Hall of Famer Rick Barry (90% career FT shooter) on his dad teaching him the underhand free-throw shot as a kid: “I said ‘Dad, I can’t shoot like that. That’s a sissy shot.’ My father kept saying ‘Son, if you can shoot a higher percentage and you’re making your shots, nobody can make fun of you.”

38 comments

  1. People DO and WILL make fun of you even if it works. You just have a good reason not to care about what they say.

  3. Barry said he once offered to teach Shaq the underarm technique, but the Big Diesel point blank refused because of how silly it would look.

  4. I don’t know, people always talk about it like it’s an auto glitch to elite free throw shooting and that the only reason people wouldn’t do it is because of how it looks. I’ve tried underhand before and it felt super unnatural and uncomfortable.

  5. I picture him trying it in the gym with nobody watching like Ron Swanson secretly testing Tom’s two-handed bowling technique.

  9. Giannis shot 61% last year – career just under 70%. Imagine if he was shooting FT at a 80-85% rate, that’s an extra 5-10pts/game easy.

    Walk around saying he averaging 40, that would be a good thing.

  10. Zion Williamson (68.9% career FT shooter) on me teaching him the underhand free-throw shot as a kid: He said ‘cupofhotteaa, I can’t shoot like that. That’s a sissy shot.’ I kept saying ‘Bruh your FG% is higher than your FT%.’

  11. It’s crazy that we have an objectively better way of doing free throws and no one does it for fear of looking silly. I can’t really think of an analogue in any other sport.

  13. Same energy as the guys who make fun of you have you drive a small car or don’t work 80 hours a week in some blue collar job.

  15. It’s so funny. Every other sport in the world statisticians and scientists are using every technique and technological edge to squeeze out every possible scoring and winning edge except basketball because the players are scared of looking like a sissy.

  16. I pull up and hit a “sissy shot” 11/10 times on national television for a shot to play pro ball and make fucking *fraction* of what today’s bench players make.

  18. Wilt shot his freethrows underhand in his 100 Pt game and still didn’t stick with it because of how it looked. Soft.

  23. Shaq would be the GOAT if he swallowed his ego and shot like this.

    imagine him without being an end of game liability

  24. I always post this anecdote about Rick Barry and how he got out of playing for the Virginia Squires. This is courtesy of a Dave Hollander article:

    The only thing you can say in Barry’s defense is that he’s an equal-opportunity offender. Unhappy with the prospect of being forced to play for the ABA’s Virginia Squires, Barry strategically offended everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line, telling Sports Illustrated, “My son Scooter is supposed to go to nursery school this year. I hate to think of the complications that’ll cause in Virginia. I don’t want him to go down there to school and learn to speak with a Southern accent. He’ll come home from school saying, ‘Hi y’all, Daad.’ I sure don’t want that.”

  25. Imagine all the players that could’ve improved their FT% with this shot… but looking not like a dork is more impressive. (I’m saying this as someone who absolutely would NOT shoot granny style)

  26. Someone send this to MRob as he shoots 40% which is far more embarrassing and forces us to take him off the floor. How about shoot underhanded and have some GD pride.

  28. I left this video on while doing laundry, and the audio loops so perfectly that it took me a few rounds before I realized it’s only a 1m 45s video. I’ve been listening to this for like 7 minutes 😂 if only he made that adjustment earlier in his career… if only he made that adjustment earlier in his career…

    If only he made that adjustment earlier in his career… wait a sec

  29. My apparently hot take: people who assume shooting underhand is *objectively* better are really motivated their desire to feel superior to people who play the game better than they do. Rick Barry, infamous asshole, included.

    Shooting underhand [IS NOT objectively superior](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.170136) to the normal shooting motion: tldr it has a higher accuracy ceiling, but also a lower floor due to the additional demand on the shooter’s ability to control the angle and speed of release. Shooting overhand is actually the more forgiving shot.

  30. Blows my mind that guys throwing up bricks and making less than60% at the FT line think they look “tougher” than a guy swishing in 90% 🙄

  31. Kyler Filewich in the CEBL (Winnipeg Sea Bears) free throws like this. I wasn’t able to find his free throw stats, but I don’t believe I’ve seen him miss one.

  32. The fact that there is a sort of ego “arms embargo” on this free throw shot is so interesting. Everyone has just decided to nerf their own production, but one year a team will decide to go all in on this method, and the floodgates will be opened. If every team shoots at 75%, and one team can get to 85% with this method, then that’s that. Shooting underhanded will no longer be optional.

  34. He was wrong in that people wont make fun of you. I would also argue that the underhanded free throws have taken away from the fact that Rick Barry was a monster. But hes associated with the granny shot more than his actual game.

  35. My dad did the same thing with me except he told me to bite people’s balls in a fight. Never lost a fight. Love ya pops

  36. Can you imagine if Shaq just showed up on the Lakers shooting like this in 1996 and making 90%?

  37. Fun facts, Barry’s son, Canyon Barry shoots granny style free throws. He’s still an active player.

  38. Has there ever been a player who shot their free throws intentionally banking off the backboard? lol I feel like a lot of guys would benefit off trying to do that

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