Andre Roberson is one of the NBA’s worst free throw shooters, and his attempt at shooting underhand didn’t work.
For the 2016-17 season, Andre Roberson made 47 of his 111 attempts from the foul line. That works out to 42.3 percent, a clip that is laughable for anyone — let alone a wing. In the playoffs, it got even worse. Roberson went to the free throw line 21 times against the Houston Rockets and made just three. Three. His conversion rate was just 14.3 percent.
As with anyone who shoots poorly from the line, an underhand motion is always thrown their way as a remedy. Guys like Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan and Roberson are victims to the advice (and the jokes). However, according to Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman, the 6-7 forward attempted to go that route:
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.”
Rick Barry popularized the underhand free throw. During his 14-year NBA/ABA career, the Hall of Famer led the league in free throw percentage seven times. Barry finished his tenure with a clip of 89.3 percent, which is the seventh-best in history. (Barry shot 90 percent during his NBA years, putting him fourth on that list.) If anyone knows how a thing about making foul shots, it’s him.
There are many reasons why a shooter doesn’t make foul shots. They could be overthinking; there might be a lack of confidence. There’s also the chance his form is mangled and needs an overhaul.
Roberson’s an oddity. This past year was a career-low mark from the line, but he connected on 61.1 percent in 2016. It’s peculiar. If that trend continues, he’ll be back above 60 percent for the upcoming year, but Oklahoma City doesn’t want to leave it up to chance.
Also Read: Rick Barry’s Overlooked Basketball Career
“At the end of the day, they’re on the outside looking in,” said Roberson. “I work hard on it. I think I have to get stronger in different aspects of the game, in terms of confidence and fatigue and stuff like that. But it all comes with time, experience. I’ll try to keep working at it, chipping away at it and figure it out.”
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