How to Figure Foul Shot Percentages

Calculating foul shot percentages is an important aspect of basketball for players, coaches and fans. Coaches and players can use it to make strategy against players from an opposing team. Knowing what players' foul shot percentages are can affect decisions about whether or not to foul a particular player, which would result in foul shots. A player with a low foul shot percentage would be better to foul than one with a higher percentage. Coaches and players can also use foul shot percentages to track improvement at the free-throw line. For example, if a player shoots only 50 percent on foul shots, he or she should spend more time practicing.

Instructions

    • 1

      Find the number of foul shots a particular player or team has attempted. Often, this statistic is found in individual box scores. To calculate foul shot percentages for a particular game, locate the box score. To calculate foul shot percentages over a season or a span of games, locate the box scores for that period. For example, a team attempted 300 foul shots during a basketball season.

    • 2

      Take the number of foul shots a particular player or team has made. For example, the team made 250 (of the 300) foul shots during a season.

    • 3

      Calculate the foul shot percentage by taking the numerator (250) and dividing by the denominator (300). You can calculate the percentage by hand or by using a calculator. The result in this example is 0.8333 (250/300).

    • 4

      Multiply the result by 100 to convert it into a percentage and then round off. in this example, 0.8333 x 100 equals 83.33 percent. This is the foul shot percentage.