Giant
Shaquille O’Neal has by far shot the most free-throws amongst all 7-2+ players (10,400 FTA and counting), a full 1000+ more FTA than NBA all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (9,300).  And there’s a reason why teams employ the”Hack-a-Shack”, O’Neal is the worst free-throwing shooting 7-2+ player in the history of the NBA.

What if Shaq shot 72?% from the Line in his Career?
In their careers, Jabbar (~72%) had nearly 20% better accuracy from the charity stripe than Shaq (~52%).  With that fact in mind, Shaquille O’Neal just recently reached tenth place all time on the top NBA scorer’s list, surpassing John Havlicek with 26,402 points.  If he continues at his current season averages, he can pass Dominique Wilkins (26,668), Oscar Robertson (26,710) and Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946) without much of a problem.

However, if Shaq had shot a paltry 62% from the free-throw line for his career, he would have already surpassed Hondo, ‘Nique, The Big O, Dream, AND Elvin Hayes with 27401 points.  With a career 62FT%, the Big Aristotle would be sixth all-time, instead he sits at ten.

At 72%, he would have eclipsed Moses Malone easily, and sat solidly at fifth on the all-time list (28432) for the most of this season, but with a solid injury-free 2008-09 season, Shaq would have raced past Michael Jordan (29277) on the list.

Even Shaq, whom almost always plays down his free throw woes, recognizes these missed opportunities, “It’s nice, but I should’ve been there a long time ago,” O’Neal said. “I sit there and say to myself, ‘You know how many games I missed? How many free throws I missed?’  I’m very upset with myself. I should have been there two years ago. When it’s all said and done, maybe I’ll be in the top five, maybe I won’t.”

Links and Resources: Despite Scoring Rank, O’Neal Laments Misses (Arizona Republic), Shaquille O’Neal becomes NBA’s 10th all-time Scorer (AFP), keyhoops.com, eurobasket.com and basketball-reference.com, Tallest WNBA Players (Interbasket)