Earl Timberlake has the ugliest free throw technique in college basketball. It is hard to watch.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound senior could not be less fluid when bringing the ball from below his waist to above his head. He pauses around his belly button, leans back on his heels, pulls up to eye level and moves his arms in a clockwise motion before using his left hand to drive the ball toward the hoop.
Timberlake’s form is awkward and clunky. His 54.5% free throw percentage this year also proves that it does not work. Bryant University’s second-leading scorer cannot find any consistency at the charity stripe.
Of course, it is not hard to see why that is the case!
Although Timberlake looks silly at the free throw line, he is having a great year.
The former four-star recruit, who spent one year at Miami and one year at Memphis, transferred back closer to home head of last season. Timberlake has averaged 33 minutes for the Bulldogs in every game since!
His senior season has been his best.
Earl Timberlake is hitting more than 60% of his shots for an average of 12.6 points per game with 8.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals. Imagine how much better those numbers would look if he made more than 30 of his 55 free throw attempts!
Bryant put a beatdown on Drexel on Friday. Timberlake finished with a triple-double behind 15 points, 11 boards and 10 assists. It was arguably the best game of his college basketball career.
And yet, he went just 5-of-10 from the line. Free throws continue to be a struggle.
As we have seen throughout history, most notably with Shaq, some of the best athletes on the floor are simply unable to compute the simplicity of a free throw. Whether it is a mental block or technique issue, they just can’t do it!