Hope for even worst FT shooters. Or not.
Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 2:30 PM
Good news for the Arinze Onuakus of the world. Making free throws just got a little easier.
Kind of.
Marc Squire/Getty |
Arinze Onuaku is pumped to hear about a new free-throw technique.
|
After hundreds of thousands or computer simulations, two engineers at N.C. State figured out the best way shoot those pesky FTs. It sounds like it’ll take more than simply practicing more, and brushing up on some geometry. With practice, they think even the worst shooters could get above 60 percent.
So don’t blame Chaun Tran and Larry Silverberg if you can’t follow these directions.
First, the engineers say that shooters should launch the shot with about three hertz of back spin. That translates to the ball making three complete backspinning revolutions before reaching the hoop. Back spin deadens the ball when it bounces off the rim or backboard, the engineers assert, giving the ball a better chance of settling through the net.
Where to aim? Tran and Silverberg say you should aim for the back of the rim, leaving close to 5 centimeters – about 2 inches – between the ball and the back of the rim. According to the simulations, aiming for the center of the basket decreases the probabilities of a successful shot by almost 3 percent.
The engineers say that the ball should be launched at 52 degrees to the horizontal. If you don’t have a protractor in your jersey, that means that the shot should, at the highest point in its arc to the basket, be less than 2 inches below the top of the backboard.
Got all that? Sounds like a snap, right? Shooters only have to work on their rotation, their aim and trajectory – or everything they need to work on already. This stuff is easy to say, hard to do.
Here’s a tip: Bad free-throw shooters don’t have the touch to make those adjustments. That’s why they’re bad free-throw shooters.
Now, if there was video of these engineers actually shooting and making free throws, I’d change my tone…
(H/T: The Dagger)
Follow me on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller) and get more college basketball news at NBCSports.com.
