Houston Rockets’s rookie, Chinanu Onuaku turned the whole entire NBA’s heads last night when he attempted to bring back Rick Barry’s famous “Granny Style” free throws.
The 20 year old rookie made his NBA debut on Monday, playing 8 minutes and scored a total of 6 points. After the Rockets gained a 127-109 lead against the Phoenix Suns at the Toyota Center, Onuaku was fouled playing his 5th minute of NBA basketball. Stepping up to the line, Onuaku surprised all of the fans that were still at the game, by shooting an underhand free throw.
Chinanu Onuaku shot 55% from the free throw line throughout his whole 2-year college career at Louisville. The 67th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft decided to make a change and try not to become a liability from the free throw line, like active NBA stars: Andre Drummond (45%), Dwight Howard (53%) and Hassan Whiteside (54%).
Knocking down the first free throw, Onuaku was no different on his second attempt; as those are still his only 2 free throw attempts of his career, where he’s now shooting 100% from the free throw line. See the video here:
Onuaku isn’t the only player in the 2000’s to give the “Granny Style” free throws a try in an NBA game.
On January 22nd, 2002 Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s rookie season, he had a wrist fracture that he decided to play through. Doing so, at the end of the 1st quarter against the LA Lakers, Birdman was fouled by Mark Madsen with 0.2 left on the clock. Not wanting to injure his wrist any more than he as, Andersen switched it up and decided to shoot an underhand free throw as well. His attempts weren’t as successful as Onuaku’s, but he managed to knock down 1/2 free throws and ended up shooting 79% from the free throw line that whole season. See Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s underhand free throw here:
Chinanu Onuaku has already gotten his name around in the league for attempting to bring back the underhand free throws, he could possibly make some more noise with Clint Capela being out 4-6 weeks due to a fibula fracture in his left leg. The Rockets have only 3 Centers on their roster with Capela, Onuaku and Nene, if Mike D’Antoni can find a way to get Onuaku in his Capela-less rotation, Onuaku could flourish and make a name for himself in Houston. The Houston Rockets will face the Dallas Mavericks tonight, where Onuaku should expect some playing time if this game is anything like their last meeting on December 10th, where the Rockets cruised to a 22 point win.
