I’ve got a 6-pack riding on this. It was actually a bet I made years ago which was one of the reasons I joined the Dope.
I am under the impression that Wilt Chamberlain used to dunk his free throws in college. He’d kind of do a Michael Jordon run up to the free throw line and slam the ball. This was rather effective as Wilt could not shoot a free throw to save his life. I believe they banned jumping over the free throw line because of this.
My friend claims that when Wilt scored 100 points in a single game he was slamming his free throws. I say no way, and I assume they banned the slam free throw even before he entered the NBA. During that game, he was 28 for 32 from the charity stripe, but he had a lifetime 50% free throw average.
Does anyone know what year the slam dunk free throw was banned or what free throw technique Wilt Chamberlain used the night he scored 100 points?
According to a few sites I have found via Google, Wilt did indeed dunk from the foul line for his foul shots in the 100 point game and the NBA banned that method of shooting foul shots the very next season. I have no real solid confirmation of this, though.
The New York Times report on the “Hershey Hundred” at the time makes no mention of dunking foul shots. It probably would have been mentioned, since dunks were much rarer back then. Chamberlain was one of the few who could do it, but did it far less often than players do today.
IIRC, even the rules of the time required you had to stay behind the foul line.
I’m a little skeptical of these free throw dunks, considering that (a) even today, only the most skilled and athletic players can just barely dunk from beyond the free throw line with a full flying start, and (b) Chamberlain was always a crappy free throw shooter.
This report, purely anecdotal, may be closer to the truth:
This is a little unclear, but I believe the author is referring to missing a free throw on purpose and dunking the rebound, which is possible with a mini-running start from the top of the key. This strikes me as a more plausible motive for a rules change.
No, I meant while shooting a free throw- I’ve never heard of it once being allowed to do anything but stand there, bounce the ball and shoot. If it is as Freddy the Pig says that he would miss on purpose and get the rebound, I get that, but I’ve never heard that you could run and jump passed the line on a free throw.
Thanks people, I always thought I had decent Google skills so it’s nice to know that a definitive answer is hard to find. I wonder if the game was televised.
If you get the chance, can you link to some of the sites?
According to this quote from Wilt via Wiki, he tried this as a freshamn (high school? college?) but never did it in a game. A couple of sites have people claim this is how he was 28-32 in his 100 point game, but I have seen clips and he definitely did not do this then. Methinks someone read the Wiki quote and extrapolated that it was legal and he did it in games. If it were ever legal, at some point he would have been a 100% or close shooter, but he was 62% in college, 51% in pros. I also think he’s stretching it a bit- I don’t see even someone his size being able to dunk from the free throw line with a two step start.
Darryl Lict, those sites Cuckoorex cites are just some guys comments on a website, nothing official, just some random guy spouting untruths.
“When I was a freshman, I fooled around with shooting free throws this way: For some reason, I thought you had to stay within the top half of that free-throw circle, so I would step back to just inside the top of the circle, take off from behind the line and dunk. They outlawed that, but I wouldn’t have done it in a game, anyway.”
He did say “Well I learned something new today- does anyone have video of someone doing this?”
Well that’s video of someone dunking from the free throw line (or just thereabouts for **Adam Yax’s ** benefit ), and not even a good video at that. Leave my crappy cites alone!
So your friend thinks he dunked from the foul line 28 times!!! Dunking from the foul line is extremely difficult, even in a situation like a slam dunk competition. Imagine trying it during a game in which you are running up and down the court constantly – and scoring 100 points! I doubt even michael jordan would have the strength to do that in a game more than a couple of times. Sorry, no cite here, but I am 100% certain that Chamberlain did not dunk ANY of those free throws. And I dont see how that would be a practical technique in any game situation.
I may actually have read this article since I am a huge fan of Scott Ostler and have subscribed to the L.A. Times since 1981 or so. Perhaps that is why I was so convinced about myself being right about this bet.
), and not even a good video at that. Leave my crappy cites alone! 