Research
Before we find out if doing a routine before shooting a free throw affects your shot, we must learn more about the topic so, we will know what we are talking about. Basketball is a sport that is played by two teams, each with five people. The object of the game is to shoot or dunk an inflated basketball through the rim which is raised on a backboard 10 feet high(“Basketball”), In basketball, you score by “throwing” the ball through the rim and net, which is known as shooting (Bonsor). A Canadian P.E. teacher by the name of James Naismith created basketball one day in 1891, at work in the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA Training School (Wonderopolis).
There are many fouls in the game of basketball. I will explain the two most known fouls in basketball. The first foul is publicly known as traveling. According to James Patterson from Livestrong.com, traveling occurs when a player lifts up their grounded or pivot foot off the ground, and does not release the ball in a shot or pass before it returns back to the ground. A pivot foot is the foot a player keeps grounded when they are holding the ball without dribbling.
For instance, if you catch the ball and take more than one step or jump without bouncing the ball on the ground, or dribbling, passing to a teammate, or shooting it, it's a traveling foul. A traveling foul results in giving the possession of the ball to the other team, which is called a turnover. The next foul I will talk about is a shooting foul. A shooting foul occurs when an offensive player is in the act of shooting the ball and a defensive player makes contact [enough to affect the shot] with him/her (“Basketball fouls”). A shooting foul results in the offensive player shooting two or three free throws, depending on if the ball was shot behind the three-point line or not.
Next I will be talking about what a free throw is. A free throw is a shot that is not defended, and is taken from behind the free throw line, 15 feet away from the basket. A free throw is typically awarded to a player that was just fouled in the act of shooting. On a rare occasion, a team can be called for a technical foul, which is a penalty for unsportsman-like conduct by any team member, on or off the court. The opposing team is rewarded with one free throw and possession of the ball. The free throw(s) will be shot with six people outside of the lane to the hoop, two from, offensive team and four from, defensive team attempting to get the rebound after the last free throw is taken. These six players are in a specific order. Closest to the basket, on each side, is a defensive player. Next is an offensive player next to the defensive player. Finally, there is a defensive player to the side of the offensive player.
If you get to shoot a free throw in a game, the referee will pass you the ball and tell you how many shots you have. After that point, you have ten seconds to shoot the ball. If you do not shoot it in that time you will lose the opportunity to take that one free throw (“Rules”).
Now Imagine, you are dribbling towards the basket and a defender comes up behind you and slaps your wrist so hard it sprains it. The referee calls a foul on the defender but you are injured to the point you can not shoot the free throws. Who would take the free throws? The answer to this question is simple. The coach would choose a player on the team to shoot the free throws (“NBA Rules”).
There are fouls that can happen during free throws too. One of these fouls is a lane violation. Any player on the court can get a lane violation, including the shooter. If you are on the side of the lane and you step into the paint before the shooter releases it, it is a lane violation (“Free Throw”). Also if the shooter passes the free throw line before the ball hits the rim, it is a lane violation (“Free Throw Line Violation”). Lastly if anyone outside the three point line goes past it, before the ball hits the rim, it is a lane violation.
Finally, I will briefly get into the history of the free throw shot. The best free throw shooter by percentage is Steve Nash. He shot a whopping 90.43 percent free throw shot. He barely had a higher percentage than Mark Price, who shot 90.40 percent from the line (NBA Stats). According to John Branch, the average free throw percentage in the NBA is seventy-five percent, while in college basketball, it is sixty-nine percent.
