Underhand throw


At the end, the short guy takes his free-throws and uses an underhand technique, like little kids do. Would any high school player who has been practicing daily for months actually throw that way?

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Rick Barry, the 1966 NBA Rookie of the Year, who lead both the Oakland Oaks to an ABA title and the Golden State Warriors to an NBA title, in which he was named the Finals MVP, and who was a 6 time All-NBA first teamer, 3 time All-ABA first teamer, and an 8 time All-Star, and is now in the NBA Hall of Fame, and was named by the NBA as one of the 50 greatest players of all time, shot free throws underhanded. At the end of his career he had the highest free-throw shooting percentage of any player in NBA history, though three players have surpassed him in the intervening years. I assume he shot the same way in high school.

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Check out YouTube videos of Chinanu Onuaku who shot free throws like this for Louisville and the Houston Rockets 2015-2018.

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Guys who aren't good at free throws the usual way should shoot them underhanded. The shot is softer and the spin is better if you're not accurate.

There was a guy on our college team who shot them underhanded, at a D1 school, and he was good enough to play as a freshman.

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Thanks for the excellent answers! I now know more about basketball than I did before.

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