I always wondered if it was legal for people to aim for the backboard first while shooting freethrows. I always figured aiming for a square box and being able to clang it off the glass with a bit more room for error would be better than just shooting it going straight into the rim. It wouldn't be pretty but I know it would be more effective for guys like Chuck Hayes to make shots.
Thats just crazy. It wouldn't help. What would help guys like Hayes is the underhand shot which allows for a kinder bounce. Don't know why it died.
What you suggest is perfectly fine. You can use the backboard all you want for free throws as long as you A) make the basket, or B) the ball hits the rim before it comes back into play and is rebounded.
I think a NBA player would be too embarrassed to be known as the guy that has to bank off the backboard on a FT.
It wouldn't improve the chances of it going in though. There is no benefit. That method just wouldn't work.
I disagree. Players like Shaq and Hayes are shoot the ball with flat elevation. It's like they shoot it like a rocket at the rim. This makes it easier to clang it off the back or front of the rim and rattle out. Do the same against the square part of the backboard and it has a far better chance of going in. Plus you're looking at a square box straight ahead and aiming at it like a target you can shoot at head on instead of trying to get arch and achieve a soft touch which is near impossible for some players without getting a clear cut view of the hole in the rim. I can only speak for myself but I make a good amount of consecutive free throws off the backboard with far greater ease then the regular way.
Bank shots are hard to do period (except for using the glass off the backboard on a layup). Doing a bank shot from dead on straight (FT line) is not a good strategy. Actually it's quite absurd.
Just like an NBA player would be too embarrassed to try to underhand... even though it would probably raise the percentages of some of these guys if they could perfect it.
Man, get over it. Free throws don't matter enough for players to risk the embarassment. They're NOT going to do it. Besides, they always make the ones that count. Signed, Spoiler
Rick Barry didn't feel embarrassed using underhand. He's one of the greatest free throw shooters of all time. I think the real embarrassment is shooting lower than .500 FT as a professional player. You can probably train a monkey to do better than that.
Free throws don't matter to guys like Chuck Hayes because they hardly take any shots, let alone getting fouled. It matters a lot to a "go-to" guy like Shaq. The only free throw shots that don't count are the ones with lane violation.
Thats because Rick Barry was smart and didn't give a **** about what people said because he made them. Nowadays NBA players would never do it though because of the ridicule they would take from their peers. Just ask Shaq.
Much like this dog missed the mark, I think you missed my point. (You might want to take a closer look at my other post...)
You know what. If Shaq could make 80% of his FT underhanded, I bet his peers would stop ridiculing him. In fact, they would be pretty scared. The whole league would be busy thinking of strategies to defend him.
Nobody knows if Shaq hasn't tried shooting underhanded freethrows nor if it would help him any. Wilt Chamberlain tried shooting them underhanded and his FT% didn't improve.
To me, it is incomprehensible that if these athletes would just shoot 100 free throws everyday and they won't improve on their percentage. I don't care how bad their forms are, if they practice hard enough, it will go in most of the times.
Yes, we do. Shaquille O'Neal, to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith about Rick Barry's offer to teach him underhanded free throws: And this, from page 97 of "Shaq Talks Back":
And that proves that shooting them underhanded would help his FT%? Nope. Wilt tried it, didn't help. Does that prove that he never tried it in private? Nope. Shaq's problem has always been in his right wrist, he can't flick it. Shooting them underhanded requieres a quick flick of the wrists to get some rotation on the ball.
