“Shaquille O’Neal did not want to ‘look like a sissy’!”: Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry’s son Jon Barry recalls the time when he gave the Lakers’ superstar advice to boost his efficiency from the charity stripe

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was once advised to try shooting under-handed free throws, but he didn’t want any part of that

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is regarded as one of the greatest big men to ever play the game. The 4-time champion had immense success ever since his Orlando Magic days. It was with the Mafic where he became the last superstar to defeat Michael Jordan in a playoff series.

Shaq was insanely talented under the rim. He could hit you with a flurry of post moves with his surprisingly quick feet. He could hook or dunk over just about anything. There was one glaring weakness in his game that would define counter-strategies against him for years to come.

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Shaq made just about half of his free throws throughout his career, on close to 10 attempts a game. Rival teams saw this as an opportunity to slow him down. ‘Hack-a-Shaq’ was a very popular technique back in the day. It was so popular that Spurs’ HC Gregg Popovich essentially guaranteed a Spurs victory against the Suns in 2008’s controversial first-round series.

Shaquille O’Neal wanted nothing to do with under-hand shooting from the charity stripe

Overall, Shaquille O’Neal had a beautiful game. His one chink in the armor was his free-throw shooting. During the 1997-98 season, Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry’s son Jon Barry was on the Lakers. Seeing his big man struggle from the free-throw line, he had some words of advice for Shaq.

Barry was on the Dan Patrick Show, where he recalled a conversation with Shaq. He had just suggested Shaq take a page from his father’s book and attempt under-handed free throws to boost his efficiency.

“I played with Shaq in 97 and I used to joke with him about it. He’s like, ‘I am not looking like a sissy like that. I am not going that, that’s embarrassing.’ What’s more embarrassing than shooting 18 for 39 from the free-throw line in a game? Or doing that”

The under-handed free throws worked really well for NBA champion Rick Barry. Rick shot close to 90% from the line for his career. He won a championship with the Golden State Warriors.

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Shaq was too prideful to take that advice. However, Shaq was also known to extraordinarily improve his free-throw percentage during clutch moments. Winning three straight Finals MVP titles doesn’t come along easily, and he knew exactly when he needed to turn it up.