Unconventional Techniques: Exploring the Mystery of Free Throws in Basketball

Free throws are a mystery. Time freezes in that unique moment in basketball when the shooter is alone, 4.60 meters from the basket, without any defender approaching him and with all eyes on him. And yet, what might seem like the easiest launch sometimes turns into torture. There are not a few elite players who have stumbled in their careers on one-point shots, nor a few games and titles that have been decided in this way. Hence any formula to improve the percentages is welcome. From a psychological routine such as dribbling the ball a certain number of times to using a technique different from the traditional style. The spoon shot, for example, or underhand, which consists of propelling the ball from below and between the legs, to reach the rim from the bottom instead of landing from above. A mechanism like the one used by children who do not have the strength to reach the goal, but which is also used by a few professionals. This is the case of Chinanu Onuaku, an American center of Nigerian origin from Joventut de Badalona, ​​2.08m and 26 years old.

The previous liturgy is the usual one. Until Onuaku lowers the ball, he catches it from above and drops a balloon. Thus, he has scored eight of the 14 free throws he has taken this season (57% success rate) in the ACB – 17 of 17 also scored by Guillem Vives, also in green and black. Onuaku landed in La Penya this summer after a tour of South Korea, Croatia, Israel and Italy and after being chosen 37th in the 2016 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. In the American mecca he only played six games (he converted all four free throws he took) and gained experience in the Development League, where he raised his average from that position to 76%. The change had been made during his university days with the Louisville Cardinals. His coach, Rick Pitino, convinced him to modify the way he threw and the boy went from 47% to 59% from one season to the next. The trick the technician used was to show him videos of Rick Barry.

Seventies in the NBA. Rick Barry, a forward who played in New York, Golden State and Houston, is astounding with both his spoon style and his effectiveness. He reached 94.7% accuracy with the Rockets in the 1978-79 season, one of six seasons, five in a row, in which he was number one in free throw conversion percentage in the League. With that peculiar mechanism, Barry retired with 90% of bingos, the fourth in the entire history of the NBA behind Stephen Curry (90.8), Steve Nash (90.4) and Mick Price (90.3) . “It’s a much more effective shot. It has a much softer plane. It is a fluid movement and not a lot of different movements that you have to do,” explained the shooter, one of whose sons, Scooter, briefly played for Baskonia (1992-93) and Tenerife (2004-05) in the ACB.

A legend like Wilt Chamberlain used that tactic in 1961-62, and it was the only season in which he exceeded 60% in his 15 years in the NBA, but he returned to the traditional way. Although it can improve performance, many players discard this style due to its aesthetic rarity and childish air.

“It is the shot that should be the easiest and most automatic, without defense, while standing… But it has a lot of headers,” argues an eminence in the field, José Manuel Calderón. The Spanish point guard closed his NBA career with 87.3% accuracy in free throws, and raised the record to 98.1% in 2008-09 with Toronto, the best scoring percentage ever achieved by a player in the League in a course. Calderón converted 151 of the 154 shots taken; 87 consecutive, 10 shy of the absolute record in a regular season, set by Michael Williams in 1993 with Minnesota. “It’s about getting into a routine, not thinking about how the game is going, if it’s the first quarter or the last, if you’re losing or winning… That’s the complication and problem for many shooters, that you can’t escape from that.” , adds Calderón; “Onuaku’s shot draws attention because everyone does it the opposite way, but even if it is not the mechanics that everyone uses, it can be very good. He is comfortable with that throw, it is the one he can train without any problem because it is always the same and in the end it is a matter of aim and practice, repeat, repeat and repeat. What matters is that the ball goes in.” Therein lies the mystery.

Onuaku takes a free kick with a spoon against Barça.NurPhoto (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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2023-10-30 05:58:00
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