Free throws are one of the fundamental skills a basketball player needs to possess. This skill is not dependent on talent, it is developed through hard work, practice and consistency. I will provide tips on how to improve your free throws.
Tip #1
You must dedicate 30 minutes everyday shooting free throws. It doesn't matter if you miss the majority of your shots, the more you practice, the better you will get. Every basketball player has a free throw routine or ritual. For example, Gilbert Arenas will move the basketball 3 times behind his back before taking the free throw. He will do this for EVERY free throw shot. You must make yourself a free throw routine and stick with it.
Tip #2
Work on your free throw form. When I started playing basketball, my coach would tell the team to think of the acronym "BEEF" when shooting the free throw. The B is balance; make sure before you shoot the ball, your legs, body and head are balanced. This is very important if you want the ball to follow through and not curve to the side. The first E is eyes. Most new basketball players would look at the ball while shooting the ball. THIS IS WRONG. The point of basketball is to shoot the ball into the hoop. Your eyes must be focused on the rim; not the ball. The second E is elbow. Now if you're right handed and your getting ready to shoot the free throw; make sure your elbow is at a position where it does not cover one of your eyes. When you shoot a free throw, you want both your eyes focused on the rim, positioning your elbow so that it blocks one of your eyes can distort the whole shot and result in a miss. You don't want that. The F is follow through. Following through is very important and I can't stress this enough. When you follow through, what happens is when the ball leaves your hand, it moves into the direction of your index finger. This is crucial because if you don't follow through, the ball can move to the right or left and you don't want that.
Tip #3
Once you have the first two tips done, now it's time to put this to practice. Go to your local basketball court and stand behind the free throw line. You have your routine, you understand "BEEF", now shoot the ball the same way every time. Do the same amount of bounces, hold the ball the same, stand in the same spot. Do this everytime without changing it up and I guarantee your free throw game will increase dramatically.
