How OKC Thunder forward Kenrich Williams is navigating off-the-wall foul shot rebuild

As strobe lights flashed through a dimmed Crypto.com Arena, Kenrich Williams stood alone at the free-throw line.

Obnoxious flames shot from behind the backboard as players were introduced to the crowd ahead of the Thunder’s Jan. 16 meeting with the Clippers. Williams’ inner-conscience was drowned out by a crowd of thousands.

He held a ball that wasn’t there. Williams dribbled once, sinking low into his form. Then he enacted his imaginary foul shot like no one was watching.

That’s the way it’s been these past few months. Behind the closed doors of the Thunder ION practice facility, before the limited eyes of fans still trying to find their seats an hour before tipoff. Those few souls have caught the tweaks in Williams’ approach.

Midway through his sixth season, Williams, a career 50.9% shooter from the line, suddenly changed his free-throw routine. He’s tried everything. He’s stripped the formula down to its parts like a maniacal mechanic. He’s stuck by unconventional methods. It’s taken some introspection, but for several months, Williams has decisively shot his free throws off the glass. Even if hardly anyone has noticed.

“It just happened, to be honest with you,” Williams told The Oklahoman. “I can't really explain it to you. … It just happened.”

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Williams is averaging a career-low in both minutes and free-throw attempts. He’s only attempted 10 free throws this season — five total trips across five separate games. Four of those games came in November. The last time he shot a free throw? Dec. 6 in Houston.

On many of them, he’ll land on the back rim. With some, he’s chasing perfection, that sweet turn of the wrist that puts the ball just shy of iron and into the net. Those go short. Shooting off the backboard effectively eliminates the strangling thoughts that come with trying to swish the ball. It’s what Williams has found to be comfortable. It still began as experimental for him.

He hasn’t ventured so far into the mental gymnastics of foul-line shooting that he’s trying things as wacky as shooting with one hand like San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan. But he’s certainly wandered into unconventional methods.

As he warmed up in Phoenix before his return to the lineup back in November, Williams added an even more peculiar twist to his routine: Before each shot, he brought the ball toward his face before headbutting it a couple times. He later said it was just another thing he was experimenting with before admitting he’d probably never use it again.

“I've always been amazed at his willingness to take on a challenge,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “... I think that's just a very poetic thing that he was the guy that LeBron James broke the record on because he's a guy that just fully competes.

"He's had to apply that to free-throw shooting. He's had to apply that in a way I think that's made him uncomfortable, because I think in his comfort zone, it's like 1-on-1 at the elbow with Kawhi Leonard. He's not gonna back down, that's who he is. He's had to channel that with the free throws, and I think it's tested him in a way that is good for his growth.”

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The last time Williams was forced to revisit part of his game at any point in his career was when he rebuilt his 3-point shot. In his second season with the New Orleans Pelicans, he shot just 25.8% from deep. Williams ripped up his old form then, enduring a process that requires more humility than the world’s greatest athletes are used to.

Now known as a versatile, 6-foot-6 forward, Williams’ NBA livelihood banked on destroying his process and recreating it into what it is. The foul shot, as free and isolated as there is on the floor, has similarly limited careers, though. His willingness — through beating the ball, the glass, and free-throw shooting norms — remains the same this time.

“It just takes courage and just being able to work on it man,  just like anything else,” Williams said.

Added Daigneault: “I think competition is like a vulnerable thing. You miss shots, you get knocked down. You're naked out there in basketball. If you go 0 for 10 from 3, everybody knows it. … His willingness to vulnerably compete is great leadership. With a bunch of younger players, it can be scary to do that sometimes, and he's never scared.”

Perhaps Williams' multi-month romance with the backboard will be a fling. A short-lived infatuation that’ll be ditched for Rick Barry’s granny shot or shooting the ball with one eye closed. Maybe he’ll simply revert to some traditional shooting form.

Without any in-game attempts, he hasn’t exactly gotten the chance to find out whether his process has taken a dive off the deep end or if the glass is where he belongs. He hasn’t cared to think about what the moment will look like when it comes, either.

All he knows is when it happens, his shot will look different than the rest. And he'll release it as if no one was watching.

“Definitely different, but I'm confident,” Williams said of his routine. “I'm ready to try something new.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder forward Kenrich Williams is rebuilding his free-throw shot