Why big men struggle with free throws

Thanks to my boy Aron Phillips at Dime for pointing out the following story that claims its physics rather than co-ordination or lack of practice that explains why the giants of this world aren't great free-throw shooters. At one point I thought I was going to have to pull out a protractor and a calculator to figure it all out!

Click on the title below to read the full story.

Why big men struggle with free throws - Kansas City Star

By Pete Grathoff
The Kansas City Star

Why can’t Shaquille O’Neal make free throws? Why did Wilt Chamberlain, who seemingly could score at will, falter at the line?

Leave it to a physics professor to offer an answer for why many big men struggle at the stripe.

It’s a problem that’s plagued players in the past — Chamberlain (7-foot-1, 51.1 percent free-throw shooter for his career) and Chris Dudley (6-foot-11, 45.8 percent) — and the present — Shaq (7-foot-1, 52.7 percent) and Ben Wallace (6-foot-9, 41.8 percent).

John Fontanella, a former college basketball player who teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy, is author of the book 'The Physics of Basketball.' He explained why tall guys have trouble.

In his book, Fontanella writes that the “window” for the ball to get nothing but net becomes slightly smaller as the height of release increases. However, he goes on to write that with some fine-tuning, such as adjusting the launch angle to lower values, they should be able to achieve an even higher percentage.

Kids, look away now, its about to get ugly ...