Underhand Free Throws

[shrink]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?), but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

[BigGargamel]

Because chicks don't dig underhand free throws.

[dhsilv2]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?) toyed with it, but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

[SkyBill40]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?) toyed with it, but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

Percentages and points (makes) are what matter. Who cares what it looks like so long as it goes in and is reliable.

[shrink]

Because chicks don't dig underhand free throws.

You’re probably right.

Chicks dig the long ball - that clanks off the back of the rim.

[shrink]

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

Maybe with the importance of three point shooting in today’s game, and the correlation between FT% and 3P% for scouting, players want to look good?

[bkkrh]

That's actually a pretty good question. I've never seen a real valid argument against it. It was either something along the line of we don't have enough proof that it's really better, it affects the shooting form and muscle memory for normal jumpers (which makes no sense since players also use floaters, layups and hook shots), or the it looks "uncool" argument.

Actually especially now in the social media age it would be a way to stand out.

[shrink]

I looked up Rick Barry’s numbers. 90% FT for six years in the NBA, 94% for his two years in HOU.

[TheSuzerain]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?) toyed with it, but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

But for the worst FT shooters, this is less relevant (e.g. Shaq, Giannis)

[dhsilv2]

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

Maybe with the importance of three point shooting in today’s game, and the correlation between FT% and 3P% for scouting, players want to look good?

I think coaches just realized it's best to have guys shoot with the same form everywhere. This started long before the 3 point revolution.

[SkyBill40]

That's actually a pretty good question. I've never seen a real valid argument against it. It was either something along the line of we don't have enough proof that it's really better, it affects the shooting form and muscle memory for normal jumpers (which makes no sense since players also use floaters, layups and hook shots), or the it looks "uncool" argument.

Actually especially now in the social media age it would be a way to stand out.

Didn't seem to hurt ol' Rick's shooting from the floor whatsoever, seeing he's a career 46% from the field and a 25 PPG scorer. it can't be any worse than shooting right handed from the floor and left handed from the stripe like Mason Plumlee does. You want to talk about messing up your mechanics or muscle memory? That's got to be hard as hell to try and balance out.

[dhsilv2]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?) toyed with it, but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

But for the worst FT shooters, this is less relevant (e.g. Shaq, Giannis)

Shaq might be an argument because he didn't really shoot the ball traditionally in the first place. Giannis shoots mid range and 3 point shots.

[TheSuzerain]

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

But for the worst FT shooters, this is less relevant (e.g. Shaq, Giannis)

Shaq might be an argument because he didn't really shoot the ball traditionally in the first place. Giannis shoots mid range and 3 point shots.

He shoots a lot more free throws...

[bkkrh]

Honestly thinking about it, I think it is more a general reputation thing of trainers and shooting coaches. If you think of Dirk Nowitzki for example, he would have never been that type of player he was if he was born in the US and went through the normal High School and College program. Each coach would have tried to turn him into a normal 7 foot Center. Since he grew up in a place where there is in comparsion not much focus on Basketball talents he had the chance to get an individual coach that privately trained him in a very unorthodox way without any pressure on success. If it wouldn't have worked out and he wouldn't have been drafted, it would have not gotten any attention.

Now imagine you are the shooting coach that tells Shaq or Deandre Jordan to switch to underhand style and it doesn't bring any immediate results. Pretty good chance you are viewed as a joke, lose that job and never get hired again in the future. So might just come down to nobody wanting to take that kind of risk.

[og15]

The real reason is that most guys don't want to shoot that way. If you practice it, you'll be fine. There are two things here, first, most coaches don't know how to teach underhanded FT's in the first place, because they don't shoot that way themselves.

Second, most players don't want to shoot that way. There's an argument that if you rep it out, the mechanics are easier (less things to master) and you can be better at it quicker. Also it shouldn't affect your regular shot at all, the brain is pretty impressive.

You have to want to do it though and commit to it.

[dhsilv2]

But for the worst FT shooters, this is less relevant (e.g. Shaq, Giannis)

Shaq might be an argument because he didn't really shoot the ball traditionally in the first place. Giannis shoots mid range and 3 point shots.

He shoots a lot more free throws...

Well the ship has sailed imo on Giannis but coming up nobody saw him being who he is now. Also he seems to have become a worse shooter.

[og15]

Honestly thinking about it, I think it is more a general reputation thing of trainers and shooting coaches. If you think of Dirk Nowitzki for example, he would have never been that type of player he was if he was born in the US and went through the normal High School and College program. Each coach would have tried to turn him into a normal 7 foot Center. Since he grew up in a place where there is in comparsion not much focus on Basketball talents he had the chance to get an individual coach that privately trained him in a very unorthodox way without any pressure on success. If it wouldn't have worked out and he wouldn't have been drafted, it would have not gotten any attention.

Now imagine you are the shooting coach that tells Shaq or Deandre Jordan to switch to underhand style and it doesn't bring any immediate results. Pretty good chance you are viewed as a joke, lose that job and never get hired again in the future. So might just come down to nobody wanting to take that kind of risk.

Rick Barry was always offering to teach it, there would be no argument against his success with it. Shaq never wanted it because it was too girly or whatever he said. Shaq is a guy that has way too much of an ego to do something like that.

[SkyBill40]

Honestly thinking about it, I think it is more a general reputation thing of trainers and shooting coaches. If you think of Dirk Nowitzki for example, he would have never been that type of player he was if he was born in the US and went through the normal High School and College program. Each coach would have tried to turn him into a normal 7 foot Center. Since he grew up in a place where there is in comparsion not much focus on Basketball talents he had the chance to get an individual coach that privately trained him in a very unorthodox way without any pressure on success. If it wouldn't have worked out and he wouldn't have been drafted, it would have not gotten any attention.

Now imagine you are the shooting coach that tells Shaq or Deandre Jordan to switch to underhand style and it doesn't bring any immediate results. Pretty good chance you are viewed as a joke, lose that job and never get hired again in the future. So might just come down to nobody wanting to take that kind of risk.

Rick Barry was always offering to teach it, there would be no argument against his success with it. Shaq never wanted it because it was too girly or whatever he said. Shaq is a guy that has way too much of an ego to do something like that.

Ego, more than anything else, is the crux of it.

[Domejandro]

I used to be pretty much automatic from the free-throw line back when I played basketball. I tried integrating the underhanded free-throw technique for a little bit, and found that I was similarly accurate with both methods. My perspective is that people expecting it to improve the free-throw percentages of poor free-throwers seems to be pretty baseless. It might be worth trying as a full shake-up, but in reality, Rick Barry was likely just an exceptionally efficient free-throw shooter that found a mechanic that worked for him.

It's similar to how people go "Why don't bigs develop a sky hook? Kareem became the greatest scorer in NBA History (at the time) because of it!" In reality, Kareem was just an unstoppable scorer within twelve feet and developed a unique scoring technique that was able to enhance his already elite talent.

The method that I'm actually most interested in for improving free-throw accuracy for those who struggle at the line is the strategy of intentionally banking free-throws. I actually think that might be a worthwhile avenue that terrible free-throw shooters should experiment with developing, given how much more leniency using the backboard would offer them.

[Sealab2024]

I have to say that one of the few things I enjoyed about 3x3 was seeing Canyon Barry shoot his free throws underhand. The old family recipe brought back some good nostalgic memories.

So why don’t we see other NBA players do this? I think some bad free throw shooters toyed with it (Shaq? Wilt maybe?) toyed with it, but decided to go back to clanking them with a traditional style.

Do players avoid this technique simply from fear of looking bad? Does anyone out there do this in their own game, or play against others that do? Is it openly mocked, even when it goes in?

For most it's just better to have less sets of biomechanics to master.

Underhanded FT's have significantly less biomechanics. You're basically not using your elbows at all.