NBA (DR)

In more than 75 years of the NBA, a number of players have become famous for their innovations in basketball.

One of these legends, however, almost never practiced her iconic move because according to her, it was reserved for women… History has however shown that the game was worth the effort.

Champion in 1975-76, author of more than 25 career points and twelve times All-Star: Before Stephen Curry or even the Run TMC, Rick Barry was probably the biggest star in Golden State history.

The winger was among the greatest scorers of his generation, he who was a huge triggerman. Above all, he has become cult in the collective imagination thanks to his free throw technique:

Rick Barry and the genesis of the famous “spoon throw”

This very particular posture was partly the trademark of the famous “spoon throw”, a shooting technique that was quite rare even at the time.

Barry was more or less the only one to practice it in the NBA and to tell the truth, he would never have done it without a lot of support from those close to him. He spoke on the subject some time ago, on former Laker Michael Cooper’s podcast:

Back then, people shot with two hands and then with both hands underneath, and my dad taught me how to do that. He was relentless about it.

I only did it so he would stop bothering me about it. I said, “I can’t do this.” Women shoot that way.” I remember it like it was yesterday. He said to me: “Son, they can’t make fun of you if you bump into them.” He was right.

I was a better free throw shooter at the end of my career. I just wish I was smart enough to understand early on what I understood at the end of my career when I was shooting 10+ free throws a game.

In my last six years, I have had the best free throw shooting percentage in the history of the sport.

For once, the one we nicknamed the Miami Greyhound had done well to listen to his father’s advice. Rick Barry has a career success percentage of no less than 89.3% at the throwing line.

Amazing precision for a player who has 14 seasons on professional courts. His method was unorthodox, but no one can question its effectiveness.

If today we encourage players who are clumsy at throwing to try them “with a spoon”, it is because this technique is considered easier to master.

And when we see that a legend like Rick Barry has practiced it throughout his immense career, it’s proof that you have to give it a try.