Shaq, your inner Rick Barry is calling...

[TucsonDevil]

I don't think that would do as good of a job. If you sit on your butt and shoot a shot, any shot, the ball has to go much more vertical, than horizontal to reach the rim. With Shaq being so tall, with such long arms. He can shoot the ball down and still make it no problem.

The exercise that I stated above is to develop rhythm... that is what Shaq lacks. His style is not going to change this late in his career, but any bad shot with rhythm can be consistent. See 'Leandro Barbosa's two hand jump shot'.

 

[Russ Smith]

I"m late on this but you do realize that Rick Barry has been publicly offering for years to teach Shaq the underhand style and Shaq says it doesn't look cool?

Barry taught George Johnson to do that when he was with the Warriors same time as Barry and tried to teach Clifford Ray. Ray said he couldn't do it because his hands were too big, so maybe Shaq would have the same problem but at least Ray actually tried it.

 

[Russ Smith]

This topic has been discussed thousands of times. There is one key problem with changing Shaq's technique and that's the fact that he makes them constantly in practice. Many times Shaq has worked with people who have claimed they have improved his technique based on how he shoots in practice, only to see him put in a game and go 3-12 from the line. The problem with Shaq is purely mental. If you don't believe me, watch clips of his college games. The guy was a really good free throw shooter, then he went to the NBA and suddenly he can't hit it. It has nothing to do with his wrist, it's been an issue with Shaq from day one, the wrist is just another excuse. The free throw has always been Shaq's only weakness, if he could hit them consistently, his numbers would be even more scary then they already are.

I've heard that his entire career and I flat out don't believe it. I think coaches say that because they want Shaq to believe his problems are mental thinking it's easier than just admitting the guy has terrible technique and will never be a good foul shooter the way he shoots?

He couldn't make FT's in college, he can't make them now. He shoots the ball off the palm, flat, and he doesn't use his legs enough. He does essentially everything wrong.

I just refuse to believe that with his technique he "makes them constantly in practice." I can believe he's a better shooter in practice but that's often because he's standing there shooting 15-20 in a row and he's not in game tired. I just am convinced you can't be a good FT shooter with his technique.

 

[elindholm]

His style is not going to change this late in his career, but any bad shot with rhythm can be consistent.

Yes -- it can be consistently bad.

If you practice a bad shot, you will wind up with a polished bad shot. Practice is useless unless you are practicing the right thing.

 

[WuRaider]

I just heard Rick Barry on am570 (LA radio), and I think he would make a great coach. He ragged on the concept of slapping hands after free throws because it messes with the shooters focus. He also said that it was ridiculous for coaches to meet at center court during timeouts to prepare their speech to the players. The coach should already know what he wants to say when he calls the timeout.

 

[Suns_fan69]

He also said that it was ridiculous for coaches to meet at center court during timeouts to prepare their speech to the players. The coach should already know what he wants to say when he calls the timeout.

Yeah, I always thought this was a bit silly. Half the time is wasted by the coaches consulting with each other.

 

[Russ Smith]

I just heard Rick Barry on am570 (LA radio), and I think he would make a great coach. He ragged on the concept of slapping hands after free throws because it messes with the shooters focus. He also said that it was ridiculous for coaches to meet at center court during timeouts to prepare their speech to the players. The coach should already know what he wants to say when he calls the timeout.

The problem with Rick is his personality and temper. He has coached before in minor leagues and he did ok but there were constant reports of him having problems getting along with players.

Put him on an NBA bench with a bunch of millionaires and I just think they're going to get sick of him pretty quickly. Barry was a hell of a player and he really understands the game, but he can be an incredibly arrogant person that rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

He's burned a lot of bridges along the way.

 

[WuRaider]

The problem with Rick is his personality and temper.

Yea he did seem like a hard ass during the interview. One of the hosts, Mychal thompson, former Laker shot 65% FT for his career. Rick attacked him for not using his granny technique and not letting go of his ego. When they asked why he hasn't been a head coach in the NBA, he said that it's a good ole boys league and the jobs just rotate between friends. He also said he would like to do broadcasting because a bunch of commentators are horrible (didn't mention any names).

Still, I liked his overall interview and think he could be a good coach with the right set of players that needed someone to actually teach them something (like our team). He pointed out that Lebron could be an even better player if someone taught him to come off screens correctly (a knock on Mike Brown).