Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement today after 19 years in the NBA. I've loved Shaq ever since I was a massive 5'9" sixth grader who the Lilliputian other kids called Baby Shaq.
But one thing I could never understand is why his free throw shooting never really improved. Take a look at this graph plotting his free throw shooting against his age. He was all over the map during his career.
I created this graph using Matt Stiles' visualizer, which lets you play with O'Neal career stats to your heart's content.
Via @onyxfish.
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Alexis C. Madrigal is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology.