Terry Foster: Stan Van Gundy Doesn't Rule Out Drummond Shooting Free Throws Underhanded
By Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971
Auburn Hills -- Wilt Chamberlain did it, why not Andre Drummond?
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy Thursday did not rule out Drummond shooting underhanded free throws next season.
Van Gundy said Thursday that everything is on the table when it comes to improving Drummond's NBA worst free throw percentage. Teams have resorted to fouling Drummond to get him to the line late in games. It has frustrated Van Gundy because it has forced him to remove Drummond from games late.
Van Gundy has already talked to Drummond about several different options about mental and physical changes in his free throw approach. One of those options was shooting underhand.
"It won't be a unilateral decision. We will do some research on some things and come up with what we think is a good approach and talk to Andre and see what he thinks because you have to have his buy in and develop an approach going forward. We know it is an important thing, Andre more than any of us. I think he is pretty open to anything but there are a lot of ways to attack this problem and we all have a hand in it."
Van Gundy said there are four or five different approaches Drummond could take.
"You figure out what's best and you go from there," Van Gundy said.
Some fans have suggested that Drummond simply needs to work harder.
"That is not a mechanical issue so we have to learn to deal with it differently," Van Gundy said. "First of all a lot of it is mental. We all have experience with that,right? I am not just talking sports, but in anything we don't do well and we are trying to get better at there is the physical part of it but it is the mental approach. I don't care if it is a golf swing or anything else. There is always a mental approach and when you struggle with something for a long time it becomes a (tough) approach."
Van Gundy said that it is possible for Drummond to change his approach as early as this summer.
"Literally everything is on the table," he said. "We have to find out what is the best approach, get a buy in from Andre. If he feels this is the best approach then we all have to move forward with it and do it the best we can. I think the one we do know is the traditional approach of simply trying to correct machanics and shoot a lot of free throws has not worked. So we have to go somewhere else with that. We have to be a bit more creative in how we approach it. That is all I can say right now and I think everybody has got some ideas. We need to sit down and talk about it and come up with the best approach."