In the Thunder’s first-round loss to the Rockets, Andre Roberson shot 3-of-21 from the free-throw line (14%) – the worst free-throw percentage on record by anyone with so many attempts in a playoff series. That wasn’t totally out of character for Roberson, who made just 42% of his free throws in the regular season.
Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman:He’s tried shooting them underhanded.
So if you’re going to approach Andre Roberson with free-throw shooting advice — and he’d rather you didn’t, but knows from experience that you might — you can scratch that technique off your list.
“I tried it in practice,” Roberson said, mimicking a two-handed underhand toss. “That s--- does not work. I’m sorry.”
Like nearly every outside observer, I believe bad free-throw shooters should experiment more with underhand free throws. There seems to be a resistance based on superficiality.
But I also don’t see it as a silver bullet. Rick Barry, who famously shot 89% from the line underhand, probably would have converted a high percentage overhand. Roberson might be a lousy foul shooter either way.
I’ll take his word that he tried this method. If it didn’t work, it didn’t work. Now, it’s on Roberson to keep searching for something that does.