Drew Timme has a chance to cement his legacy as the best player in Gonzaga history this year. He's closing in on the program's all-time scoring record, and without him the Zags — who seem determined to squeak out every win — might not even have a winning record.
But man... Timme's free throw shooting this season has been rough.
After shooting nearly 70 percent two seasons ago, his percentage at the line has dipped to a cringe-inducing 61.5 percent. This is an issue, because his inside game means he's among the leaders in the country in getting to the line. And while it's been tough to watch for Zags fans, it's also very evident that stepping to the line makes Timme miserable — he wears it on his bearded/mustachioed face as he takes deep, closed-eyes sighs before each attempt.
You can still be a star hooper while having woes from the charity stripe — just look at Shaquille O'Neal and Giannis Antetokounmpo — but my suggestion is that Timme should take the radical step that no star player has dared to take.
It's time to shoot underhanded free throws, Drew.
The conversation around shooting underhanded free throws begins with former NBA MVP Rick Barry. Using an underhand free throw motion, the Hall of Fame forward ranks fourth in NBA history with a career 89.9 free throw percentage. In retirement, Barry has often offered to teach the style to star bigs who struggle at the line. The mechanics of the shoot and one fluid motion are easier to repeat on a consistent basis — and consistency is crucial to the mentally taxing job of shooting free throws.
One would think that these hyper-competitive athletes would jump at the offer as they typically take every advantage to maximize their scoring totals and win games. One would be wrong.
Here's the thing: Underhanded free throws are "uncool." Because in the early days of basketball young girls tended to shoot underhanded due to lack of arm strength, the toxic masculinity of the sports world solidified around the idea that the shot style was weak and feminine (they're also often called "granny style" shots).
NBA icon Wilt Chamberlain — a career 51.1 percent free-throw shooter shot underhanded for one season in 1961-62. It was his greatest statistical season, averaging a still NBA record 50.4 points per game while shooting a career-best 61.3 percent from the stripe, including famously notching the league's only 100 point game (which only happened because he was 28-32 from the foul line that night). And then... he went back to shooting overhand the next season. In his autobiography he wrote: "I felt silly, like a sissy, shooting underhanded. I know I was wrong. ... I just couldn't do it." Shaq was the same way, once saying, "I told Rick Barry I'd rather shoot 0 percent than shoot underhand. I'm too cool for that." Both legends were literal giants trying to act tough, but, really, their fragile male egos couldn't handle it.
Drew Timme would be the perfect player to take on Rick Barry's underhanded free throw legacy. He's notably not living on social media, and always seems to be ready to crack a joke on court even during tense contests. He fits the vibe.
Even as much as it could improve his game on the court, it could even be a bigger boon off the court. Timme's already a darling of the NIL advertising rule (for more read last week's cover feature, presumably written by a really cool dude), but can you imagine how much extra ad money he could bring in by further standing out from the pack by swishing granny-style free throws? Heck, he might want to come back to GU for a sixth year just to cash those checks. ♦
