MSaviolives said:

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Don't forget the importance of foot-on-nail

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At a lot of basketball courts, you will see a nail right there in the middle, which should be dead center to the basket. I always put my right foot right in the middle of that.

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http://ninertimes.com/2016/06/free-throws-with-mark-price/

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Wow. I never heard that before. I don't think I ever saw a nail in the floor at the free throw line in any gym I played in. I''ll take a look next time I'm in a gym.

I wouldn't want to say anything contrary to Mark Price. He was one of the greatest I ever saw, and who ever lived. I wonder what he did on floors that were not made of wood. I played on concrete, asphalt, linoleum. No nails. Then there are the dirt courts in the barnyards of rural Indiana and Ohio. No nails there either.

I remember one time I got in a bad slump from the free throw line. I moved my stance 4"-6" to the right of center, to give me a different look at the basket. I started making more of them, but not as many as I used to make from the center, so I moved back to the center of the circle, and I had been cured.

Edited 12/19 to correct error in distance to 4"-6"

bearmanpg said:

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MSaviolives said:

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petalumabear said:

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concordtom said:

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Civil Bear said:

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KenBurnski said:

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NMI wish BA would do a treatment of CCTs reliable free throw routine.

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I think the average free throw percentage of BI posters was about 85% back in the day.

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Lol.
Yeah, but...
I also have the paperwork to prove 85%.

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Tom, for all we know you are related to all of our garbage men... We don't give a rats behind. Show us certified proof of that 85% or it didn't happen. (Sort of like our gladly departed Schlocky and his tutor @ Cal).

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We need a BI free throw contest

I'll bring a tailgate and bar set up

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In this contest, do we have to actually touch a basketball or can we just sit back on our phones and type about how many we made??

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LOL.

I dunno, but I think Bearister's gonna win that contest!

roqmoq said:

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Back in the day, the FT shooter did not move from the line after taking the first of two FTs. Nor did the player slap hands with teammates.

Now, it's common practice to move either forward or backward to slap hands with teammates.

Does this make a difference? I think it's best to stand still and not move about.

Of course, there are today's players who do the hand slaps and shoot a high FT percentage. So, this practice has not affected everyone, but could some players do better by not moving around?

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Hey, good question.
I used to turn and take a few steps to midcourt after the first one, then come back and reset before the second FT. Every FT needed to be the same routine. I also didn't take the ball from the official until I had gone thru my little mental routine. One time a ref who was quicker than usual got sick of waiting on me and just dropped it at my waist, which I though was funny.

Quote:

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I remember one time I got in a bad slump from the free throw line. I moved my stance 4'-6" to the right of center, to give me a different look at the basket. I started making more of them, but not as many as I used to make form the center, so I moved back to the center of the circle, and I had been cured.

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Aw, man! This is sacrilegious to what I was talking about.
But that's cool. Sometimes I thought I overthought the whole thing and I should just allow myself to be in the flow instead of so mechanical...

concordtom said:

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I also didn't take the ball from the official until I had gone thru my little mental routine. One time a ref who was quicker than usual got sick of waiting on me and just dropped it at my waist, which I though was funny.

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funny story....so many different mental routines over time ... usually some combination of ...

elbow in
high arc (shoot for 'bottom of the net')
Hold follow through with hand kept high after release
bend knees, bounce on knees
feet (and therefore body) at an angle
Reach in the cookie jar

most of these become natural, but when you're trying to improve or stay consistent, they help

SFCityBear said:

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roqmoq said:

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Back in the day, the FT shooter did not move from the line after taking the first of two FTs. Nor did the player slap hands with teammates.

Now, it's common practice to move either forward or backward to slap hands with teammates.

Does this make a difference? I think it's best to stand still and not move about.

Of course, there are today's players who do the hand slaps and shoot a high FT percentage. So, this practice has not affected everyone, but could some players do better by not moving around?

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That is an interesting thought.

What I don't understand is that they slap hands even after a missed free throw. So the purpose is not always to celebrate. I think they slap hands after a make or a miss. Maybe they do it for bonding.

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It's the same as volleyball, where teams come together at the end of each ball, no matter what. Bonding and relaxation.

SFCityBear said:

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MSaviolives said:

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Don't forget the importance of foot-on-nail

Quote:

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At a lot of basketball courts, you will see a nail right there in the middle, which should be dead center to the basket. I always put my right foot right in the middle of that.

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http://ninertimes.com/2016/06/free-throws-with-mark-price/

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Wow. I never heard that before. I don't think I ever saw a nail in the floor at the free throw line in any gym I played in. I''ll take a look next time I'm in a gym.

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For indoor gyms, you will find that nail there every time.

concordtom said:

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I am 1st cousins with Ben Franklin, grandchild of William Brewster...

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Either I am reading this wrong, or you have just made a completely ridiculous, and factually impossible, claim.

How many of you remember Hal Greer?

He used to shoot jump shots from the foul line, arguing that way he only ever had to practice one kind of shot.

Yogi Bear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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MSaviolives said:

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Don't forget the importance of foot-on-nail

Quote:

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At a lot of basketball courts, you will see a nail right there in the middle, which should be dead center to the basket. I always put my right foot right in the middle of that.

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http://ninertimes.com/2016/06/free-throws-with-mark-price/

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Wow. I never heard that before. I don't think I ever saw a nail in the floor at the free throw line in any gym I played in. I''ll take a look next time I'm in a gym.

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For indoor gyms, you will find that nail there every time.

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The only reason I ever looked at the floor before a free throw was to make sure I didn't set up on the wrong side of the line, which might cause the ref to take my free throw away. I was more concerned about looking at the basket than the floor.

I think it was Richard Solomon who took too much time looking at the floor, and not enough time looking at the basket, IMO. Maybe he was counting the nails.

UrsaMajor said:

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How many of you remember Hal Greer?

He used to shoot jump shots from the foul line, arguing that way he only ever had to practice one kind of shot.

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There you go. Greer was decent at it, shot about 80%, I think. I often wonder why more kids today don't shoot a jumper from the stripe.

SFCityBear said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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How many of you remember Hal Greer?

He used to shoot jump shots from the foul line, arguing that way he only ever had to practice one kind of shot.

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There you go. Greer was decent at it, shot about 80%, I think. I often wonder why more kids today don't shoot a jumper from the stripe.

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I suspect it's the same reason none shoot underhand. They're afraid of looking dorky.

UrsaMajor said:

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SFCityBear said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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How many of you remember Hal Greer?

He used to shoot jump shots from the foul line, arguing that way he only ever had to practice one kind of shot.

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There you go. Greer was decent at it, shot about 80%, I think. I often wonder why more kids today don't shoot a jumper from the stripe.

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I suspect it's the same reason none shoot underhand. They're afraid of looking dorky.

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You are probably right. I was speaking of the players who are poor foul shooters using the conventional methods. You would think after years of trying, with little success, maybe it might be time for a change. I would think the high-strung more nervous type of player might benefit from not trying to stand still with both feet firmly on the floor to shoot a free throw.

BTW, Rick Barry's youngest son, Canyon, shot them underhanded like Dad, at 88% last season for Florida. He taught a couple of teammates to shoot them underhanded as well. He has to use a little different grip and form to keep the ball from snagging on his shorts, which are much longer today than the shorts his Dad wore. And Dad, at 72, still can make his free throws from the stripe, underhanded.

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2017/02/28/canyon-barry-florida-gators

My high school coach, Benny Neff, who also graduated from Cal, used to shoot free throws underhanded. He was too small for the Cal Varsity, so he played for the Cal 145's, back in the 1920s. He was the team's designated free throw shooter. In those days there was a rule that when a player got fouled, if the player was not a good foul shooter, his coach could send in a substitute to shoot the free throw for him. That substitute was a better shooter and he had the title or position of Designated Free Throw Shooter. It is a concept that I would like to see returned to the game. It would keep teams from fouling players who are poor foul shooters, like Kingsley, or Marcus, or just about any very tall player. I hated the way teams fouled Wilt and Shaq on purpose to put them on the line, instead of trying to defend them. A designated free throw shooter would put an end to that.

SFCityBear said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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How many of you remember Hal Greer?

He used to shoot jump shots from the foul line, arguing that way he only ever had to practice one kind of shot.

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There you go. Greer was decent at it, shot about 80%, I think. I often wonder why more kids today don't shoot a jumper from the stripe.

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I'd have to imagine that fatigue has something to do with it in a couple ways -- it would probably contribute to fatigue and it would be more difficult to remain consistent at the end of the game when fatigue has set in.

SFCityBear said:

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roqmoq said:

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Back in the day, the FT shooter did not move from the line after taking the first of two FTs. Nor did the player slap hands with teammates.

Now, it's common practice to move either forward or backward to slap hands with teammates.

Does this make a difference? I think it's best to stand still and not move about.

Of course, there are today's players who do the hand slaps and shoot a high FT percentage. So, this practice has not affected everyone, but could some players do better by not moving around?

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That is an interesting thought.

What I don't understand is that they slap hands even after a missed free throw. So the purpose is not always to celebrate. I think they slap hands after a make or a miss. Maybe they do it for bonding.

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Saw an interview with Rick Barry where he ridiculed current players for slapping hands after a miss , cuz he thought it was rewarding the miss. Sounded like he would prefer to punch the misser.

GMP said:

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concordtom said:

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I am 1st cousins with Ben Franklin, grandchild of William Brewster...

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Either I am reading this wrong, or you have just made a completely ridiculous, and factually impossible, claim.

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Chuckle. You are seeing this improperly and will also chuckle when you see your error.
I'm not say Brewster and Franklin are related, just like my parents are not.
I am related to Brewster as direct grandchild (12th great) on one branch. On another branch, but far up my father's same line, I am cousins with Franklin, 7 generations removed.

Going back so many generations we all have thousands of grandparents. Each of us are bound to have someone who did something of note in our line. And if you open it up to 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, 5th cousins and many generations removed, we are basically able to find some blood similarity with most anyone else. Mathematically, the Kevin Bacon game works. It's been fun finding such connections in my lines.

But beware, once you get started playing this genealogy game, its highly addictive.

Bearprof said:

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Saw an interview with Rick Barry where he ridiculed current players for slapping hands after a miss , cuz he thought it was rewarding the miss. Sounded like he would prefer to punch the misser.

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Ben Hur vs Masala
White horses vs Black horses
Ben Hur ran with reins open, with love.
Marsala ran angry, whipped his team.

We all know who won.
Yes, you can get results with the whip, but positive willpower supersedes.
Love triumphs fear.

concordtom said:

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Bearprof said:

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Saw an interview with Rick Barry where he ridiculed current players for slapping hands after a miss , cuz he thought it was rewarding the miss. Sounded like he would prefer to punch the misser.

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Ben Hur vs Masala
White horses vs Black horses
Ben Hur ran with reins open, with love.
Marsala ran angry, whipped his team.

We all know who won.
Yes, you can get results with the whip, but positive willpower supersedes.
Love triumphs fear.

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m

On the other hand, in Shaquille O Neil's acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame, he went on about how Rick Barry tried to get him to shoot underhanded. O'Neil said he didn't wanna look like a jerk. Perhaps he should've been ridiculed more, for leaving all those points of the line: think of how great his teams would have been if he had made all those free throw attempts. I also read that Wilt Chamberlain used Rick Barry's under hand technique for a year, and greatly improved results. But then again, because he didn't want to look like a dork, he reverted, both in style and results. Again, some ridicule might have been called for.

concordtom said:

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GMP said:

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concordtom said:

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I am 1st cousins with Ben Franklin, grandchild of William Brewster...

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Either I am reading this wrong, or you have just made a completely ridiculous, and factually impossible, claim.

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Chuckle. You are seeing this improperly and will also chuckle when you see your error.
I'm not say Brewster and Franklin are related, just like my parents are not.
I am related to Brewster as direct grandchild (12th great) on one branch. On another branch, but far up my father's same line, I am cousins with Franklin, 7 generations removed.

Going back so many generations we all have thousands of grandparents. Each of us are bound to have someone who did something of note in our line. And if you open it up to 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, 5th cousins and many generations removed, we are basically able to find some blood similarity with most anyone else. Mathematically, the Kevin Bacon game works. It's been fun finding such connections in my lines.

But beware, once you get started playing this genealogy game, its highly addictive.

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Heh heh heh - this is soooo true. I've been doing this on and off for decades and am the 'keeper' for my extended family. After hitting walls at points of immigration, I stopped expanding. Recently, however, I connected with some distant relatives from England who were looking for lost cousins who emigrated to the colonies in the 17th century. After confirming we were linked, I can now trace some direct descendants back to 1300s in England.

Chamberlain and Mikan changed free throw rules - No Dunks! Wider Lanes!

Bearprof said:

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concordtom said:

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Bearprof said:

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Saw an interview with Rick Barry where he ridiculed current players for slapping hands after a miss , cuz he thought it was rewarding the miss. Sounded like he would prefer to punch the misser.

---

Ben Hur vs Masala
White horses vs Black horses
Ben Hur ran with reins open, with love.
Marsala ran angry, whipped his team.

We all know who won.
Yes, you can get results with the whip, but positive willpower supersedes.
Love triumphs fear.

---

m

On the other hand, in Shaquille O Neil's acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame, he went on about how Rick Perry tried to get him to shoot underhanded. O'Neil said he didn't wanna look like a jerk. Perhaps he should've been ridiculed more, for leaving all those points of the line: think of how great his teams would have been if he had made all those free throw attempts. I also read that Wilt Chamberlain used Rick Barry's under hand technique for a year, and greatly improved results. But then again, because he didn't want to look like a dork, he reverted, both in style and results. Again, some ridicule might have been called for.

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Wow. Never knew the ex-governor of Texas was an expert on basketball.

Dictation error+ autocorrect. Now fixed.

Bearprof said:

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Dictation error+ autocorrect. Now fixed.

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Autocorrect makes some of the neatest typos ever.

HoopDreams said:

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concordtom said:

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I also didn't take the ball from the official until I had gone thru my little mental routine. One time a ref who was quicker than usual got sick of waiting on me and just dropped it at my waist, which I though was funny.

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funny story....so many different mental routines over time ... usually some combination of ...

elbow in
high arc (shoot for 'bottom of the net')
Hold follow through with hand kept high after release
bend knees, bounce on knees
feet (and therefore body) at an angle
Reach in the cookie jar

most of these become natural, but when you're trying to improve or stay consistent, they help

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If you start thinking about a any keys like these and many others on the free throw line in a game, you are just about sunk.

HoopDreams said:

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SFCityBear said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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I know we did well at the line on Saturday, so this post isn't about Cal.

I heard an interesting discussion about improving FT shooting by a former college coach who made the point that almost every team practices FT shooting incorrectly. Players are typically asked to shoot X number of FT's at the end (or beginning) of practice. His point was that shooting 25 or 50 in a row--it's easier to correct your mistakes and seem to be shooting a higher percentage. Unfortunately, that's not how FT's are shot in games. In the game, you go to the line after having just been running up/down the court and often involved in a collision. Then you step to the line, shoot twice, and that's it. Different state of mind, different state of body, and no chance to fine tune your shot. He said that when he coached, he would randomly stop practice and ask someone to shoot two FT's, then resume the drills. This was a better way to mimic game situations.

My basketball coaching ended with middle school, so I'm wondering what others who have more experience or have thought about it more (SFCity? HD?) think of this.

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Thanks but I may not be the right person to ask about how to teach players to improve their free throw shooting. No one ever taught me how to shoot free throws and I never taught anyone else to shoot them. I would defer to Beached Bear and Hoop Dreams, and listen to what they have to say. I think you have hit upon something, and that free throws are more mental than physical, and to improve free throw shooting, the mental side should get the lion's share of attention, IMO.

As to shooting, I was almost entirely self-taught. I shot free throws at well over 90% in competition over a brief 10+ year career. But even at that percentage, I still wanted to improve. I wanted to shoot 100%. No one ever has. You can do it for a game or a few games. I was 24-24 during my senior year in high school. I was primarily a perimeter shooter, so I didn't have too many free throw attempts. I never thought that was a big deal, until a couple of years ago, a friend told me that 24-24 was pretty cool. I guess it was, but I never thought about it.

I taught myself to shoot. I did not understand what I was doing then, but over 60 years later, I can finally begin to understand how I did it. My dad tried to teach me to shoot at first, when I was a little tyke. A two-handed set shot, and an underhanded free throw style. I had already played a lot of tennis, so my right arm was much more developed than my left, and all two-handed shots went way off line. He took me to some Cal games and I watched some players shooting one-handed push shots from the ear, a la Hank Luisetti, I guess. I watched players like Dick Tamberg. Bob Matheny was my idol. But I developed my own style, shooting from the hip, with a high arc, almost straight up, to avoid getting the shot blocked. I shot all my free throws one handed. I aimed for perfection, to drop the ball through the center of the hoop and touch as little net as possible. That way, if I was a little bit off and grazed the rim, I'd still make the shot. I tried different spins, different amounts of spin. Backspin was the most natural, but I tried no spin and a combo of backspin and horizontal circular spin for longer shots I loved to shoot the latter one, but I was afraid to try it in games and risk getting benched.

In about the 6th grade, the best player in our neighborhood, who captained our team, and went on to play a CB in the NFL for 5 years, showed up at the playground sporting a two-handed jump shot, where he shot the ball from way behind his head. We all tried to copy it. There was not one TV set in the neighborhood, so we had little chance to see games. I went to a Saturday matinee at the Haight Theatre for a dime, and the newsreel showed a game clip of Robin Freeman, the nation's leading scorer from Ohio State. I tried to copy his jump shot. So I now had two shots, a one hand push and a jumper. I always liked traditional hook shots, with hand, arm, and both shoulders all lined up with the hoop, probably because Bob Mckeen of Cal was another idol of mine. To avoid ever getting it blocked, I used to shoot it up in the air and falling away, my own invention. Then I invented a drive parallel to the baseline across the paint, and as I passed the basket I'd rise and fall away from the hoop. The shot was unblockable. The only player I ever saw use a similar shot was Jerry Lucas. He used to play near the basket to one side. He catch a pass, and then instead os shooting, he used to quickly dribble out to the opposite elbow, and shoot a fade away hook from there. Deadly.

We had an older player in the neighborhood, who was an All-City guard from Poly High, For some reason, he did not show up all summer in the schoolyard to shoot hoops. Right before Fall practice, he showed up. He was shooting every single shot, set shots, jumpers, hooks off the backboard. Bank shots. I asked him why. He said he had gotten into an awful slump when he couldn't buy a basket, so he decided to try something different. He was just as deadly with the new method. He made the All-City team again. I decided to try it, and got pretty good at it, so now I had another new shot I could use, throwing my hooks and mid-range jumpers off the glass.

As to practicing free throws, I never did it like has been described in this thread, except maybe a little like the OP. If any coach brought in recorded sounds from a basketball game to get us to focus better, all of us kids would have thought him off his rocker. If any coach told me to shoot 60 or 100 free throws in a row, I would have tried some way to avoid such drudgery. You have to simulate game conditions in your mind when practicing, and you never shoot many in a row in a game. Not only that, it would be boring to shoot a bunch of free throws. I know there are these guys who can make 2000 in a row in exhibitions, but how many can they make in a game, where you shoot one and many not get another until 20 minutes later? Rick Barry made 60 consecutive one season. I shot alone, by myself, for hours, and I shot all my shots, layups, mid range jumpers, hook shots with either hand, and perimeter shots. When I missed a shot, I'd run and rebound the ball and shoot from that point, or I would dribble to another spot and shoot from there. If the rebound was short, I'd shoot a mid range jumper or a hook, if it was long, I'd shoot a perimeter shot. If I made the basket, I might say, "Good. Let's try that one again, and make it nothing but net." Every so often I'd sprinkle in a trip to the free throw line and try one or two. If I missed, sometimes I'd stay there until I made two. If the first ones were way off, I might shoot ten of them. I hardly ever shot more than ten in a row, and that was usually just to challenge myself before I went home to dinner. Also, I always practiced a lot of shots from 30-45 feet. I seldom shot from there in a game, but I felt that if I became a good shot from far way, then the shorter shots would be a piece of cake.

One thing about copying other players, I think a player should pick out some star who is around the same height to copy. Most taller players have so much trouble shooting them, then it might be worth looking for a good tall player to copy, say Kevin Durant or Larry Bird, but not Calvin Murphy, Mark Price or Steph Curry.

Shooting free throws is perhaps 90% mental, or it was for me. The whole idea in training the mental side is developing confidence, that's obvious. Fear of failure is a big motivator. When I was a gangly uncoordinated kid of 10 years, we had games every day at lunchtime in the schoolyard. The way we picked who got to play was we all lined up to shoot one free throw. The first 10 players to make their free throw got to play in the game. The ones who did not make their free throws could go play volleyball or dodgeball with the girls. And get teased unmercifully. There was no way I was going to miss that one free throw and go play with the girls. Nowadays, the girls would also be playing basketball at lunchtime, maybe even better than the boys. When I played on teams, the only way I would get to play is if I could score, otherwise I rode the pine, because I was maybe the least athletic kid on any team I played for. Everyone in my family was an athlete, father, uncles, and older cousins. I simply had to be one too, just to hold my head up high at family dinners, and the only way I could make a basketball team was to shoot better than anyone else. If I made the team, then the coaches might teach me all the other stuff like teamwork, passing, rebounding and defense. I never thought about missing a free throw. I used to look at it as a free chance to make a shot and impress the coach, so I could stay in the game.

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Quote:

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I think it's mostly mental AFTER a player has a solid repeatable shooting form

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With all due respect to you, I think I understand what you are saying, but I have a little different opinion. I mean to say that shooting a free throw is 90% mental, and that mental process of gaining confidence in yourself and confidence in your ability to perform well in all the tasks you face in life is a training that you begin as early as the cradle, when you first attempt to roll over, then to crawl, then to stand, and then to walk. Every step along the way you learn ways to convince yourself that you can do something, and thereby build confidence in yourself. The free throw is just one small task you face in life along the way. Just like the little child throwing a bean bag into a hole, if you don't have confidence in yourself, a good measure of self-reliance, you won't make that shot very many times. I don't think we are robots who can be trained or train ourselves in a way to do something, and then take it out in front of 10,000 screaming fans and make that shot, unless you have the mental toughness to tune them out, focus on the shot, and make it. And that toughness comes from a will to succeed, or a calm confidence that you know you are going to succeed, and that is a process that began years before you every touched a basketball, or ever faced a big crowd.

Sure there are mechanical, psychological, and metaphysical techniques to help you as a player to be able to "think that ball into the basket," but I still maintain that the mind begins its training up to the event of one's first free throw under pressure many years before the child knows what tasks he will undertake in life.

Quote:

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different unorthodox shooting forms can work, but I think the majority of good shooters have at least a few things in common ...


their shooting arm is vertical (the ball would not fall off their hand if they dropped their other hand)[

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I was unorthodox for a while in my neighborhood, where most kids shot two-handed. Because of tennis, my right arm was much stronger, and I gravitated to a one-hand push shot off the shoulder from the waist or the chest. On the SFBC free throw team, our best shooter, Anatole, shot two-handed, and he usually made 59 or 60 out of 60 in competition matches with other club teams. Our #2, George, also shot two-handed and he usually made 57-58. I brought up the rear, shooting one-handed and usually made about 56. In basketball games, we three were teammates on the SFBC Varsity, and strangely enough, I was the better free throw shooter of the three of us in actual games.

I could not do what you say without the ball falling out of my hand. nor could any of my generation who shot from the waist. I gripped the ball with my fingers spread as far apart as possible, so as to stiffen the fingers, hand and wrist, and take as much of the small muscles out of the shot as was comfortable, because the small muscles are the least reliable in sports. I let the bigger muscles of forearm, arm, shoulder and legs propel the shot, as they were more reliable. I gripped the ball on both sides with palms opposing each other, and as I began the shot, I turned the ball, moving the left hand underneath to guide, and the right hand behind to propel the shot off the shoulder, with the shoulder arm, hand, and ball releasing in line with the center of the basket. So for the first half of my stroke, the ball would have fallen out of my right hand if I dropped my left hand.

Quote:

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they shoot with a relatively high arc

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My arc was the highest on my team, always. For me, the higher I seemed to shoot, the more accuracy I had. Sometimes I failed to notice there were limits. Some of the old gyms I played in had low ceilings. In the City CYO Championship game, I made my first two long range shots. The first one rattled around and in, so I shot the next one higher, and it grazed the rim and went in. Still seeking perfection, I shot the third one even higher, and knocked out one of the lights up on the rafters. They had to stop the game and clean up the broken glass. The coach benched me for the rest of the half. When he put me back in for the 2nd half, I was shook up and shot so low, I didn't make a shot the rest of the game.

Quote:

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they have done enough repetitions that their shooting form is fundamentally the same every time

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How many repetitions is enough? I'd say a large volume of repetitions are best done when you are a kid learning to shoot, but in college, I'd have the kid do them over the summer or something. During the season, I'd think just practicing all your shots and shooting one or two free throws every few minutes is good. Shooting 10 in a row is OK, but that should be enough. If you have to shoot 60 free throws in a row in practice during the season, then you don't have a good stroke to begin with, and it is not going to get better by just doing more reps. I sure couldn't concentrate well on shooting 60 or 100 free throws. And that was before the modern era of distractions: cell phones, video games, and the internet, which bombards us with sensory overload and forces so much multi-tasking, where you learn to do a lot of things at the same time, but don't necessarily do any one thing well.

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