Stan Van Gundy Discusses Andre Drummond's Free-Throw-Shooting Struggles

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond struggled through the worst free-throw-shooting season in NBA history in 2015-16, but head coach Stan Van Gundy discussed potential measures to rectify the issue Thursday.

The 22-year-old UConn product was otherwise spectacular, as he averaged 16.2 points and 14.8 rebounds per game, which netted him the first All-Star selection of his career. He shot just 35.5 percent from the charity stripe, though, and Van Gundy admitted that a number of solutions will be explored, including possibly shooting underhand, according to Rob Beard of the Detroit News:

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As far as shooting underhand or anything else, it's fair to say my discussion with Andre yesterday and the discussions [general manager] Jeff [Bower] and I have had and staff — everything is on the table.

It won't be a unilateral decision; we'll do some research on some things and come up with what we think is a good approach, talk to Andre and see what he thinks and develop an approach going forward.

We all know it's an important thing — Andre more than any of us — he's pretty open to anything. There's a lot of ways to attack this problem and we'll all have a hand in it.

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Drummond was sent to the line a career-high 7.2 times per game this season as teams attempted to take advantage of his weakness in that area.

The strategy often worked, although Detroit still managed to make the playoffs and appears to be a team that is on the rise.

Should Drummond take the underhand approach in an effort to improve, it wouldn't be the first time that someone has tried it in the NBA.

Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain shot just 51.1 percent from the line during his career, and he employed that approach for a period of time due to his struggles.

Another Hall of Famer, Rick Barry, did the same, but he was extremely effective, as his 89.3 percent conversion rate is the seventh-best in combined NBA/ABA history.

The so-called "granny shot" will undoubtedly lead to some laughs if Drummond goes that route, but there is no question that a change of some kind is needed.

Hitting even half of his free throws will make Drummond a far more dangerous player and could potentially lead directly to more wins for the Pistons in 2016-17.

Teams aren't likely to stop fouling him unless rule changes are made, so the onus is on Drummond to make them regret it.

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