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16/09/2026
Brent Barry was the first white guy to win the NBA dunk contest - which, naturally as a chubby 13 year old, gave me all the hope I needed to presume I was up next 😆🤦🏻♂️
.. I was not - obviously - not even a tiny bit close. But through Brent I learned of his Dad, the legendary Rick Barry.
Rick retired from basketball with the highest free throw percentage of his generation, and is the only non-guard sitting comfortably in the top 5 highest percentage leaders of alllllll time.
He shot underhand .. They call it 'Granny style' - using both hands, you launch the ball upwards from below the waist. Pretty much nobody uses this technique, or even teaches this technique - despite it quite clearly being somewhat of a cheat code to accessing free points.
.. Wilt Chamberlain utilised this method for 1 season, and had a career high percentage from the free throw line - including the 100 point game he had against the Knicks, where he made 28 / 32 attempts - but he then reverted back the following year because he felt like a 'sissy' 🙄
Barry even offered to help coach the infamously terrible free throwing, Shaq .. Who apparently told him he'd rather shoot 0% than try the underhand technique - 'I'm too cool for that'.
Two guys, who, by any measure, were undoubtedly cool - were worried about looking cool .. I recently watched the Soul Power/ABA documentary on Prime where Barry explained that a free throw is the only uncontested, static shot in basketball, meaning proper form → guarantees success, if ego is put aside.
Cue a 'LinkedIn-style pivot' .. Jokes .. Maybe I'm just trying to keep that thought in mind, and apply it every which way I can - as I'd probably struggle to share anything at all if I just left the ego in charge.
.. Unless one day I decide to go enter a dunk competition, then I'll be playing cool like my life depends on it 🙃
