I think people need to forget about NBA statistics because those are clearly marred by the players practicing free throws and the fact that we're not arguing about players shooting 80%+ - we're arguing about players that shoot less than 30% in this game, which the NBA does not have.
The fact is, that if you go outside with a basketball and you hit 6/10 of your jumpshots and never practice free throws, you're going to hit at least 3/10 free throws on average. There is very clearly a correlation, at least at the sub-60% FT shooting range, and anybody that has played basketball knows that.
I think the real debate is whether the game should follow a realistic approach or not. I honestly don't care either way, but I think a fair suggestion is starting players at 2.5 FT skill (between pitiful and awful) and then, as others suggested, have 1 FT pop for every 4-5 in JS.