Andre Drummond could shoot free throws underhanded next season
Stan Van Gundy has had talks with Andre Drummond about shooting free throws underhanded.
•
1 min read
Andre Drummond is a beast. A skilled rebounder, shot blocker and developing low-post scorer, Drummond was an All-Star for the first time this season and an integral part of the Detroit Pistons making the playoffs for the first time since 2009. But there is one glaring deficiency in Drummond's game -- free-throws.
Drummond shot an absurdly bad 35.5 percent from the line this season and he was even worse in the playoffs, shooting 32.4 percent. Since he's such a bad free-throw shooter, Drummond is frequently the target of intentional fouling, causing Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy to bench his talented center in the closing stretches of games. This is a big disadvantage for the Pistons, which is why Van Gundy recently had a heart-to-heart with Drummond about his free-throw shooting. The two may have even come up with a solution, as Van Gundy says Drummond is open to shooting free throws underhanded.
From Rod Beard of The Detroit News:
“As far as shooting underhand or anything else, it’s fair to say my discussion with Andre yesterday and the discussions Jeff and I have had and staff — everything is on the table,” Van Gundy said Thursday during the season wrap-up at The Palace.
“It won’t be a unilateral decision; we’ll do some research on some things and come up with what we think is a good approach, talk to Andre and see what he thinks and develop an approach going forward.
“We all know it’s an important thing — Andre more than any of us – he’s pretty open to anything. There’s a lot of ways to attack this problem and we’ll all have a hand in it.”
Shooting free throws granncy style may look silly but Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry shot that way and was 89 percent from the line. Drummond will just need to try the technique out for himself and if it works, then truly own it.
But even if Drummond doesn't start shooting free throws underhanded, it sounds like he is well aware that a change is needed and he's willing to try anything.
