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Despite being one of the biggest players to ever play the game, Shaquille O’Neal could do it all. No doubt, when he was running toward the basket, there was no stopping him, but he was very skilled otherwise too.
Be it dribbling or shooting/hooking from mid-range (3-10 feet away from the basket), the 7-footer has a better conversion rate than even Dirk Nowitzki, who is considered the GOAT shooting big man.
However, as tremendous and historically dominant as he was, O’Neal had a glaring weakness in his game — free throws. So much so, that Hack-a-Shaq was a thing back in the day.
But howsoever Shaq was sick of Hack-a-Shaq, there was no way he was taking the Rick Barry route.
Shaquille O’Neal would rather shoot 0% FTs than go the Rick Barry way
The Lakers Big man once famously told Rick Barry’s son John Barry who was O’Neal’s teammate that he wouldn’t embarrass himself by going underhand way for taking his free throws because he didn’t “want to look like a sissy.”
Recently in an interview with Business Insider the 4x NBA champ, who shot just over 52% from the charity stripe throughout his 19-year career, said he would have never gone for the underhand way, and rather “shoot 0%”.
Why Shaquille O’Neal is too cool for underhand free throws pic.twitter.com/ntxQndE0Mo
— Insider Business (@BusinessInsider) December 26, 2022
The man further said that if he could shoot like Stephen Curry, he’d be better than Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain and he just “accepted” that he couldn’t do that and so, took the “humble” way out.
Jeez! That is everything, but humility. But we guess that comes with the long list of accomplishments he had during one of the most glorious and larger-than-life NBA careers of all time.
How good was the underhand way?
Rick Barry, an ABA and NBA champ and Finals MVP with the Golden State Warriors, who also made it to the Basketball Hall of Fame, was a 6ft 7’ forward, who played professionally for 15 years averaging close to 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists per game.
But the most famous bit about the legendary forward is that he shot free throws underhand.
And the ABA-NBA legend was spectacular at it, too. He was a 90% FT shooter in his 11 years in the NBA, which still has him as the #4 all-time free throw shooter.
Shaq probably should have done it. The man could literally have worn a gown and not look sissy for a second.
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