Anyone shooting sub-60% who refuses to shoot underarm should be fired immediately.

Next we will be underarming in cricket.OOPS i forgot Chappell introduced that already in cricket in the 80s.They should bring that type of bowling back so we can see some bat throwing & biff on the field

'Granny style'

Opens the door for those players that have been begged to try it by their coach and organisation to give it a go where they have been embarrassed to do it before. Depends on the player but anecdotally it is supposed to be a more repeatable and consistent shot method.

Heard Rick Barry on a podcast talk about doing it. It sounded like he didn't care what people thought about it which helps.

The Podcast Rick Barry was on talking about the underhanded free throw was 'This American Life' episode #590 which was published in June this year.

The Transcript is here if anyone is interested.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/590/transcript

One time ago , it was done that way , most of the time...

LMFAO!

Can you imagine the public ridicule and laughter at D. Jordan or Shaq in his day doing this?

'granny style ' rings a bell..... it was a long time ago that I started to play and there were a few doing it , way back then ... like there used to be a drop kick in footy , way back in the sixties....

Yeah, Rick Barry was famous for it. I remember watching his son "Scooter" play in the NBL, and the commentators quipped whether he would try to emulate his father, but sadly he stuck to conventional.

I believe Canyon Barry shoots underarm.

I saw a video of this guy shooting free throws, and I thought he was taking the piss. Do you mean to tell me he shoots free throws underarm routinely?

My monicker aside, I shudder at this prospect. Unless you have shoulder issues, which would rule you out of playing basketball at NBA level anyway, you should be shooting free throws with a more conventional technique. You can't get backspin shooting underarm; there's no biomechanical reason it would be more accurate than shooting one handed, overhead.

..mostlikely you get back spin underarm..

You can't get backspin shooting underarm

there's no biomechanical reason it would be more accurate than shooting one handed, overhead.

I suspect the issue is that with a lot of practice, underarm becomes much more consistent and easy to replicate.

PS: I would have thought it would be easier to get back-spin?

@koberulz, you would have to throw it double-handed and flick your fingers toward the roof to get backspin. If you throw one-handed underarm, the ball will have topspin. Throwing it with two hands and rotating the ball to create backspin creates extra chance of making a mistake, in comparison to a single handed overarm throw.

If it's more accurate han shooting one-handed, why is it so rarely done?

you would have to throw it double-handed and flick your fingers toward the roof to get backspin.

If it's more accurate han shooting one-handed, why is it so rarely done?

Thanks for the video, @koberulz.

I know Rick says he doesn't flick his wrists; the fact is that he cocks them downward before he throws, making what he calls a natural angle from his forearm through his wrist. When he releases the ball, he also releases that angle - it's the only way the ball can come out with backspin, which is necessary to give a stable ball flight, and it's a natural reaction to releasing the ball on the way up.

My argument is that by doing that with two hands, there is more chance of an offline throw. You're also throwing the ball slightly further, as your release is lower. Not by much, but a bit.

I suppose the only way to test which way is truly better would be to take a couple of hundred kids and teach half each way to shoot, get them all to practice the same number of shots per week for many years, and verify the results at the end.

I won't argue that everyone should shoot that way, but people like Akil Mitchell and DeAndre Jordan have no place in professional basketball if they don't.

I never adopted the technique because I shot 90%+ anyway, and as a shooter I liked to be able to get to the line and go through my standard shooting motion if I was having an off day. So for a Nash, or a Curry, then sure, stick with it.

But if you're shooting sub-60, and you don't leave the paint, you need to be shooting underarm.

4th place out of 3,000 generally isn't too bad.

many times I often did it but I was better overhead.
Nevertheless there were those got more in underarm

Were you actually doing it properly, though, or just a scoop shot?

I have a free-throw shooting DVD with a segment from Rick Barry, and after watching it the first time I went out on the driveway and tried out that technique. It worked really well, even after only a couple of minutes.

I did , well , a bit similar to rick barry ..
but , maybe it was really many , many hours/years doing it a set way overhead and getting most of them in.. But also good to watch those who did better underarm than overhead.....

I think those who haven't seen it, might be a bit confused. As per Kober's video, its definitely doubled handed. I can hardly imagine what a single-handed underarm F/T would look like.

With a lot of guys who perhaps would not have otherwise attained the levels they did, they practised an obscene amount. I think if you practised this action relentlessly, it would become extremely natural and easy to replicate.

I would also imagine that the first 100 time you tried it, it would be LESS accurate than your normal action.

Without spending an extreme amount of time to become consistent in a new technique, free throws is often about what seems to work best for the individual. I was one of those recalcitrants who was always more comfortable with my shoulder leading, despite constantly being told it was bad technique. I'd estimate I used to shoot at around 75% in the good years.

As for "why doesn't everyone do it?" In a sense its the same reason that some guys can "get away" with absolutely shit F/T shooting. Because they are so dominate elsewhere they don't see the need to put in the hours to improve.
It's also "psychological" on both sides. Anybody facing say O'Neill would have been rightly intimidated. Imagine if he had started throwing underarm to improve his percentage? Even if it worked, and won games, people would still have laughed.

Without spending an extreme amount of time to become consistent in a new technique, free throws is often about what seems to work best for the individual.

The first time I went to the line to win the game after the time bell had gone, I missed them both. I was about 12yo and tooo nervous.. That taught , the hard way , to relax , and next times I got them in...
(Some were , and some will be better underarm , and some better overhead)