A "ton" = roughly 8 players ... Maybe I'm misusing the term "thumbers." That refers to players who use the thumb of their off-hand to guide, right? I'm not talking about that. I was noticing Sengun's shooting hand thumb. While everyone follows through with their shooting hand thumb, since all fingers will follow through, as part of the action...I was noticing Sengun has the ball propped on the tip of his thumb, at point of letting go of guide hand. Sengun's shot-put definitely is a different type of form. And he gets a lot of touch out of it. I just didn't realize he props the ball on the tip of his thumb like that. But it works, for sure. And maybe he has two shooting forms...one for close range, and one for distance. FVV doesn't do that. His shooting hand thumb is relaxed back like normal, not in a bracing position. I think he's known for using the off-hand thumb more than typical...for distance, probably. Probably a lot of big man prop the ball like Sengun does in his shot-put...I know Shaq did. I can see how it would provide better touch at close-range. And maybe he has two shooting forms, one for 10' and closer touch shots, and one for longer range.
Typically when I think of thumbing, I think of the off-hand thumb action that you see way more than you should. (Reggie Miller the obvious example…)
The ball should be propped on your thumb somewhat, for control. It’s why you see most shooting coaches do a ton of one handed shooting. As long as the power of your follow through is not coming from your thumb, should be fine. I’m not seeing Alperen powering through the ball with his right thumb… looks to be his index and middle finger. (And his left hand thumb… unfortunately. Wish they’d fix that)
Fred could actually use more thumb guidance. His lack of thumb bracing here is what leads to him using his left-hand thumb so much. Definitely not “normal”… Super strong bracing from the thumb to the pinky… allowing the index/middles to follow through. Fred shoots with those little girl hands. And has to use his little girl left thumb.
Is this something where we know of historical examples of players who did this early in their career and then fixed it?
I used that form when I shot a nerf ball with the little plastic rim. Spoiler I used to do nerf ball "free throw" competition with my son when he was a kid. And I found out that it gave me much better control and accuracy holding the ball like that. I could shoot over 80% with that form, higher percentage than shooting real basketball FTs. Some people theorize that bad FT shooters like Shaq was due to their huge hand holding a relatively small ball. I dispute that theory because of my nerf ball experience.
@RudyTBag -- I didn't say propping on your thumb. I said propping on the TIP of your thumb like a tripod. But lets stop trying to describe the difference ... just watch Look at the shot at the 43 second mark. This isn't a normal release. But I will say (once again), this seems to work for him by improving touch at short range, and he may very well have two shooting motions for different distances. I'm going to assume he only does that at short range (10' and in), and not on his free throws or longer. He may very well have two shooting forms.
No, but what you did say is that Fred’s shooting hand is normal. It is not, his thumb is way back there. Just look at it. (See what I did there?)
I think an FVV Sheppard Amen Tari Sengun lineup (with Cam 6th man and Adams seeing big minutes off the bench, plus Bari coming in to snipe) would KILL THE LEAGUE.
