UNDERHAND THROW MOVEMENTS FREE

Using lots of trigonometry, Brancazio calculated the optimal angle of the arc from the free throw line.

“That means there’s a far greater chance of making the basket,” he says. “Because of the sharp angle of the typical overhand throw, there ends up being a much smaller window for the ball to go in.” If the ball comes down at the basket from a steeper angle, the way it does if tossed up in the high arc characteristic of an underhand throw, the margin reappears. “That’s why these guys miss so much,” Brancazio says. But when the ball is thrown nearly straight at the basket, in the style of Shaq, the margin disappears because the rim of the basket, from the perspective of the ball, resembles a tight ellipse. While an official-size basket is 18 inches in diameter, the basketball itself is only about 9 1/2 inches, which gives a margin of 8 1/2 inches. The key to a successful foul shot lies in the arc of the ball-in general, the higher the better. “I’m convinced that from a physics standpoint, if everyone learned to throw underhand you’d see these statistics rise dramatically,” Brancazio says. One year he made only 3 of every 10 shots, and in the 2000 season, when he managed to sink two free throws in a row during the playoffs, he made headlines (“Chris No Dud at Foul Line!” screamed the New York Daily News ). Sports columnists gripe about the bad free throw techniques of modern players like Shaquille O’Neal, but probably no one has suffered more public humiliation at the free throw line than former Knicks player Chris Dudley.

UNDERHAND THROW MOVEMENTS PROFESSIONAL

There, the legendary “Big Dipper” sank barely 5 of 10 shots, one of the lowest percentages in professional basketball. The late Wilt Chamberlain, for instance, could shoot a basket from just about anywhere on the court-except when he toed up to the line 15 feet from the hoop. You do exactly the same thing over and over and over again.” Yet while Barry can easily sink 9 out of 10 shots, other players fall far short. “There’s nothing simpler in basketball, because you can take all the time you want to make it, and there’s nobody waving his arms in front of you trying to block you,” says Peter Brancazio, a physics professor emeritus from Brooklyn College and author of SportsScience: Physical Laws and Optimum Performance. Judging by mechanics alone, just about every foul shot should be a winner.

Underhand throw movements