Shooting a Free-throw...Let us now look specifically at a free throw. A free throw, just like any other shot, has the best chance of going in the more arc the shot has. When the ball comes straight down it makes the rim seem bigger than when a shot has more of a straight trajectory. Therefore, the most ideal shot would be one that comes nearly straight down into the basket; however, when shooting that type of shot it is nearly impossible to aim. Rick Barry, former NBA player, was an advocate of shooting a “granny” or underhand shot as his free throws. He shot his free throws underhand and for his career shot around 80 percent. He believes that more professional players, for example Shaquille O’Neal, that shoot a poor free throw percentage should shoot a granny shot even though it looks really goofy.
Another advantage of the underhand shot is that it minimizes the drift of the ball. “The trick to keeping the ball moving along a single plane toward the basket lies in ‘minimizing the x-axis motion’… In other words you have to keep your elbows tucked in” (Rist). The underhand shot allows a player to have a lot more control over their shot. The traditional overhand shot requires movement from the wrist, elbow, and shoulder to make it easier for a person to shoot the ball with more error. However, despite all of these positive attributes to an underhand shot both Rist and Barry acknowledge that asking a professional player, or any player, would make them look “kind of stupid” (Rist). Free-throw success is also improved by adding a little backspin, which pushes the ball downward if it hits the back of the rim. The North Carolina State engineers calculated the ideal rate of free-throw backspin at three cycles per second. That is, a shot that takes one second to reach the basket will make three full revolutions counterclockwise as seen from the stands on the player's right side. http://www2.hesston.edu/Physics/Basketball/Paperpg.htm http://kottke.org/10/03/the-physics-of-three-throw-shooting |