Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 454 The Ugly Half-Basket
Once you enter the training camp, you train three times a day, and your diet and rest are all very regular.

It's like going into seclusion, actively cutting off contact with the outside world.

In addition, there are system effects, allowing players to continuously feel the effects of training, and this positive feedback will also make players more focused.

Therefore, the ups and downs of the trading market have no impact on the training camp.

This is a free throw drill during technical training.

The training camp has 60 players, and the proportion of them are centers.

Poor free throw shooting by interior players is a long-standing problem.

As a stationary shooting technique, with system bonuses, the training effect is actually very good.

Based on last year's experience, after a three-month training camp, an inside player whose shooting percentage has been hovering around 70% for years can improve by an average of 5 percentage points.

This is already very high, and the effect is amazing.

Tangsen and Tedsky stood on the sidelines supervising. He nudged Tangsen with his arm and then winked at a corner of the field.

In the corner, O'Neal also stood in front of the basket, chatting with his practice partner while leisurely shooting hoops.

He was standing in the free-throw area, which could be considered as taking a free throw.

During the training camp, O'Neal's main focus was on weight loss, not on improving his skills, and the training volume was gradually increased, so his task was quite easy.

“Tang, I’ve done some more research, and I think Shaq’s poor free throw shooting is a psychological issue,” Tedeschi said.

He brought this up because not long ago, several core trainers at the training camp had discussed this issue as a joke.

The discussion was quite heated.

Because O'Neal's free throws have always been a major problem, as everyone knows.

The media and fans have been discussing it, and have given many reasons.

For example, O'Neal relies solely on his muscles to play under the basket. During the game, his muscles are so tense that it's difficult for him to relax immediately.

Some say that O'Neal's arms are too thick and his upper body strength is too great, while the basketball is too small and too light for him.

It's like an adult trying to shoot a basketball with a very light balloon, unable to control the force properly.

Of course, the most common complaint is that O'Neal is too lazy.

The Lakers found him a trainer, and after seeing some results, he immediately became lazy, thinking that it was enough and didn't want to train anymore.

Shaquille O'Neal himself has addressed this issue, explaining that he injured his right wrist while playing as a child, leaving him with lingering problems that prevented him from generating power smoothly, thus hindering his free throw shooting.

Bruce Frazier, a shooting expert, questioned his answer.

It's said that O'Neal's floater and hook shot under the basket were particularly accurate and smooth, with a touch as soft as Yao Ming's.

He can master even more difficult hook shots, so it's definitely not a problem with his wrists having any aftereffects.

The group discussed it as a basketball issue, but Tederski then brought up a new perspective, extending it to psychological issues.

Tang Sen looked at him, signaling him to continue.

Tang Sen checked the wrist aftereffects using the system and found nothing wrong.

Tang Sen had his doubts about Tang Sen's excuse that he fell from a tree and injured his wrist.

I seriously suspect he said that on purpose to save face.

This guy is capable of doing something like this.

Tedeschi said, "After analyzing it, I think he just has an unstable personality. He's the type who gets affected by others saying he can't shoot free throws and then starts to think he can't do it."

"Then this inability kept affecting his mentality, and eventually he developed a kind of panic about free throws. I remember seeing an interview with him on TV, where he said that he hated free throws."

“I think his condition is like yellow heart disease in archery, a psychological disorder.”

He described the condition of yellow heart disease.

Tedsky started his career in sports medicine, and Tang Sen even studied related knowledge with him.

The so-called yellow heart disease, like tennis elbow, is a disease specific to archery athletes.

It's because of psychological issues that when you're statically aiming and concentrating, you lose your sense of space.

Once you lose your sense of distance, you naturally won't be able to throw accurately. Tedsky continued, "His hook shot is very accurate because his attention is diverted during the movement, and he focuses on the confrontation with his opponent."

"When you're shooting a free throw, you need to be focused, which is a static activity, so you can't shoot accurately."

Tang Sen roughly understood what Tederski meant.

It involves extensive training, followed by using muscle memory to make a move during exercise.

On the contrary, when you calm down and focus on aiming, you tend to be too deliberate and thus inaccurate.

Tedsky wasn't talking nonsense; he didn't just fabricate an illness. It was a real illness caused by this psychological disorder.

But after thinking about it, Tang Sen shook his head and said, "Maybe there is, but I don't think it's the main factor."

Let me just say one thing.

They say static shooting is no good.

In daily training, if O'Neal were to shoot free throws, he would be quite accurate, with a success rate of about 70-80%.

That's the same static state. It works fine in training, but it doesn't work on the field.
Therefore, Tang Sen felt that there might be some psychological impact, but the main reason was that he didn't put in a lot of hard work to practice.

If you really penalize people thousands of times a day, the hit rate is bound to be high.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to have him practice his shooting," Tang Sen said, looking at O'Neal with a hint of amusement.

After losing weight and regaining some physical fitness, O'Neal's dominance under the basket remains undiminished.

If he can improve his free throws and mid-range jumper, he'll truly have no weaknesses.

Throughout his entire career, O'Neal never reached this level.

Therefore, Tang Sen had a mindset of wanting to polish a beautiful jade in his hands.

Tang Sen even specifically considered how to train.

Shooting is a process in which power originates from the feet and is transmitted upwards.

Tang Sen felt that O'Neal's inaccurate free throws were due to his excessive upper body strength. When he stood still and took the free throw without jumping, he couldn't find the feeling of power coming from his feet.

But it's different when you're doing a hook shot; there's resistance and a jump, so he can accurately find the feeling of how to generate power.

So hooking hands is very smooth.

This kind of problem cannot be solved by changing the size of his upper limb muscles or reducing his upper limb strength.

In that case, it will vary from person to person.

Within the league, Tang Sen felt there was a similar case, or rather, a case that could be referenced.

Postman Malone.

This guy is also a well-known muscle monster. When he stands next to Shaq, their arm dimensions are almost exactly the same.

In his youth, he relied on his powerful arms to dominate the paint, earning him the formidable reputation of "Unrivaled Iron Elbow".

But he quickly mastered the jump shot.

He managed to win two MVP awards using that ugly mid-range shot.

How did he develop a mid-range jumper with upper arms as thick as O'Neal's?

Tang Sen thinks O'Neal could be a good example to follow.

Malone's mid-range jumper could be considered one of his signature moves, but looking at the details, his shooting technique was somewhat simplified.

A normal shooting motion involves bending the knees, jumping, swinging the arm, and flicking the wrist—a continuous movement.

Malone's jump shot was simplified due to his excessive upper body strength.

When he jumps, his upper arm and forearm hardly move, he just flicks his wrist, which looks very awkward and ugly.

But it was precisely because they reduced their strength that they were able to control the distance.

Shaquille O'Neal can do that too, and not just jump shots, but free throws as well.

(End of this chapter)