Could you train Joe Average to be a top free throw shooter? How long?

[alphatmw]

[ QUOTE ]
In 1993, Dr. Tom Amberry, an 82 year old retired podiatrist from Seal Beach, CA made an amazing 2750 free throws in a row. He was only asked to stop due to another previously scheduled event at the gym. Dr. Amberry is the current World Free Throw Shooting Champion and known as the "Big Kahuna of Free Throws," and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Dr. Amberry gives host Jeffrey Callison some tips on how to make the perfect free throw.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Chump Change]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Almost certainly he should be shooting underhand. And I would guess there are many hundreds of people right now who could beat any NBA player under non game conditions.

[/ QUOTE ]

ok. gotta ask... why should he certainly shoot the ball underhand?

Steve Nash has a lifetime FFP of 89.6%... This means almost 90% for probably over 1000 shots (not sure how many total)... I wouldnt imagine anyone could do any better than that although there is the possibility.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lolz sorry if it's already been answered in the few post from this quote til now, but Rick Barry has the all time leading free throw percentage (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's stats are not considered official) in the NBA and he had an underhanded shot.

Slightly off topic, why do people chime in authoritatively when they obviously know little about the topic? I couldn't dream of spouting off about swimming or polo or even football.

[The Young Gun]

[ QUOTE ]
ok, so since nash has an in-game % of 90% and you say there's no way he can top 99%, what % do you give him in a non-game situation?

[/ QUOTE ]

It could be around 90% if you take into account the possibility that the in game / practice difference is so miniscule to him.

[Chump Change]

[ QUOTE ]
LOL at David's comment's in this thread. I hope he's not serious.

First of all there is noone that is a 99 % free throw shooter in non-game situations. Steve Nash (who shoots 90 per cent ish in games) certainly couldn't sustain 99%...there is no one that can.

Second the idea of shooting underhanded is stupid. this is not a physics problem where the "the top of the arc" is very relevant. Muscle memory is relevant, and it's much easier for the average Joe to learn and perfect conventional styles.

Also, LOL at the person who said Lebron shoots free throws too flat-footed and he'd be better if he bent his knees more.

2+2 has a lot of good poker brains...not so much with the basketball brains.

Stak

[/ QUOTE ]

Lolz can we start a thread about neuroses?!?

The world record for consecutive free throws is just shy of 5000. That's not a typo. Pistol Pete would end his practice sessions draining 200 in a row.

Is this whole sklansky forum just people spouting off about [censored] they know nothing about? Basketball is one of the few topics I feel i'm an expert at so I guess I never really noticed with the other threads.

[Chump Change]

Ignore, my previous posts to a degree, Alphatmw pretty much has things covered here.


[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In 1993, Dr. Tom Amberry, an 82 year old retired podiatrist from Seal Beach, CA made an amazing 2750 free throws in a row. He was only asked to stop due to another previously scheduled event at the gym. Dr. Amberry is the current World Free Throw Shooting Champion and known as the "Big Kahuna of Free Throws," and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Dr. Amberry gives host Jeffrey Callison some tips on how to make the perfect free throw.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

[icisicqd]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Almost certainly he should be shooting underhand. And I would guess there are many hundreds of people right now who could beat any NBA player under non game conditions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, you're way off.

First, you all vastly underestimate how good the average NBA freethrow shooter is. He appears much worse than he actually is because you are seeing him during a game. When an NBA player practices shooting freethrows with an assistant coach, just him, shooting over and over, his percentage is way, way higher than what you see during a game. As a wild guess, I would estimate that a guy whose free throw % for this season is 60% routinely makes more than 80 out of 100 in practice.

2. Pro basketball players have shot more free throws in their lifetimes than the average joe could shoot in a year. Another wild guess: I would guess that Shaquille O'Neal has shot over 100 free throws on over 2000 days of his life. I mean, he's been playing basketball since he was 9 years old. So, roughly 30 years of practicing free throws. Large numbers of repetitions is not enough to gaurantee success.

3. The financial incentives for Shaq and other key players to improve their free throw pctgs is so great, and yet they can't do it, even though they work with the best coaches in the world, that we can conclude that joe average can't do it either.

4. When you say that there are many hundreds of people who could be better than NBA free throw shooters, remember that there are 300 million people in this country. So, if 300 people can do it, that's still only one in a million who could be better than NBA players. I thought we were talking about Joe Average, not a one in a million guy.

[/ QUOTE ]Basketball is my first love and has been replaced by poker and I am not sure if I've shot more baskets or played more hands of cards at this point in my life. With that said I shot 65% from the line my freshman year, 71% sophmore, 76% junior and 81% senior year. This was during competitive play. Being the gym rat that I was I often made 60-70 in a row. Of course this is with fresh legs, no pressure, and rythem and muscle memory at it's peak. I went to University of Kansas and played in a lot of pick-up games with a lot of future and current pro's. (I tried to walk on to be a Jawhawk LOL) A great example is Greg Ostertag- don't have life time NBA stats at the FT line or at KU but i doubt it was over 65% I watched him make a bet with a guy from my dorm (they had chemistry together) that he could make 45 out of 50. he made 46 out of 50 and missed his first attempt. Well that's 92%. The average starter in a NBA game runs over 7 miles a game so I've heard, well try this; go race up and down the court for a hour, take a quick blow then run up and down the court just once as fast as you can and than hit yourself into a wall to get the effect of being fouled and then take your 2 "free throws." NOTE- A name that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is Derick Ravio senior point guard for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, broke the NCAA career freethrow percentage record 96%. Tommy Lloyd a Zags assistant coach since 2001 was a high school teammate of mine better shooter than me damn it. Average Joe vs the Pro unlikly but plausable.

[icisicqd]

Correction, Derek Raivio not derick ravio. He shot 96.1% from the line this season. Like I said he is the new all-time career free-throw percentage leader. Derek made 343-370 for a whopping 92.7% besting the previous best of Gary Buchanan of Villanova who's previous record was 324-355 for 91.3 percent. This is based on 300 free-throws made in a career or 2.5 attempts a game in a career. Gongrat's Derek your a PRO!!

[stakman1011]

Wow, I stand officially, completely, and 100 % corrected.

I was clearly quite wrong.

I stand by the idea that Nash (or nearly every other NBA player) could not be a 99% + free throw shooter in non-game situations...but it's clear that someone is.

I also still doubt that shooting underhand would be the best method. Perhaps if there were two great shooters, one who shoots underhand, and one who shoots conventionally, the underhand shooter would perhaps have an advantage due to the physics of the ball's path.

I think though, that a normal person (especially one who plays a college sport) would have a lot of basketball experience already (even if it's not organized basketball) and starting from the muscle memory already learned would probably be the most effective method.

Although I was so spectacularly wrong with my last post, maybe everyone should just disregard this one...

Stak

[drunkencowboy]

do you think you could train a giraffe to make 100%?

[nineinchal]

Sklansky's quote:"Almost certainly he should be shooting underhand. And I would guess there are many hundreds of people right now who could beat any NBA player under non game conditions."


You talk a good game Dave. I wager that if we gave you a month to train, you couldn't hit 17 of 20. Underhanded or macho NBA style, you choose.

Can we get this on pay per view? You could do it from California, so the Vegas books can have lines on it. We can all laugh our collective degenerate gambling asses off, while we watch your ineptness prevail.

Nineinch